McNeill And Area
We had two days
Sointula
I was really hoping there would be some
clever way we could see both Alert Bay and Sointula in the same
day. With all the ferry trips, you would spend most of your
day on the ferries and have little time to see the
destinations. We decided to focus - pick an island.
Sointula (Malcolm Island) got the nod.
Some web page I saw
mentioned there is good tide pooling on Malcolm Island, but the tide
table said the best time was just after we arrived - there wasn't
much time to scout for a good beach. We traveled east on the
island where there was nice low bank beach access, but didn't find
nice pools. The North side of the island is pretty steep, but
I suspect if you can find a place to get to the water (safely),
there is some tide pools to be seen there.
Lunch time had snuck up on us. There aren't a lot of options
for restaurants in Sointula, but there is a small burger stand in
the Marina. We ordered burgers and fries and soaked in the
view.
Pulteney Point Light House
Pulteney Point is at the far west of
Malcolm Island, on the Southern side of the tip. You can't
actually drive to the light house - you park and take a short walk
down to the beach and then walk along the beach until you get to
the lighthouse. Apparently the light house keeps like to see
guests, but we didn't see any light house keepers while we walked
around. There is a nice view over the channel toward Port
McNeill.
Bere Point Regional Park / Beautiful Bay Trail
I have a bit of a soft spot for island
hiking trails. Being on an island, they generally aren't
that long so you get the full experience in a reasonable amount of
time. As a kid living in the interior of BC, I was marked by
the experience doing the west coast trail. Every time I get
back into that kind of biome (salal higher than you can see, wind
stunted trees) a bit of me feels like it just arrived home.
Boat Houses
Sointulla is a fishing community and
fishing is still a significant part of the local economy. We
found a fisherman selling canned and smoked salmon that we could
take back to the city to share as gifts and I started to notice
the boat houses around the island. The boat houses are all
pretty similar - a bridge between the road the water, usually with
a ramp down the middle and dubious foundations.
A lot of the boat houses are in a serious
state of disrepair - holes in the roof or worse. My favorite
was a boat house that was just the front and back frame with a
tiny bit of siding still hanging uselessly in the air. I
suspect the environment is hard on wood and if the house isn't
being used for work, it quickly falls derelict.
We were in for a surprise on the ferry
trip back - we were the only vehicle on the ship! There were
walk on passengers, but how often can you say you have been on a
BC ferry and been the only car on board?
Whale Watching
The next morning we had reservations for a
whale watching trip with Mackay Whale Watching. I've done a
trip with them before and they do seem to do the taster plate - a
little bit of everything tour. Our morning started off quite
foggy.
After the tour, we drove over to
Telegraph Cove. It's a neat little community, but the
commercial aspect has overwhelmed the historic nature of the
place. I was quite impressed with the Whale Museum - the
skeletons are impressive and the staff really knew there
stuff.
The
next day were going on our hiking trip up to
Cape Scott so we were
starting to get worried about the physical exertion ahead of
us. We went back to the B&B and had a quiet night
in. The next morning we were up reasonably early and
driving North.
Tags: art(3), whale(3), mobile(2), lighthouse(2), ferry(2), ship(2)
People: Helen(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > John's Overnight Page > Port McNeill And Area
Last Modified Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 12:13:52 Edit
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