2004-05-22-Newcastle

This was the first Great Unwashed outing in which we partook. Greg organised a group site, and we had at least 20 people in at least twelve tents. There were so many people, I'm not even sure if I knew at the time how many were in our group.

2004-05-22

Deb and I biked to Horseshoe Bay, taking Marine Drive, and narrowly missed the 10:30 ferry that others were on. We killed the time by seeking out a screw for Deb's pannier rack and savouring some pastries at the bakery in town.

Deb eating breakfast at ferry terminal

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Getting to Newcastle Island from Vancouver involves taking a ferry to Nanaimo, getting to Mafeo Sutton Park downtown some 4km away (we had our bikes so it was a quick ride), then taking a passenger (and bike) only ferry from Nanaimo harbour. The little ferry ride is less than ten minutes, but our boat had to make an emergency manouver to rescue a jacket that had flown overboard. We were also very thankful that the boat operators were mighty because they just lifted our pannier laden bikes onto the boat effortlessly.

Bikes waiting for the Newcastle ferry

Leaving Nanaimo

Welcome to Newcastle Is.

Ferry dock

After setting up our tent, we checked out the waterfront nearby. I was rather fascinated by the erosion patterns in the sandstoney rock.

Michael and Deb	Michael stranded by the incoming tide	Darko, Michael, Cyn, Deb	Tuft of grass
Fuzzy caterpillar	Dinner time	Raccoon

We walked down to the water after dinner, and I saw, for the first time, phosphoresence. I had heard of the phenomenon before, where the water will light up in a glow of sparks when disturbed, but had always thought that it was something extremely rare and pretty much impossible to see. But there it was, sparkly water trailing behind my fingers. There was no way I could have captured the shininess in a picture, so I didn't even try.

Our group thinned out as the evening matured. It was a warm night, and it was not quite time for sleep, so I laid on a picnic table for a while, enjoying the stars in the sky before going to sleep.

2004-05-23

Raccoons are pervasive, and pretty much think they own the island. They probably even outnumbered the humans on the busy long weekend. When I got up, I discovered that one of my panniers had been stolen from the vestibule of the tent. The culprit did not get ten metres away before digging in. Fortunately, there were food caches provided by the park so the only ziploc bag available for chewing through contained White Lightning. Unfortunately, it was a full bottle, and would have made an even greater mess had Brenda not brought some duct tape with which I managed to seal it back up (at least long enough to get home).

Greg and Taryn organised a treasure hunt for us in the morning. Clues were hidden around the island, and each led to the location of the next (albeit not always in an obvious way). It was lots of fun running around the island looking in strange places for bits of paper duct taped to various things. And that was before the espionage, physical confinement, and kneecap breaking began!

One of the advertised activities for the weekend was hunting for moonsnails. When I inquired about what made them special, the response I got was not unlike that from an angler: "they are this big!" while the hands gestured at a size not unlike that of a pomello. And yet quite shocked was I to see the actual size of those things!

Brenda phasing out her legs	Starfish	Moonsnail hunting	Crab
Moonsnail larva	A moonsnail!	In its natural environment	Close up
Brenda's pet	Crab on the sand

Darko wanted to get back to Vancouver that day, and we had a bit of time to go for a walk. We went to the middle of the island and had lunch by the lake before he had to return to catch his ferry.

Wheels of stone	Loitering at the quarry	Rock pots	Michael
Fuzzy bunny	Arbutus tree (the second time I've seen one)	Snap!	Stop wrong answer
Mallard Lake Trail	Spare paddle golf

Then Deb and I went for a ride to the other side of the island so we could wander into the woods in search of the old mine shaft. Greg and company had left a bit earlier; we caught up with them as they were leaving, and they gave us some pointers to find the site.

Orientation marker

Deb at the mine shaft

A closer look

Despite Darko's claims earlier that deer were eliminated from the island by predators and people, we saw a deer on our way back to the campsite. But my picture was too blurry to bother posting here.

It was a long weekend, and there were fireworks in Nanaimo, so we went down to the ferry dock area after dinner to see the show. We also returned to the beach to see more phosphoresence before heading off to sleep. Some time after I had fallen asleep, I was briefly awakned by some loud drunk people who had brilliantly decided to place their tents right beside our group (when there was a large open field available). I have some fuzzy impressions that people were being awakened and that there was much annoyance, but then fell back asleep and slept through the unpleasantries. But still, we didn't do so badly considering that I expected the entire weekend to be filled with drunk teenagers.

2004-05-24

Bikes and tents

A field of tents

Tent city

Before departing, we went to beach on east side of island with Brenda and Jimmy. There was a sandbar, and we could wade out quite far without needing to know how to swim. We chased various wildlife around (things like sculpins, flounders, crabs, and anemonies) for a couple of hours, then went back to get our stuff and catch a ferry.

Jimmy undressing

Kayak, Brenda

Brenda and Deb

There was half an hour between our landing at Mafeo Sutton Park to scheduled departure of the next ferry from Departure Bay. Deb and I expected to have little difficulty getting there on time, but Jimmy and Brenda were on foot. I offloaded Brenda's extra pack, and Jimmy had mastered the art of running alongside his longboard loaded with packs on his way to Newcastle so they put that to good use as soon as we landed. Impressively, they caught up with us while we were stowing our bikes on the ship. Taking the Upper Levels Highway from Horseshoe Bay provided Deb with a new experience.