As soon as we leave the USA, the weather seems to change. The sun is hidden behind grey clouds and it gets colder sensible. Because we had to wait for a few hours till we got on a ferry to Whidbey Island, Sven and I start to look for a place to sleep right away. We find it in a small national park not too far from the ferry terminal. In the morning we drive straight to the next ferry that departs from Anacortes to Sidney on Vancouver Island. On the ferry we cross the border back into Canada.

From Sidney we drive to Victoria, which is the Capital of British Columbia. We park the camper in one of the suburbs and play a game of Risc. Later in the evening we walk over to a McDonalds to use the free internet, before returning to the camper for the night. In the morning we drive into the city center of Victoria and meet Basti and Asthon at the ferry terminal. They had successfully acquired a new passport for Asthon and made their way back hitchhiking to Port Angeles from where they took a ferry straight to Victoria.

The next days we make our way around the south coast, taking a lot of backroads to get to Tofino. This little town reminds me a lot of Byron Bay in Australia. It has quite the hippie flair with colorful houses and some nice artworks. Because everything is very touristic these days we are unable to find a spot to camp for free. We decide to drive back a few kilometers to get to a gravel road. These roads always offer lots of great opportunities for wild camping on the way. This time we choose a camp spot close to a rifle range. Soon somebody sees us and we are told that we can’t stay there. But as we are in Canada, this happens in a very friendly way and we are told an even better camp spot close by.

We have a little trouble finding this spot at first but are successful in the end. The camp spot is next to the little Loon Lake and just locals now about this place. A lot of people come here for fishing during the day but as it’s a regular weekday, we have the campsite for ourselves. We stay for three days, working out how to make good bread on the fire while sitting in front of it countless hours every evening. One night we are able to see some stars and start taking pictures of the scenery. I have never done astrophotography before but had planned to get into it in Canada. After trying out a few settings, I am blown away by these pictures that are showing up on my screen after a few minutes of processing in camera.

As it had been raining for a few days in a row now, we decide to leave Vancouver Island and hope for better weather on the mainland. Before we take the ferry from Nanaimo to North Vancouver, I meet with Tracy. I had been looking for a kayak for quite some time. Then I found a used one close to Nanaimo. Tracy has a Pyranha Kayak for sail. After having a quick look at it, I buy it straight away and we stuff it in the back of the camper for the moment. With lots of new experiences and my new kayak on board, we make our way to the ferry and head off to Vancouver.

Route Map 24.07.2014