PART 4

DAY 9 - THURSDAY MAY 30th:  By 06:00 am we had checked out of the Fairmont Hotel, and, with the help of one of the airport porters, had lugged our baggage the entire length of the Vancouver airport to the domestic counters of Air Canada.  Having confirmed our reservations with them on Monday evening when we arrived at the Fairmont, we did not anticipate any problems checking in for our 08:00 am flight.  WRONG!!!! 

We tried the automatic check in machine and had no luck, so, we were escorted to a special counter which is exclusive for people who have trouble with the automatic machine. (I note here that they had about 8 automatic machines and about 8 special counters to take care of the people who had trouble with the machine).

On presentation of our tickets which we had received in the mail way back in November of 2001 when we had made and paid for the reservation on the 8:00 am flight to Campbell River, BC, we were told calmly that Air Canada had discontinued all morning service to Campbell River and that luckily they had been able to book us on the 5:30 pm flight that afternoon. 

I came unglued!  That was totally unacceptable and I let them know it.  Finally, after they had assembled a couple of managers and a couple of security people, we calmly discussed the situation and it was agreed that they would get us on the 07:50 am flight to Comox, which is a town about 40 miles south of Campbell, River.  This would allow us to do the things we had planned for the day and also would provide us with an acceptable flight time back to Vancouver the following Tuesday morning for our connections to Orlando on Northwest Airlines.  (Note: This did cut short our stay at The April Point Lodge by one night as we had to move to a motel in Comox on Monday to assure being at the airport in time to catch the early flight to Vancouver on Tuesday morning)

All this pretty much canceled the leisurely breakfast we had planned after checking in and before we took off for Vancouver Island. We had a quick light snack at the airport fast food shop and headed for the gate and our flight to Comox. 

The flight over took about 30 minutes and was actually quite interesting as we flew low enough in the prop plane to observe the islands in the bay below us.  On arrival in Comox we rented an intermediate car from Budget, which, because they had no intermediate cars they upgraded us to another Ford station wagon of the same year and model as the one that they had upgraded us to in Banff the previous week.

We headed north along the shoreline towards Campbell River where we planned to have breakfast before heading further north towards Telegraph Cove and Port McNeill.  As we got closer to Campbell River, I must have missed a turn because we found ourselves on a beautiful new 4 lane highway which bypassed the town of Campbell River completely and brought us back to the main highway north of the city. 

We drove on for another 45 minutes hoping for a restaurant before we came to what turned out to be the only restaurant between Campbell River and the Telegraph Cove turn off.  We stopped at this restaurant "Charlie's" and were glad we did.  We had an excellent brunch and enjoyed the good service and clean restrooms as well as the good food.  On leaving, we made a mental note to stop here for breakfast on Saturday morning on our way back to Campbell River and April Point.

After we left Charlie's and headed north again, the terrain changed to mountains which provided us with some beautiful scenery during the 1-1/2 hour drive up to the Telegraph Cove turn off.

As we would have to drive back to Telegraph Cove on Friday morning to catch our "Tide Rip Grizzly Bear Experience Boat" we had decided to stop by and get our bearings around Telegraph Cove on our way up to Port McNeill where we had reservations to spend Thursday and Friday nights.

The road in to Telegraph Cove passes through Beaver Cove which is home to an extensive logging operation.  Watching them move the logs around both in and out of the water to get them ready for rail shipment was quite interesting.

On entering Telegraph Cove we parked in the designated area and walked about a half a block (which would have been up to 3 blocks later in the summer during the busy tourist season) down to the  village which is built primarily on pilings over land and water circling the entire cove area.

I won't go into the history of Telegraph Cove as it is detailed in a couple of the photos which can be accessed below.  I will state that the village basically dates back to the days just before WW II and actually began as a Telegraph Station and Harbor for coastal defense of the British Columbian Coast. Through the years they have preserved the original structures and the result is an interesting tourist area from which Whale Watch and Grizzly Experience boats are based.

There are a few full time residents but most of the workers in the shops and restaurant/bar live in Port McNeill and commute the approximately 30 minute drive.

We spent about an hour walking around, taking pictures and talking to the locals before we got back in the car and headed on to Port McNeill where we spent the night at the Haida Way Motor Inn. 

TO LINK TO PART 4 PICTURES  -  CLICK HERE