July 7th to 10th - Vancouver Island

July 7^th - Mon
Doug had left for work when we got up about 7 and it didn’t take us long to hit the road after stopping for to-go coffee at a service station. It was a bit foggy with rain sprinkles but a nice drive. We were going to Port Alberni to join Dan & Robin Curtis (neighbors in Mesa) for some fishing. We found the China Creek Marina (with a campground) in the GPS but we decided not to follow the instructions when we were supposed to turn on a very narrow, steep road. I found some very different instructions to China Creek Campground in the Trailer Life book so we started backtracking to the highway. On the way we saw the first road mentioned in the book and followed the instructions. When we hit a gravel road with logging trucks I was sure it was wrong so Terry stopped at a shake mill and asked someone. He assured us we were on the right road and told us we would cross a little bridge before a big hill so we could remain certain things were OK.
We pulled up in front of the office and found Dan & Robin just checking in. They had to launch their boat with their motor home so we found our site and set up. They had a site near us but it was really little so Terry took Dan on the motorcycle back to the office and they got a nice site across the road. We went back to the office to get fishing licenses.
Now it was time for the first trip in the boat. We dropped a couple of prawn traps and then Dan set up the downriggers with 2 poles each. After washing the flashers thoroughly, we went back to pull up the empty prawn traps. Then we reset the prawn traps in a different place and headed back. The campground is a ways down Barkley Sound so you can’t see Port Alberni or the ocean.
We were hungry so we made dinner and then went over to Dan & Robin’s MH where they surprised me with a birthday cake.

July 8^th – Tues
We left at 7 for the short walk to the docks and went out in lovely calm weather for a repeat of yesterday’s excursion. Set prawn traps, wait for fish to hit the lines and, most importantly regarding the lack of salmon, avoid commercial fishing boats & seine nets. We didn’t realize that the area had been opened to commercial fishing yesterday.
Robin thought my birthday was today so she planned to make dinner for us. A few drinks, a nice dinner and choppy water prevented us from going back out in the boat.

July 9^th – Wed
We got going at 7 again this morning but decided not to put out the prawn traps as no one else was getting prawns. We tried different areas for salmon but no luck again. No Dan, we aren’t blaming you!!!! We have gone fishing before! The water got quite choppy by the time we called it quits.
We each made our own dinners but got together to eat & share. Then Dan’s brother Len, his wife Mary and their son (oops, senior moment on his name!) came out for a visit and Robin’s cousin Bob and his wife Linda also arrived. We had a great time with lots of laughs. The rest of the campground was quiet and there were lots of vacant “seasonal” rigs that were empty so no one asked us to keep the noise down.

July 10^th – Thurs
We were ready to leave at 8:45 and hadn’t seen Dan & Robin yet so we knocked on their door to get our goodbye hugs. I guess we all had too much fun last night!
For some reason, when we didn’t need it, our GPS could find roads to get us back to the highway. We arrived at Riverbend RV Park in Parksville, got a site and set up. We have friends – Colin & Linda – staying here. They read our blog and sent an email asking if we could get together when they saw we were on the Island. There are originally from Alberta, we met them in Florida and they came to see us in Desert Hot Springs a few years ago.
We were just going to find them at the site we were told they were in when they walked up. Good thing as they are in a different site than the park told us. We sat and chatted for a bit and then we had to go for lunch & grocery shopping. We considered finding a car wash to get rid of the dust on the truck but that didn’t happen.
Colin & Linda invited us for dinner along with Linda’s sister Carol & her husband Russ who were travelling with them in Desert Hot Springs. We sat around the fire pit to roast hot dogs and tell stories. It was a lovely sunny day with more in the forecast .