We took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Vancouver Island which took one hour 40 minutes. The island is 450k long and 100k wide and is laced with colourful and quirky settlements many founded on fishing and logging. It also has the most stunningly beautiful coastline full of rocky beaches and hidden inlets where bears come down to the water to feed on the salmon jumping out of the water. We stayed a night in Nanaimo and then moved to Campbell River which locals claim is the 'Salmon capital of the world'. A small former rough and ready town that only started 40 years ago it is now a drop of point for wilderness tours like whale watching and grizzly bear spotting.

On our first day we took a walk in 34 degrees along the river where salmon breed in season which luckily was shaded well aand the next day Next day we went whale watching which was a good way to keep cool whizzing along the water in the boat . We were lucky enough to find two pods of whales although not very large ones and we have seen more whales before just off Victoria on Vancouver Island but it was just amazing watching the magnificant landscape as we shot past keeping our eyes out for bear and eagles. On the path the day before we came across a massive eagle looking for food in the river on a branch just below our path but unfortunately werene't quick enough with the camera to catch it. There is certainly something truly mesmorising about the nature and the landscape out here and you can certainly understand why those who live here are totally in love with their surroundings and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. There are only a few small settlements north of Campbell River but we would love to come back at not such as a busy time as this weekend which is British Columbia day and the busiest weekend of the year.