Vancouver Island - Day 5

We have made it to Vancouver Island.  As seems to be normal when we try to plan around ferries, we were not able to make reservations on the ferry to Nanaimo this morning, as the earliest ferry with reservations was at 6:30pm. However, they only reserve 80% of the boat, and the final 20% is filled with whomever shows up and waits in line.  Since we didn't have anything else we really wanted to do in Vancouver, and we did want to be in Nanaimo before dark, we figured we would just go down to the terminal and wait in line all morning.

I was a little sluggish this morning, but we still managed to get everyone out of the hotel and get on the road just after 8:00am, arriving at the ferry terminal shortly after that.  Sandra specifically picked this hotel because of how easy it was to get to the ferry.  The girl at the ticket office didn't think we'd get on the 9:30 ferry, but it sounded like we'd easily make the 11:25 ferry.  However, we ended up being one of the final cars loaded on the 9:30am ferry, though I had to park on a very steep incline.  Once on board, I cancelled our 6:30pm reservation, bought a coffee and enjoyed the short trip to Vancouver Island, though we found out we weren't going to be able to meet with Sandra's aunt and uncle, which had been our plan for the afternoon.

Upon arrival in Nanaimo we drove to a grocery store for supplies, and then Sandra remembered the Dinghy Dock pub that we went to on our honeymoon 22 years ago.  It's a floating pub on a small island in the harbour only accessible by boat.  The boat runs every hour and we were there at the perfect time to get on the ferry and arrive at the pub for a wonderful lunch outside in the harbour.  Everyone enjoyed their food and we then took the boat back to the city.  Our next stop was a local bakery, as Bradley was determined to eat a Nanaimo bar in Nanaimo, after which we went to a used book store that looked interesting.

By that time we were ready to head to our motel, which was in the nearby town of Parksville.  It's a small, quaint motel, with long narrow rooms, so that every room has a deck or balcony with a beach view.  The tide was out when we arrived, and the beach was huge.  Bradley ran out into the sand and the water, finding crabs and wading out wherever he wanted.  The tide was coming in, and we quickly found ourselves trapped on a sand bar and had to wade to safety.

It was then time for supper and a free round of mini-golf, courtesy of the motel.