- Travel to the remote north of Vancouver Island to Telegraph Cove
- Lunch stop with further chess lessons for Niki
- Visit to the local whale museum
Today is all about driving north. The same procedure as often in the last few days: extensive breakfast in the warming morning sun. We briefly use the available internet and let Pap celebrate a happy birthday. Then we drive quickly northwards via Comox and Campbell River to the lonely north of the island. The route is quite lonely and not too exciting, as large areas of land have been cut down again and again. Every now and then a logging truck with huge logs drives past. Incredible that these centuries-old trees still do not enjoy the protection they deserve everywhere. The forest companies here in British Columbia are simply too powerful and the income and jobs generated from them are too important for the province to protect the unique environment more consistently.
At a rest stop we make a vegetable dip and sandwiches before playing two more rounds of chess. After another hour of driving we come to the junction at Telegraph Cove. The place turns out to be more of a tourist nest. There are only a few historical buildings in the port area. There is also a hotel, a few villas, two campsites and tour operators. The place is considered to be the world's best place to watch killer whales. In addition to whale whatching, full-day tours across the Johnsone Strait to remote inlets on the mainland to watch grizzly bears have been possible for some years now, but at around 300 $ these are three times as expensive. We book an orca tour for tomorrow morning too, after which we visit the small museum on whales and other animal species in the region. The dimensions of the fin whale skeleton are gigantic. We stay at the expensive but sunny campground right by the harbor and read a bit before we prepare dinner.
