Christmas on Vancouver Island

Yum

We spent Christmas in Victoria with my sister Dorothea.  On our way Leo had an appointment with the pacemaker clinic in Kamloops.  We'd made a reservation for the 7 pm ferry sailing under the impression we could amend it if we couldn't make it in time.  However the day before all the sailings were cancelled due to weather so all the ferries were fully booked on our sailing day.  And they closed the Coquihalla highway as well due to snow.  Leo had a 1:30 appointment and the clinic told him to come in early as they might be able to slip him in early.  Fortunately they took him him as soon as we arrived at 11 am; we never would have made it on time on the Fraser Canyon route.  In the end the drive through the Canyon was uneventful eventful except for all the transport trucks rerouted from the Coq.  We made it to the ferry with a half hour to spare.

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve at Dorothea's house (see above) and then present opening on Boxing Day at Stephen and Heidi's house in Nanaimo.

On December 27th we drove to Ucluelet for a 3 day getaway with Dorothea and our friends Janet and Rod, in town from Montreal.

We stopped at the Malahat for a view over the Saanich Inlet.

We stayed in the vacation rental Dorothea stays in every March with her hiking friends. 

We had the second floor and a young family were in the first floor apartment.

It's very nice inside.

On the first night Dorothea and I walked down to Terrace Beach (5 minutes away).  There was a group of people having a bonfire on the beach.

Then we checked out the Terrace Beach Resort, all lit up for Christmas. It's a warren of elevated walkways between the cabins.  Fun fact:  it used to be owned by Jason Priestly of Beverly Hills 9110 fame.  According to the resort website it was designed to give the "feel of a 1920s oceanfront fishing village nestled amidst the lush rainforest."

The next morning we walked the lighthouse loop starting at Terrace Beach.

It was quite drizzly so maybe that's why I didn't get a picture of the lighthouse.

In the afternoon we drove to the visitors' centre for Pacific Rim National Park.  We were shown the pelt of a sea otter.

Visitors' Centre in background

We walked a portion of Long Beach.  It was low tide and I was excited to find one sea star hiding in the crevice of a rock.  Starfish used to be abundant on the BC coast but 90% of the population has been lost to sea star wasting disease since 2013.