DAY 5. SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND
Every meal we had at the Klahoose Resort was exquisite. Our dinner the first night was salmon. It was the second best salmon I have ever eaten. The best (and it will always be the best) was when we were backpacking the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. A fisherman came up to us one night and sold us a salmon he had just caught on the ocean. We grilled it over the fire and it was unbelievably delicious. Everyone in our group thought the same (and probably still agrees it was the best ever – I know my sister and brother in law still think so).
Much of the regular staff at Klahoose were out sick with COVID when we were there. Unfortunate, however I think we really lucked out on the replacement staff. The waitress was incredibly nice. The chef was amazing. And Roger the boat driver was above and beyond off the top nice. Here are some examples of what he did: (1) Firstly, he knew I liked waterfalls so he went out of his way to take us to some. He went to Racine Falls twice (on the way there and back – they don’t usually do this). (2) He took Nekoda and Tara out on the boat to check his prawn traps. (3) On the way home he stopped for 15 minutes at a rock island where seals were hanging out. This almost made us late for the ferry and the German family late for their flight, and their taxi driver to the airport was a bit perturbed about it – ha ha. (4) One day there was a black bear near the resort. It was off at the point in the distance (at the exact spot where my wife and daughter were swimming the day before). We could see it from the dock but it was a bit far away. Roger comes up to us and asks us if we want to go out in the little boat to see it closer. We all jumped at this. I sprinted back to the room to grab my camera, then he took us over to the point and we all saw the bear up close from the water. It was a very special experience. (5) He took us all on a second boat ride (us and the Iowa family) and not just anywhere but to Teakerne Arm Provincial Park where this is a nice waterfall. When I inquired about going here before the trip I was told it would cost an extra $2000 to go to Teakerne Arm. Ahh, no thanks. I do not want to pay $2000 to just see one 50 ft. high waterfall. I decided to skip it. But Roger took us here for no extra charge! I’m fairly certain if the main boat driver was not sick then we would not have been able to go here. We also got ice cream at the store in Refuge Cove and the Iowa family paid for Roger’s ice cream in appreciation (a small but very nice gesture).
On our first full day here we all got to go on a big boat ride to Toba Inlet. The first stop was at Brem River to see grizzly bears (unfortunately it is not the season to see grizzlies and we did not see any). We did not see much wildlife on this trip. Other than the black bear, we saw just a couple eagles and some seals. We really would have liked to see whales and grizzly bears but it was not in the cards. After Brem River, he took us to Racine Falls: An absolutely incredible waterfall dropping into the ocean at magnificent flow. We got soaked as he took us right under the falls and into the spray. I was busy trying to photograph the falls and did not realize we were about to get wet. Nekoda told me we were going under. I said that’s ok. She said, what about your other camera, it is about to get drenched. Oh yeah, I better move it! Thanks girl. It is very difficult to photograph a waterfall from a boat on the ocean. A tripod is useless so all my shots are hand held. Would I even get any decent photo? It was an incredible day in Desolation Sound.