Cortez Island – August 24 – 29, 2014
So it's Gine’s birthday and her wish is to check out another island: so this year it will be Cortez Island… so we go exploring…

 
 Waiting for the Ferry 1^st
So we left Comox in time and arrived at the Ferry station 10 Min before the ferry left – so that means we have to wait for the next one: since this one is full

 
 Waiting on Quadra Island
And we cross Quadra Island and now we wait again for the ferry: so we walked over to Heriot Bay, the campground, visited the tiny Marina – and enjoyed the nice views over to all the islands until finally we go on the ferry

 
 An amazing boat ride to Cortez Island
This 45 Min Ferry ride is amazing, we see a lot of islands – it’s more a cruise. We really enjoyed it with all the amazing views.

 
 The best Campsite in the Park – Smelt Bay Provincial Park
We normally don’t reserve, but we discovered Cortez Island does not has that many campgrounds: and Smelt Bay PP is a very small campground. The first time we checked there was no side for the while time available… so we decided we drive and if we get one great if not we go on the private one. Then a few days before our trip … a camp side came up for the exact time we needed it – so we booked it and how amazing – it’s the best campsite in the park one of the 2 sides with a view….
Since it is late and evening… there was not much to do…

And would we book again: No because if you go in the overflow parking: you are down at the ocean… and you don’t have to walk down – who cares about a picnic table: it’s all about location

 
 We explore the wonderful beach with the giant rocks
Upside: it’s a super awesome beach
Downside: it’s a long walk down – and the way we walked impassible for the RV (good thing we soon discovered another paved way)
So we went down and walked along the amazing beach: sandy beach, lots of big rocks lying in the water and on the beach… endless sandy ways to walk in low tide and lots and lots of cool shells, oysters and sea dollars – we did a lot of exploring

 
We have sunshine!!
After we came back to our "beach" – the sun comes out… and that means we enjoy sitting in the sun… checking out the water and relax – we feel like we are on vacation 


 Paul's relaxing and Gine is on the go
as it happens once in a while - Paul thinks it is time to relax and do nothing except enjoy the view - the sunshine and let the bones warm up.... as where Gine thinks it is too nice and we need to go and explore again... so Paul kept an eye on the motorhome and made sure no one steels the chairs... Gine goes and explores more of the beach.....
 
An old cemetery
 On our next day we decided to explore a little more: so the 1^st stop is on the old cemetery on the island – it’s tiny and cute…

 
 Manson’s landing
We were here before with our boat and we loved it… so we come here again. And lucky for us the tide is out and we can walk through the Lagoon, climb on the islands….
Check out all the sea life in the tide pools – enjoy the view from the top of the hill – see millions and millions of live and dead sand dollars… sometimes the bottom is black and you can’t even see the sand.
We also checked out the open side of the little spit with the boat ramp… saw the place coming in… and remember that we were here once without boat too.
We thought let’s stay here for the day… but it was too hot so we went back to our PP beach. 

 
 An afternoon on our beach
A little bit smarter now and we drove down: park right at the ocean and have everything handy… the coffee, the chairs and enjoy some more relaxing time on the beach