Sointula II


 Dickson point
Actually the locals call it the graveyard point or home point – because it's right near the cemetery
It is the beginning of the nice Kaleva Road: here we enjoyed another amazing view – and got more excited to see more of this road

 Biking along Kaleva Road

• Kalevala is a Finnish poetry and it played an important role in the development of the Finnish identity, the Finnish language and lead with the growing sense of nationality to Finland’s Independence of Russia in 1917
• The 1^st version of Kalevala was published in 1835

There is nothing better than to explore a nice ocean front road with the bike… because then you can stop all the time – only downside Paul’s hip was not so totally into it, so he turned around after a while to give it a rest and what is all to discover:

• Different views on the Main island – funky trees – more driftwood
• Long empty places because it was low tide some with sand – some with stones – some with huge boulders – and some covered in green sea weed – you can smell the ocean
• Some great wood carvings of the heron and the fish
• A lot of neat benches and picnic tables along the road
• and old junkyard
• funky houses with great view and you wonder what the people do
• and then the road ends going up a hill to give you an even better view

So let’s speed back and then we are ready for a break

 The best Beach site Campsite
Site # 1 left today… guess who moved in: sure we did – and since we have now such a great spot right on the ocean – why should we go to another spot for soaking up some sun… relaxing – walking on the beach over the peoples – trying to go in the inviting water for a swim (but then we did chicken out as soon as our feet hit the cold water)… and then cooking and having supper along the beach with the best view…

 Red mountain at night – campers delight
And afterwards sitting and enjoying the colors of the ocean and the mountains. Guess we will have another great day tomorrow as per Paul (tomorrow will proof if he was right). And today the colors were amazing!!!!! But maybe it is because we saw them until it was dark at 9 o’clock.

 Mateoja Heritage trail
-          you walk history – on the same way like the early pioneers traveled

If you are here you have to do this famous walk – and so we started out at the town’s water tower – went through the gate and our first part was:

•  huge old burned trees: first in the forest we saw some of those left over Giants and then later in a newer growth area – I’m not quite sure which was more impressive: the huge black burned stumps in the forest or seeing the black burned out trees still poking up like ghosts into the sky – some leftovers from the 1923 forest fire
•  The Matejoa 1900s homestead: so you wonder why someone went that far inland…. But what is left: they made a picnic area with a super funky picnic table in the middle of the forest – and a little bit further down you can see the remnants of the well and right after the next border sign that you leave (or enter) some iron artefacts like an old saw blade – they may use for cutting down the old Giants
•  Melvin bog: after some more up and a lot of steps down – you cross this bog with a lot of waterlilies in it…
•  Big lake: you know it’s actually a pond – so I don’t even want to imagine how big the "little lake" or the "pond" is – but it had a cute viewing platform with some picnic benches

And then we are on the way back and this time we saw the sun coming out – blue sky is coming!!!

 Coffee break on the ocean
Stupid question where else – with so many nice ocean front spots available – so picked the Canada table… and from there drove down to the end of the road to investigate some little treasures along the way

 Our last evening on the ocean
And so we sat there watched the last sunset – we will miss this campsite: where can you camp on the beach – in full sunshine and enjoy the tides, the views, the amazing sunsets and the fog.

And early sunny morning
We do not want to be the ones who are the first ones you have to wait for the next ferry…. So we got up early – and big surprise: the sun is shining and sparkling over the ocean – and as much as we always loved the fog – but having the morning sunshine is super!!
So after a quick morning coffee and saying good morning to the ocean we are on the way to

 Waiting line of the ferry
And since it is only 08.30 and the ferry leaves at 11 am – we are the first in line!! So we have another coffee – checking emails – phoning and before having breakfast and waiting more we go into

• The oldest grocery store in BC:That’s right – and we went shopping there found actually reasonable priced chocolate from Switzerland as well as very pricy BC milk and then we walked over to the Upper Crust bakery to get some more pastries for tonight
  
• More exploring: And there is still more to see here… so we walk around the block, discover another old building, another old ship
• We discover some great wall paintings and murals
• We check out the local community Market stand to see if there is something we need – all organic and grown here from the locals

Sacred are the Salmon that swim in the seaup a long river to feed a tall treeBlessed are the fisherman who fish upon the seacatching the Salmon to feed you and me

 The Turnaround ticket
So when driving on the ferry we told them that we would like to go to Alert Bay and then got a turnaround ticket, and with that you don’t have to pay for the next ferry ride – kind of cool. So we enjoyed the ferry ride back to Port McNeill and this time we recognized everything when leaving Sointula…. Enjoyed the sunshine and the view
What is kind of cool is in Port McNeill the Ferry actually turns totally around – like spinning a circle so we can drive off forward – did I mention there was a truck so close parked to our motorhome, that only 1 hand of Gine could go between them, kind of creepy.

 And on the next ferry we go
So we drive off the ferry – drive around the ticket booth and give her our turn around ticket and she gives us a 2 passenger ticket and there we are again in line and see there we meet the same ferry guys. And we are right up on the sun deck again… watching Port McNeill - and along the main land by the Haddington Island

 
Haddington Island is famous because:

• Here was in the 1900s a andesite quarry: a marble like rock used for the Parliament building in Victoria
• Otherwise it’s a cute little island we drove by often and saw daily - and from all sides

And there Cormorant Island we come…. We can already see the big house and the houses on the stilts so we are excited to drive off and explore: