Nanaimo goes by the moniker of “The Harbour City” which as you might have figured out means (1) it’s in Canada and thus harbor is spelled wrong and (2) it’s on the water.  We took advantage of these facts and decided to take the twenty minute ferry ride over to Gabriola Island.

To quote Bart Simpson, I always like trying out new material on the road.  Sometimes I do that without even realizing it which is what happened while we were parked waiting for the ferry. When you are waiting in your car for the ferry, there are  several rows of cars parked close together until the ferry arrives and unloads the cars on it before the next set of cars drives on.  I didn’t realize that L had rolled down the window of the car.  While we are waiting, I’m reading through the brochure about the ferry and I notice that next to our time for the ferry are the written the letters “DC” (and “DC” is not written next to most of the times).  Wondering what this means, I scan the page to find out that DC stands for Dangerous Cargo.  I say to L that we’re in luck that this ferry can handle dangerous cargo, and then point at her and say “That’s you!”.  At this time the guy in the truck next to us is laughing hysterically.  L’ asks him what he thinks is so funny to which he replies (roughly) “I think all women are dangerous cargo…and  you can ask my three ex-wives!”.  It was very funny and we chatted with the man we would learn is Dave the Alpaca Farmer.   Aside from correcting my parking while on the ferry, he told us that he calls his wife “Whiteout” because “she’s always correcting me”.   While we didn’t visit the Alpaca Farm, we can’t help but recommend him as funny, hard working fellow.

After departing the ferry, we stopped for lunch.  This was a dud in the sense that it took forever.  I’m a patient guy, but over an hour waiting for a couple of sandwiches is absurd.  They gave us a few dollar gift card for our trouble which we used to get a  cookie.  Still, L’ was grouchy by the time the food came and neither of us were thrilled to have lost so much time waiting for what should have been a quick lunch.  We won’t be returning to Raspberry Jazz Café.

Finally fed, we hit the sites of the island.  First up were the Malaspina Galleries, interesting sandstone formations along the coast.  This turns out to be a quick stop.  The island is small, so we take the short ride to the Silva Bay Shipyard School, which has an open house today.  It’s a place to go if you want to learn the dying art of wooden boat building.  The man working there tells us about the school and we admire the craftsmanship of the boat that is on display.  From here we go wander Drumbeg Park, for some walking along the coast.  It’s scenic and not too cold.

There are still a few hours of daylight left and L’ is itching to go kayaking.  After finally tracking down Jim of Jim’s Kayaks, L’’s got a rental kayak and was off for some exploring of the very calm waters between the various islands.  I opt to chill at the adjacent bar so I can read a magazine, sit in the sun, and enjoy my cold beer until L’ returns an hour later.

From here, we stop for pizza before the ferry back to Nanaimo.  The pizza at Woodfire Pizza and Pasta is good an we are pleased that the ferry is mostly empty and we don’t have to sit in a huge line like we saw others doing when we first arrived on the island.   We’re then back at the B&B in time to pack up and prepare for our final day and flight tomorrow.

View all the trip photos here:

http://sanjoseabrams.com/photos/VancouverIslandAug2011/