This morning we had to set an alarm! Today was strength training in Courtenay and the dentist for a cleaning in Courtenay, with lots of time to kill in between.
I somehow tweaked my knee on the rocky shores of Deep Bay yesterday so I wasn’t sure what I would be capable of today with my trainer. Luckily he is a pretty creative guy and understands injuries well, and we were still able to have a great work out. I’m now up to 17.5 lbs on my hamstring pulls and 12.5 lb weights on my overhead single arm lifts. I started at 2.5lbs and 5 lbs respectively, so we are really making progress, and I’m getting stronger. I renewed with him today for another 10 sessions which will take me to the end of March. I’m going to miss having such great one on one coaching with Paul, when I go back home. I will have to find someone to work with to keep getting stronger back in Fort Erie, or in the Niagara Peninsula.
While I was busy working out, Richard went and took Jerry to the ‘spa’. Finally he got his car wash a week after we had really dirtied him up on Salt Spring Island.
Richard also stopped by Lordco and spoke to a salesperson about what adhesive he should use to glue the head light covers back on Jerry. The salesperson knew exactly what we needed and said he had used the exact same adhesive for his brother’s head lights. We will have to wait now until it warms up a bit before Richard attempts to use the glue, as it is getting colder everyday this week.
Jerry is looking particularly clean!
Since we had not really explored the waterfront homes in Comox, we decided we would take a drive to the Little River area of Comox, where we had seen there were some estate homes for sale on the water. We find it is always best to drive up and down the streets in a subdivision and area, to get to know a place. We parked Jerry ( see photo above) and headed down to the beach.
Looking out from the beach in the Little River area, north of Comox we could see across to the mainland of B.C. and the smoke under the clouds at 3 o’clock is Powell River.
Looking down the beach from Little River across the Salish Sea/Strait of Georgia to the Coastal Mountains on the mainland of B.C. It was -1C this morning when we were out on the beach, and it was cold with the wind coming in off the sea.
A pretty rugged beach with lots of large pieces of driftwood floating on the beach and floating in the sea.
We drove over to the Estate homes in Little River, but we were not impressed with their view for the $2.6million price tag. The homes were right beside the Powell River ferry dock. What an ‘eyesore’ for the price and the homes had no trees or landscaping. Not a nice spot for that price!
We headed up the coast a bit north of the Comox/Powell River ferry and we came upon a little beach access point called ‘Cloudcroft Beach Access’. We parked Jerry and headed down to see what the beach and view were like.
Very steep stairs heading down to Cloudcroft Beach.
Cloudcroft beach was completely full of these very large, slippery stones. The view was better from this location, but the waters are rough because there is no ‘breakwater’ which is provided by the islands where we are in Fanny Bay, such as Denman & Hornby Islands.
We had time, so we kept driving north along the coast and got as far as Merville. Merville was where the husband and wife team at the Saturday Courtenay market live, who we bought the amazing baked goods from. We decided that the area was way too ‘rustic’ and lacked little ‘charm’, so we headed back to Courtenay to visit a garden centre.
We really like Art Knap-Garden centre in Courtenay, having bought our garden seeds from them a few weeks ago. We had heard today that there will be a shortage of seeds this year, so we decided to stop and pick up some more vegetable seeds, while we know they are in stock. The racks were getting pretty empty already, given that people have already started their seedlings indoors here. I was very happy to round out the seeds we had already purchased with some more interesting seeds.
We definitely had some ‘good timing‘ today to be able to get our seeds! Last year we ordered our seeds in February and didn’t get them from Stokes until the end of March. It was really disappointing to wait so long for seeds, when the garden centres were either closed or on curb side pick up only. When we get home we will start our seeds immediately and also do more container gardening in pots on the deck this year. Last year with my broken femur, unfortunately the garden got away from us. I’m hoping this year we will have more time to look after the garden properly!
After making our quick trip to the garden centre we headed to my dental cleaning appointment.
Comox Valley Dental office. The service at this office has been wonderful for someone who is just visiting the Province of B.C. I would recommend them highly to anyone! I even got a polish and fluoride treatment today, which I had not been able to have in Ontario all of last year. The hygienist gowned up and had a mask, shield, head covering and gloves on during the treatment.
Richard’s job while I was at the dentist was to find us somewhere to go for lunch. He failed.
Richard took it for granted that the ‘Tidal Cafe’ on Port Augusta Street in downtown Comox would be open for lunch. Wrong! They close at 2pm and of course we got there at 2pm. The owner of Tidal Cafe recommended a couple of spots we could try for lunch, but we stumbled upon another sushi restaurant and knew we had to try it.
Sushi Kobo made amazing sushi and lunch for both of us was only $8!
We saw this sign leading us down to a green space in downtown Comox and decided to go and check it out. We were looking for somewhere outdoors to sit and eat our sushi. The sun had warmed up the day to +6C, and we were in the mood for a picnic.
We forgot to take pictures before we ate our sushi today. Richard had the salmon sushi with some shrimp. We rated their sushi as one of the best sushi we have had since being on the West Coast.
As we walked through the Comox Harbour Greenway we couldn’t help but notice the beautiful flowers that were in bloom already!
I really like the bokeh (circles of light) on the background of the pink flowers!
We had never walked down the boardwalk in the Comox Harbour yet, so since it was such a lovely sunny day, we headed down to the boardwalk to see what we could see!
Comox Harbour boardwalk. The harbour was once known as ‘Port Augusta’. The waters in the Comox Harbour played an important role in the maritime history of B.C. Used by the Royal Navy in the mid-1800’s the worth of this deep-water bay and protective sandy spit proved invaluable. In 1862 James Robb arrived in the area and he saw the potential for a future shipping site on this location and pre-empted the land with the vision of building a wharf. He had hoped to sell the town lots and secure his family’s fortune, but the land was heavily timbered and required years of backbreaking work to clear the slope down to the water. In 1874, the wharf was constructed for $3,337 and consisted of a pier 1035 feet long and 12 feet wide. The wharf became known as ‘The Landing’ and allowed the transfer of good and people to shore without the cumbersome need for tenders. Through the late 1800’s and 1900’s a number of famous vessels visited this marina such as ‘The Beaver’, ‘The Cariboo & Fly’ and ‘The Grappler’. These ships brought household goods, medical supplies, mail and livestock to the early European settler‘s of the Comox Valley. With no practical roads connecting Comox to the southern communities on the Island until 1910, the harbour provided the only link to larger centres like Victoria and Nanaimo.
Comox Valley Harbour Authority
I’m trying to convince Richard we should buy a sailboat and at this point he is gritting his teeth saying ‘that would be a lot of work to learn’! Almost as difficult as learning how to RV in Newman I bet!
Dressed a bit warmer today and trying to shoot the seal and sea otter in the harbour.
Beautiful day in the Comox Harbour looking back to Royston and the Vancouver Island Mountain ranges.
A sea otter playing in the water of the Comox Harbour.
A seal in the Comox Harbour today. Seals don’t come as close to shore when there are humans around.
View from the end of the Boardwalk in the Comox Harbour. Looking back towards Courtenay on the right, Royston on the left and the Vancouver Island Mountain ranges in the background.
As I was following the sea otter and seal with my camera, I was able to catch the sea otter under water with a fish in his mouth. He was swimming pretty quickly so you have to look closely to see the fish, but it was a very big fish!
The sea otter was heading under the pier and I was able to shoot down and catch him quickly as he swam with the fish in his mouth.
Here is another shot with the fish in the sea otter’s mouth. I guess I had some more ‘good timing’ today in the harbour! I never would have imagined being able to catch this shot with the sea otter grabbing a fish in his mouth!
After visiting the Comox Harbour we headed for home, stopping at Union Bay for our mail. We didn’t have any mail today, so we will check again another day!
We are thinking of heading down to Ladysmith tomorrow. We have had recommendations on the bakery in town that it makes the best ever cinnamon buns.
So we will have to go and check them out!
Since we have explored a lot of the Comox Valley, we are now going to do longer day trips, to make sure we explore as much as we can while we are on the Island. The Ladysmith and Duncan area are definitely towns we want to check out!
Some days things just work out, despite not really having a full agenda at the beginning of the day. We definitely had some ‘good timing’ today every where we went!
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