TRAVEL DAY
From: Marble River Recreation Site, between Port Alice & Port McNeill, BC.
To: Alder Bay RV Park & Marina, Telegraph Cove, BC.
Day 301 – It was 57 degrees and cloudy this morning when we got up. We took our time packing up to leave Marble River. We hated to leave this peaceful place. A couple of pictures follow: one, Robins were happily eating berries off a tree as we were preparing to leave; and two, after the screened tent was taken down we could plainly see a log seat carved by someone before us, for sitting by the fire (the tent had blocked it previously).
We departed at 11 a.m. It was 61 degrees. We took Highway 30 to Highway 19 south past Port McNeill to Beaver Cove Road, turning left and driving towards the Ocean. We arrived at our new campground, Alder Bay RV Park & Marina at 11:45 a.m., a short journey, and this made the girls very happy. It was 59 degrees, breezy, with a little sun trying to peek out from behind the clouds. We will be here for 5 nights and were checked in to site #068, a large campsite with full hook-ups and a view over the marina and boat launches to Alder Bay.
This campground is large with campsites for tents, RVs & Trailers, seasonal and full-timers, and what they call cabins (but they really are a group of very nice tiny houses). The campsites are situated on terraced land so that almost every site had a water view. This is an extremely popular fishing destination, and many of the campers had boats with them. Since the campground is at a marina and there are boat launches and kayak rentals, too, it’s a very busy place. They have a food truck on site, Roxy’s Diner, with outdoor eating on several patios. The place is well-maintained and quite organized. Not a private campsite in Jurassic Park, but it would do.
We let the girls out and we all had lunch, Rob emptied tanks and filled us up with drinking water, we unpacked, then Rob and I took off to run a couple of errands. First we went to Telegraph Cove to check in with Tide Rip Grizzly Bear Adventures, the guides who will be taking a group out to the Great Bear Rainforest on the BC mainland. It will be an all-day tour. We have to be there at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.
Tide Rip was located near the end of a pier in an historic area of Telegraph Cove. We spent lots of time looking at the old, restored buildings and reading the signs.
After our walk at Telegraph Cove and checking in at Tide Rip, and since there was no Post Office in Telegraph Cove, we drove to Port McNeill to mail a few items. We also stopped at the visitor’s center in Port McNeill to get more information on Cormorant Island and Alert Bay, a trip we may make while we are in this area.
Our campground at Alder Bay was exactly halfway between Port McNeill and Telegraph Cove. This will be very convenient in the next several days. We returned to the RV and sat outside for an hour before dinner, looking out over the Bay. There are lots of Bald Eagles here, and we watched several fly over; one of them was harassing a duck. The high today was 62 degrees with partial sunlight.