Vancouver Island is on the west coast of Canada. The island is less than a 2-hours ferry ride from the mainland. There is an abundance of activities on the island, from hiking in the old growth forests, to surfing, to wild life watching, to walking in beautiful gardens, to sun bathing on beaches, to enjoying magnificent landscape, all available for you while you are on the island.
The city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, is on the island. Victoria is crowned “Garden City” because of several gardens with beautiful flowers and plants.
San Josef Bay
San Josef Bay is on the west coast of Northern Vancouver Island, in Cape Scott Provincial Park. It’s voted as one of 50 the most beautiful beaches in the world. Before you jump in your car and head over there, make sure you download an off-line map of the route because there is no cell signal after you leave Port Hardy, and the route has smalls signs which are easy to miss. You need to pay attention to the road from Port Hardy to the beach. The road from Port Hardy to the trail head is 60 km of bumpy, dusty, pot-holed gravel road. It takes you at least one and half hour drive from Port Hardy to the beach, more if you are stuck behind a slow moving vehicle or you are not comfortable driving the road. It’s also an active logging road therefore you need to yield to logging trucks.
You need to make sure you are well prepared for the drive. The road is a good workout for shocks and tires of your cars. We saw at least two cars broken down on the road.
Once you get to the parking lot, you may not be able to find a spot in the main lot because most people are there for camping therefore they leave their cars in the parking lot for days. You can park along the road leading to the park lot.
From the parking lot, follow the main trail to the beach. It’s about 40 minute walk on a relatively flat and wide trail. The trail has clear trail markers and signs. People are pushing wagon carts or baby strollers on the trail. You are walking under shade all the way until you hit the beach.
The white-sand beach is a paradise-wild, clean and not crowded. The beach is famous for its sea stacks. You may want to time your visit for low tides so you can walk on the white sand beach and get close to the world-famous sea stacks.
Whale watching in Northern Vancouver Island
We joined a whale watching tour out of Port McNeill. We saw countless sea otters, sea lions, dolphins, orcas and humpback whales. It seems Northern Vancouver Island is a better place to do whale watching comparing to the southern island (Victoria).
