Our accommodation in Ucluecet is primarily used for fishing parties I would think. Ours was one of the downstairs rooms; comfortable beds, large enough and a nice ensuite.
Although it was barely light when we woke up I went for a quick walk around in the dank drizzle.
I wonder if our plane to Great Bear Lodge will be this small!
All the equipment serious fishermen need.
There were no catering facilities here so we drove a short distance to a hotel on Black Rock Beach for breakfast - delicious - and it gave us a good clue about the speed some of the group were to think/move for the rest of the trip. After eating we walked down onto the beach with the hope of seeing whales (most likely grey but an outside chance of Minke or Orca) but unfortunately only just a couple of seabirds in the distance.
There were quite a few large logs lying around and they rather reminded me of fat cigars.
Numerous kinds of seaweed, some of which we've not noticed before in our travels.
Including the strange looking Nereocystis luetkeana (Bull Kelp/Bladder wrack) which is an annual with a ball shaped end and then a very long stem which can grow upto 36m.
I got a bit fed up with the flat grey sky so decided to replace it!
We then drove about 20 mins to the port of Tofino where we were to board a boat to look for Black Bears - hope it's not this one!
Our Captain (with permission)
It didn't look too hopeful to be seeing anything as we set off.
For some reason I'd imaged Canada to be very environmentally aware and was actually quite shocked to see this massive logging operation so close to bear habitat.
After about 40 mins we caught our first distant sighting of a Black Bear.
Unfortunately this boat got too close and spooked it back into the woods (there are strict guidelines as to how close you can get but apparently there have been a couple of new boatmen this year who ignore the rules).
By now the mist had more or less cleared and the scenery was beautiful.
Commercial fishing of some sort.
You could easily miss these Harbour Seals lolling on the rocks.
We then came to a mother and cub feeding on the shoreline, the cub was apparently a yearling and would soon become independent.
Meanwhile over the side of the boat, I think this is known as a Egg Yolk Jelly Fish.
Back at the boat station and the weather was beautiful.
This tree looked like a human with a walking stick to me.
We went once again to a supermarket to buy lunch and drove to an uninspiring local park to eat it. We then drove to the Wickaninnish
Visitor Centre, which apparently had a good exhibition on First Nation people, but it was closed for a special holiday, so we continued our journey to the nearby
Shore Pine Bog Trail where we walked for about 1/2 hour and saw just 2 birds!
Back in Ucluelet our little harbour looked a lot more welcoming than it had done this morning. We all went for a walkabout but nothing of much interest to see.
California Sea Lions if you look closely.
Least Sandpiper
Lithodora diffusa which grows on our rockery at home but usually flowers earlier in the year.
For dinner we went to nearby Frankies which is famous for its fish and chips - very nice too.