My original plan was to travel by ferry from Port Hardy, at the top of Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert but when it came to making the ferry reservations, not available when I made my plan, it turns out they are infrequent until June and even waiting to June the journey would not work, so it was back south to Nanaimo where I will take the ferry back to Horseshoe Bay on the mainland tomorrow morning. I followed BC-19A along the coast rather than the faster BC-19 inland highway from where it starts at Campbell River. It took me to places like Miracle Beach above where there were some mothers and toddlers having fun on the beach. There were more mature visitors, like me. The day did not start sunny in fact there were a few rain showers between Port McNeill and Campbell River. As usual there are very few places to stop so I grabbed a snap through the windshield with the G5X. Another factor in this area were fires in the forest creating an unpleasant taste in the air and reduced visibility. I don’t know if they were planned management or accidental. As I have become accustomed the northern roads are almost empty but the traffic built as I drove south from Campbell River until it was town traffic at Nanaimo. Not a problem as I had plenty of time. The tide was ripping through the Seymour Narrows, just north of Campbell River. At Holmes Point at Comox there were a pair of very happy dogs and a patient heron backed by the snowcapped mountains in the centre of the island. I passed the oyster beds at the strangely named Oyster Bay in pleasant afternoon sunshine and eventually arrived at Nanaimo where my hotel looks out on the inside passage. As sunset came on, it created some nice lighting on shipping in the bay and an apartment building across the road.