We caught one!  Ok, really, Jason caught one.  He did great!

Jason’s big catch: a 14 lb King Salmon. Cap’n Chris approves!

Luckily, Jason’s big fish bit on the first day.  It was lightly hooked on its upper lip, but Jason was a good fisherman and gently reeled her in.  She weighed about 14 pounds, and we ate her for the next three nights in camp!

Chris cuts the fish. Note the roe – definitely a girl!

Beautiful trees in our campground site

Tofino is this little tourist town at the very end of the road on West Vancouver Island.  It is on the edge of the Pacific Rim National Park and a magnet for big waves, surfers, trendy young people, and funky old fishermen.  We spent three full days here with Daisy’s dad, giving us time to reorganize our belongings, rest up, and fish fish fish.

We spent three days on the water, hoping to catch a big salmon.  Unfortunately, the fog was dense over the water all day every day, which made things difficult.  Also, I (Daisy) get sick on the boat, which seems to upset everyone but me.  I just see it as a cost of spending time with my dad on the water:  get sick, feed the fish my already-been-chewed breakfast, then feel good and keep fishing!

Cap’n Chris navigates through the fog

Cat Face Mountain

Naptime on the boat

Daisy’s big catch was this piece of kelp.

Daisy loves kelp

Finally, the other notable event during our time in Tofino happened in camp when we weren’t even there!  Some little animal found our not-quite-closed bear canister full of goodies, dragged it across the campsite and into the woods, untwisted the cap, and had itself a buffet.  We suspect a clever raccoon.  It was remarkable to imagine a creature little bigger than a fat housecat, running away with our big jar of food!

Next time we’ll lock the top even when there aren’t any bears around.

After Tofino, we zipped right through southern Vancouver Island in about a day and a half.  It alternated between horrendous riding on the side of the main highway (speed limit: 75 mph), and incredible side roads through farmland.  We visited the picturesque Victoria, and took a ferry back to the US.  More on all that later though!

Right now, we are in Port Angeles – in Washington State!!  I am home again!  We will write up a nice summary of our time in Canada, and post it later this week.  Now we are hunkering down to get some dissertation written, riding out to the rugged Washington coast, and then visiting family.