Parksville is a small city on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island fronting Craig Bay. Sue and I shared a lovely house with Sue’s sister Sharon, her husband Byron and son Kyle. This is a very popular resort with some nice sandy beaches backed by and separated from the urban area by a line of pine forest. Large quantities of driftwood, the size of full trees is a feature of all of the beaches on the Island.
Here’s a panorama of the bayfront with the tide out followed by a few shots from the shoreline.
From our base at Parksville we took a day trip out to Tofino, a pretty district of wild coast and forest on the western, Pacific side of Vancouver Island. There is good surf and impressive storms on this part of the Island coast which are a huge draw for tourists and increase the population to many times its normal, winter, size. Here are some views from the beach.
The forests hugging the coast near Tofino are Temperate Rain Forests, protected within the Pacific Rim National Park.
Just down the coast to the south of Parksville is the attractive city and port of Nanaimo with many craft stalls run by indigenous people, the freshest fish and chips, a colourful waterfront and a variety of street entertainment.
