Ted and I got a pretty early start on our ride from Nanaimo to Ucluelet. The ride was beautiful, crossing over to the less-developed side of the island. We rode some remote areas and the road got a little bumpy at times. There was a lot less traffic, and the drivers kept up a fast pace. We rode past some large lakes including Sproat Lake.
Ucluelet is a quaint fishing village on the west side of Vancouver Island. It is still an active port for professional fishing, although the locals will tell you it is not as commercially active as it once was in the 1930s and 1940s. Japanese fishermen used to fish out of Ucluelet until WWII when they were moved to internment camps with very few returning after the war.
The town has a nice, casual and local feel to it. But it has not escaped the influence of tourists and temporary residents. These seasonal visitors have juiced up the local economy, with many buying newly built and expensive condos, making the housing market hard for locals to afford - a pretty common story in the U.S. also.
Tomorrow, Ted and I will start heading back to Florida. We are at the furthest distance from Florida we will be on this trip - approximately 3,400 miles. The route home will depend on the weather. Because we are on motorcycles we will need to avoid any snow, ice and freezing conditions.
A cherry tree in full bloom next to the harbour
Seaplane parked at the docks in Ucluelet
Good sized fishing trawler at the dock
Professional fishing gear on one of the boats. I talked with a guy working on one of the boats and he said their crew caught their limit of 50,000 pounds of halibut in 4.5 days and were now refitting the boat to catch crab.
Ted at one of our rests during crossing the island
View from our room
Ted talking with "Ned" who with her husband own the Bayshore Waterfront Inn. The Inn is immaculate, not a speck of dirt of peeling paint. Ned and her husband have shipped a lot of the Inn's furnishing from her native Indonesia. She said they are fully booked this summer.
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