Malcolm and Cormorant Island: A rainy warm up

Trip Dates: July 21st-24th, 2021

by Line

The trip was a little cool down from our weeklong stay on Nootka Island and a warm up to our Port Alice loop bike trip. Sure we also did some biking on this trip, but it was generally pretty chill. The trip started out with a ferry from Port McNeill to Sointula on Malcolm Island and a short 7 km bike trip across the island to Bere Point Campsite. It was just a week since I fell and dislocated my shoulder on the Nootka trail, so I wasn't sure how bike touring was going to go. We made sure that my bike was lighter than normal, so I didn't have to handle a heavy bike particularly when walking, but it was still a little nerve racking on the first day, especially once we got to the bumpy gravel roads. It seemed totally fine, though, and I enjoyed the ride across Malcolm. F on the other hand was not too stoaked due to the pretty good downpour, but N happily biked the first couple of kilometers through the little town of Sointula. She has been learning on her pedal bike the last 6 month, but only recently learned to start and stop independently. She was very proudly showing me how fast she could go. Luckily the road was not busy, because she had definitely not mastered the skill of riding in a straight line yet. 

"Look at me go, mom"

I though this washroom sign at the ferry terminal summed up the feeling on Malcolm island pretty well.

We spend two nights at Bere Point Campsite, which is a gorgeous place right by a beautiful pebble beach (apparently use by the Orcas for rubbing - we did not see any though). The kids enjoyed racing their bikes through the campsite all evening. On our second day the sun came out and we went for a walk along the Bere Point trail, spent a lot of time throwing rocks in the water and just relaxed. The campsite was filled with very kind people - multiple checking in with us to see if we needed anything from town. Turned out we needed some water as I had not picked up on the fact that no water was available at the site. The next day we started the bike back towards town, and I was already starting to feel more confident about my biking. I really liked the feel on Malcolm Island and I would have like to stay a bit longer, maybe at Harmony Shore Campground. If the weather had been for swimming, a trip to the local swimming hole, big lake, would also have been on the list, but we had to get on the ferry to Alert Bay as we were meeting our housemate, Noriko, there. 

The rain was suppose to start again that evening, so we sent Christian off to set up camp with the girls, while Noriko and I set off to pick up some Bannock from the Duchess cafe. Turned out their portions where a pretty healthy size, so we could have probably skipped dinner that night, but since it was already purchased it we decided we better burn some calories before another meal. So we braved the rain and biked over to check out the world's tallest totem pole, while also trying to find as many totem poles on the way. The visitor centre had a comprehensive guide of the totem poles and once back in the glorious picnic shelter at the campsite I enjoyed reading about the totem poles we had seen. 

The next morning I headed off early to prepare our stuff for the next leg of our trip, the Port Alice loop, but at the ferry terminal I learned that there was a ferry malfunction and that we should not expect regular service until late in the afternoon. There was however at water taxi taking foot passengers (and luckily bikes) over to the main land, so I went to check it out. At the dock I was quickly coached onto the water taxi as it was about to leave. The schedule was unclear, so I desperately tried to get in contact with Christian and Noriko both over cell phone and our inReach to let them know that they should get down to check it out sooner rather than later. It turned out not to be a problem as the ferry problem was fixed faster than anticipated and they met me at our agreed time in Port McNeil after I had stocked up on four days of groceries and some swim gear - anticipating better weather and lots on lakes on our next stretch towards Port Alice.