Tours of Exploration Travellers' Blog

Soames Hill Hike Sunshine Coast Szilvia Paradi

By Szilvia Paradi

July 10, 2020 - Today is the day!  A much-anticipated trip to the Sunshine Coast to visit Catherine’s hometown and base for Tours of Exploration in Gibsons.  I made sure that I had packed for all conditions – ticking off my camera, hikers, sunscreen, a baseball hat, rain-jacket, and of course, travel snacks from my list.  

Ferry-travel between British Columbia’s coastal regions during the COVID-19 pandemic is not unpopular – each ferry I boarded was quite full of passengers. 

Builders of the railroad to Churchill Manitoba probably had no idea that their new grain shipping port, which provided a link from the Prairies to the Arctic Ocean, lay just 40 km north of the world’s largest polar bear denning area. For millennia, the Arctic’s most iconic mammal has come ashore along the western coastline of Hudson Bay to wait out the time until the ice freezes again so that they may begin their annual seal hunt.

Last week our deck dining was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of whale blow. I turned in time to watch two humpbacks ever so close to shore finish their breath and submerge.

When my daughter graduates this spring from the University of Saskatchewan I am leaning towards taking VIA rail. I must convince my husband of the virtues of long distance train travel.