FROM PIER to BAY

 Sundown at the Pier. Sundown at Oyster Bay, Campbell River.  Quick. Grab a camera. Grab your friends, and family, and toddle down to the ocean. But hurry, the sun sets a little  faster every day. 

                                    Beautiful down at the Pier. In perfect light .............

 This week we got to go from the Pier to Oyster Bay with visiting friends, Ruth and Ian.We were so loaded down with camera gear, it was hard to  walk. So Ruth offered to  pack it along for us.

 
       Way to go, Ruth!                                       

         Ian and Ruth had earlier been sharing with us  their inspiring travel photography, from the Phillipines, Quangxi, Quinghai Province, China, Bali, Vijayanagan, Cambodia, to name a few. ( I'm sure I missed a few places, or have mispelled them).I learned  so much  from Ian's photography lessons, that we visited a local camera shop so I could pick up  a couple of  circular polarizing filters for my camera lenses. What a difference. Glare on water is  cut down, sky is vibrantly transformed......

The polarizing filter looks a lot like a lens from a sunglass, and when you rotate it, you can see changes in light. As a result the polarizing filter cuts out certain light to the camera, so you have to use longer shutter speeds, and try to keep the sun to your side and not at your back or shoot into the sun. But even if you do, the effects are surprising. And the night we went to the Pier, and Oyster Bay, the sunset did not disappoint.
  

At Salmon Point we were treated to something unique. The fishing boats were out in droves. And so were the leaping salmon. Hard to catch , and really odd to see:  hordes of sockeye on their run, throwing themselves out of the water.The only pic I could get was this one, with the leaping salmon in the centre ,  water ruffled beneath, as it flew intothe air.

      That old saying that the "fishing was so good they were  leaping into the boat", is  true. You could hear the slap on the water as the salmon smacked back into the ocean.

 We finally made it to Oyster Bay. Beautiful shoreline park between Courteany and Campbell River. A small area, about 4 and half acres, that takes about 15 minutes to toodle around.

About 158 species of birds have been found in the park. Winter birding at its best. It is along what is called the Pacific Flyway, a route for millions of birds that migrate. Mallard, American Wigeon, Ducks, Teals, and Northern Pintail,Glaucous-winged Gull, Mew Gull and Thayer's Gull. Ducks include Surf Scoter, Harlequin , Bufflehead, Goldeneye, plus Cormorants. I have also seen Swallows roosting in the pylons along the shore.And eagles, of course, sitting high up . Watching.

 
The mud flats give way to rocky beach, to sand bars and huge sky. This area was a relief camp at one time for out of work iron workers, and was built up with houses, back in the 30's. The camp was closed in the 1950's, and in the 1980's the area escaped several developers.  By 1989 Oyster Bay Park Association decided to set it up as a wildlife refuge.

                                   

And to think this bay was once considered for a coal port..................

     Kayaks drift up and down the passage, against a backdrop of mountains from the coast.

  

And the area is quiet , pristine, beautiful, and clean. With nothing but big sky and a few happy humans exploring its shores.

                                    

(Get more information about Winter Birding from http://islandnature.ca/)

FROM the SPIT

 In 1792, Captain Vancouver navigated these waters. He landed on Quadra island ( the right in the photograph) , which he named.Hewas so happy with the area that he decided to name a few more things, like the passage. He called it Discovery Passage.  First Nations people lived here peacefully  fishing in small communities.

 They lived and fished the salmon  ( K' u ta ' la) in the passage.

                                          

In 1778 Captain James Cook landed at Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound. By the 1880's there were many settlers who made this area  of Campbell River their permanent residence. All due to the salmon.It became a source of commercial livelhood and  the salmon fishing tourist was born.

 
 First Nations people became guides to those who came to fish on the shores of Tyee Spit. The Tyee Club was formed . They are still taking memberships to this day. You have to fish from a rowboat with a reel.....and try and catch a 30 pound Chinook.

In 1911 Strathcona Provincial Park was established.It was the first of the provincial parks. It protects over 250,000 hectares ( 600,000 acres)

      
 The Bald Eagle, (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus) is only one of over 150 bird species that live here.The  nests are in the arms of one of the tallest trees, closest to a food source. It's said that most eagles can live up to 50 years of age, and they mate for life. The day we were down at the spit, I saw tons of eagles fishing. Lots of young ones, with huge wing spans, swooping,sweeping, screeching......

     The Kwakwala word for Eagle is "Kwikw". In this part of the world, the Eagle is thought to be a leader of all wild things . He watches and protects .
   
 Across from the Spit is Quadra Island, and short ferry ride from Campbell River...............
                    ........Or you can hop on a float plane and experience the islands from the air. (I think I'll pass on that one)
 
 If you drive 1 1/2 hours north of Campbell River, you will hit Gold River, a town that popped up in 1965, during the days that the pulp mill appeared. From Gold River, you can also take a coastal ferry/freighter to Yuqot ( Friendly Cove). Tahsis ( pop over 800?) or Kyyquat ( pop 275?)( by last check of my info). This is where Captain James Cook showed up in 1778.

 "He clasps the crag with crooked hands, close to the sun in lonely lands, ringed with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls. He watches from his mountain walls, and like a thunderbolt he falls" (The Eagle, Alfred, Lord Tennyson)