Unforgettable Jervis Inlet

Thank you, all, for your good thoughts for my grandson. The surgery was postponed for a day, but it is finally done, the surgeon says it went fine, and my grandson is resting peacefully. Now, I think, I can get back to normal life. (So will he, but it will take some time.)

So: back to the vacation series (alternating with current wanderings and visitors). These are from Saltery Bay, on the Sunshine Coast.

We arrived too early in the morning for the ferry, and went instead to Saltery Bay Provincial Park, a couple of kilometres back up the highway. Although it was past 9 AM, the water still had that hard-to-describe, but unforgettable, morning clarity, transparent at our feet, cool blue farther out. A light mist softened the distant hills. It was so quiet that tiny sounds stood out individually; a wavelet on the rocks, voices across the water, the whisper of a breeze in the evergreens.

The boat launch, blue water, and Laurie.

Swim gear drying on the edge of the boat launch.

The road down from the highway ends at Jervis Inlet, where there is a day-use picnic area. Campsites are in the next bay, closer to the ferry landing.

At anchor in the bay.

Mist and people standing in tiny boats.

Out fishing.

The two colours of the Sunshine Coast

Green:

Leaving Saltery Bay

And blue:

And heading south.

I've been busy, and I have an early morning ahead. Tomorrow, I'll post the details about the Rock Flipping Day.

Unspoiled shore

Sunshine Coast, Day three. Breakfast, pack, hurry south. Wait for the ferry on this beach...

Saltery Bay Provincial Park

"Idyllic," Laurie said.

End of a vacation in blues and greens

We're home again, tired, sunburned, and salty. We dawdled on the way home, taking random side-trips, exploring, discovering unexpected delights. I'll start sorting photos as soon as I get some sleep.

Family of diving birds, Saltery Bay

And for now, Goodnight, all!

An hour to kill

I'm still sorting our vacation pictures, in no particular order. My whim of the moment; that's the deciding factor.

The mouse landed on Saltery Bay today.

A destination arrived at.

From Saltery Bay, the ferry would take us to Earl's Cove. But we had over an hour to wait.

Nobody in the ferry lineup

So we walked into town. What there is of it: on Google maps, I counted 20 houses, on two streets. We covered half of one of those.

Cliff on the first corner. There's a house on top. Great view!

A patch of lichen growing on the rock.

It's a leaf lichen, with brown fruiting bodies.

More rock dwellers, with a polka-dotted leaf visitor.

Hawk-weed on the lip of the cliff.

Red stems, green leaves, white flowers of salal.

Lamb's ear. I love these furry leaves. The whole plant smells like bubblegum.

Crow and long shadow.

In front of the road-side burger-and-breakfast stand. The people were friendly, the crow hungry. But we'd already breakfasted, so he got no scraps from us. Next time, maybe.

Mock orange intertwined with blackberry canes, in an abandoned garden.

Reflections in a log-cabin window.

Near the landing, this tiny spider caught the light just right. It was too small for the naked eye: all I could see was the web and a dot in the centre.

Araneus sp.?

The centre of the web has an unusual bubble pattern. And the camera sees four eyes, and the "owl" pattern (or is it a cactus?) on the back. Sometimes my camera surprises me.

Ferry line-up. Time to go back to the car.

And here's the ferry, comin' for to carry us home. (Homeward, anyhow.)