Denman and Hornby Isles

Sitting in the car on the ferry preparing to cross the Lambert channel, it became obvious that we were ready for our road trip to be over. We we're headed to another beach called Big Tribune, known as Little Hawaii. Both kids had runny noses and Ollie had a persistent cough. We were spending most of our time parenting the kids. Toby is starting to ask to go home again. Even Ollie said he could hardly wait to get back.

And then we got to the beach! We parked the car on a tree lined avenue between a provincial park and a private campground. Everywhere people were flip flopping towards the water carrying stand up boards or wheeling sailboats (I've seen more than a couple of Lasers out here). At the end of the road there was a cart renting paddle boards, kayaks, and skim boards. A narrow dirt path slinked through some bushes and spilled out into a beach 1000 meters wide. There were some large sailboats moored in the bay and although there were a lot of people, the area was large enough that there seemed to be wide open space. We threw our towels down, effectively setting up shop on the fluffy white sand near the back of the beach where high tide wouldn't reach. The darker wetter sand ran at least a couple of hundred metres to where people were wading and playing in the water. Ollie met a friend, a 10 year old girl, who had a skim board. He went with her and some older kids to see how it was done. He came back and reported he had tried it once, fell flat on his face, and declined anymore attempts. Him and I floated out on our alligator to the end of one of the spits. The whole area was filled with sweeping sculptures of sandstone hoodoos layered in with pock filled mud stone. We watched some boys crab hunting with a net. I heard them say they could get 5 bucks per crab from a local restaurant. Ollie climbed up and down the sandstone monuments. We spotted a bald eagle with a head as white as snow flying over the shore. Toby mostly played in the sand with the cousin of Ollie's friend while Jessica enjoyed an open air massage under a tent for a half hour. Around 5:00 we packed up and drove back to the cable ferry that would return us to Denman Island.

The next day the boys and I ventured off around noon to look for Tree Island. We heard you can walk there at low tide. We found the trail head and walked down a half dozen or so flights of steep, wooden steps (105 of them)from the crest of the Komas bluffs to Morning beach. Other than some guy swimming nude in the distance we were all alone. We hobbled along the rocky shore which was unstable enough that Toby couldn't make much progress. I would carry him over the rocks and put him down on the sandy parts. We found a patch of sand right at the water edge and we enjoyed a perfectly secluded private pure sand beach until we were ready to move on. Along the way we hunted crabs, squished little spongy things, rock hopped, picked up shells and rocks, having a blast. Then we crossed the channel to the island and we were literally walking on the bottom of the sea. Ollie kept finding moths and naming them names like Ken and Jefferson. Toby wanted to be carried constantly so we made up a song about him:

It's goody to be a lazy Daisy,
On a woodsy walk.
Riding daddy's shoulders,
Over slippery rocks.

It's goody to be a lazy Daisy
On the bottom of the sea.
Riding daddy's shoulders
Unless it's daddy you happen to be.

We were singing this and feeling pretty good about ourselves in our yellow submarine when Ollie stepped up on a seaweed covered boulder, slipped and wiped out slicing his hands and left knee on some gnarly barnacles. By this time we were a couple of km out and neither kids could walk independently over the rocks, both were crying and Ollie was bleeding out on the sand. After some urgent explanation that no one cared to hear I swooped up Ollie and carried him a couple of hundred meters until the rocks became impassable by Toby. I put him down and carried Toby a hundred meters than walked back and picked up Ollie. I repeated this for a good portion of the way back. Eventually Ollie started limping after me when I was carrying Toby so I had less distance to cover when I came back for him. When we reached the sandy area by the water I set them both down on a log and ordered them not to move so I could go swimming and give my sweaty body some relief. When I hiked back to where I left them they had filled my hat with sand and rocks which they placed on my head after asking me to close my eyes and bend down. We made it back to the car and went out for dinner for our last night on Denman Island.Read more