Hornby Island, BC

After two ferries we arived on Hornby Island. We headed to 'town', if you can call it that. Town consisted of a co-op, touristy store, a gas station, an outdoor cafe and a restaraunt/pub. We had our coffee and decided to head down to Little Tribune Bay beach. We spent the better part of the day there swimming and lounging. It was getting late and we wanted to watch the sun go down and cook some food, so we headed back to the other side of the island as that is where the sun sets. It was there that I took the photos of the girls eating blackberries. We made a fire on the beach with what little wood we could find and made our dinner. We headed back to Little Tribune Bay after and brought out drums and didjeridoos down to the beach. A man walked by and tried to play with us, while telling us about a group of people that get together at night and play didjeridoos and drums. He said they change locations and don't play every night. Since the island isnlt all that big we decided to seek them out. We drover to one end, then to the other end, not finding any sign of them. My car stalled for no reason, but started up again and we kept going for a bit, then it stalled again, it was midnight and very dark... my car would not start again. People tried to jump start us with no luck, we were stuck here for the night. With the three of us stuck in the car, not knowing where we are we made do. I could not sleep more than a total of 30 minutes. At 5 am I stood outside the car and eventually someone drove on by and they gave me a ride to town where I called BCAA(AAA). They gave me the name and number of someone to call, and that I did, and left a message. The guy that drove me to town gave me a ride back to my car and I woke the girls up. And we walked back to town, I called the mechanic again and he said he had to re-shoe a horse and something else, and would be able to get to me some time in the afternoon. The mailman overheard what was going on told me that I should talk to the guy in the blue truck, Carl, he was a mechanic and may be able to help me. Carl was ready a rearin to go, so I grabbed the girls and we headed back to my dead car.

Carl tried everything and could not get my car started. Garth the ex fire cheif came along and tried as well, no luck... but Carl would not give up! We met a lot of interesting people beside the road that day and didn;t have all that bad of a time considering. But it was getting very hot and we wanted to go for a swim. Carl decided to take a break as well and dropped us back off in town and we headed down to Big Tribune Bay and went for a nice swim. On our way back up to town we found Carl again, he had an idea and I gave him the keys to my car. The idea failed, once again, and our only hope was to get the car towed off of the island and to a machanic that could do a computer diagnostic on the car. Near nighfall we packed up some stuff from the car and wandered back down to Little Trib where we would camp, hoping the nice officers would not see us and kick us off. The sun when down, and people gathered on the beach. At one end, near us there was the larger group of people. Three of them were fire dancing along the water, reflecting off of the water. It was amazing. It got very dark, and there was a meteor shower. Soon we realized the bio-luminescence in the water and in the sand. As we stepped on the sand new the water it would light up with a flash the slowly dulled away. Befor we knew it our little party of three grew, and fluctuated. People would stop by and tell us some stories about local life, then meander on. The beach was lit up by fires, people and the sound of bongo drums and any other instrument people had brought along with them.

We decided to call it an early night, considering the lack of sleep the night befor and we had to meet Carl at 8am to get my car off of the island. We slept with only our sleeping bags next to our fire. Unlike Tofino it is much warmer here. In the morning we woke up to find a beach littered with people in sleeping bags, all slowly coming to life. We had slept in and had to hurry, time to head back to reality. I had horribly blisters on my feet and hobbled along overburdened with my belongings. We met Carl and headed to the ferries. And thus ended our Hornby Experience.

The people there are wonderful, very peaceful and kind. I promised Carl that despite my car troubles we would be back in the future.