June Full Moon rise from Air Force Beach , Comox

 By Keith and Heather Nicol

One of the disadvantages of living in the Comox- Courtenay area is that you don’t get a chance to see the sun dropping off into the horizon in the evening. Sunsets in this area can be nice as the setting sun undercuts any clouds that are in the area but a classic sunset (with the sun disappearing below the horizon) can’t be seen due to the Beaufort Mountains. But we do have moon rises which come up over the Salish Sea and so we have taken to seeing the full moon rise whenever the weather cooperates. Our favourite place to see the full moon rise is the Air Force Beach Parking area and this gives us a good view of the various Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast and the mountains of the BC mainland that lie behind.  In the photo below the moon is rising over Kye Bay. 

                                                                            

Of course like the sun, the full moon doesn’t always rise in the same place each month so the back drop to your views and pictures will always be different. As well the clouds are often different so this adds another variation to each month’s offering.  To find out the date of the full moon and where it will be in the sky check out this web site: https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/canada/comox. For newcomers to this area Air Force Beach take Kilmorley Road and be sure to drive past the turn off to Kin Beach.  Turn right on Air Force Beach Road and continue to the end.  See you for the next full moon and bring a tripod and telephoto lens for the best pictures. The next full moon is tonight and is appropriately called the  Strawberry Moon. The photos in this post are from the night before the actual full moon in June.  The views from Air Force Beach are great in many directions and the shot below shows the view north. 

 

A summer solstice bike tour on Denman Island

 by Keith and Heather Nicol 

On June 21 twelve cyclists from nearby Courtenay- Comox area decided to celebrate the summer solstice by heading to Denman Island to cycle and walk on the south end of the island.  Our group caught the 10 am ferry from Buckley Bay and were armed with facemasks as this is one of the BC Ferry precautions with Covid 19 (see photo below). By 10:15 we were cycling up our first hill on Denman Island and we took Lacon Road south which was a good choice since most of the car traffic heading to Hornby Island used Denman Road. Lacon Road is a fun rolling road to cycle since it is elevated above the water of Baynes Sound . You get periodic ocean and mountain views between the tall trees that line the road. We turned left at McFarlane Road which connects to the eastern side of the island and then turned right on East Road toward the Gravelly Bay which is the ferry terminal for Hornby Island. From there the plan was to carry on East Road to Boyle Point Provincial Park and walk along the scenic trail to the end of Denman Island. Allow about 70 -80 minutes to get to this entrance of Boyle Point Park if you cycle at a leisurely pace. But you can do it in just less than 1 hour if you have a return ferry to catch.

 

This trail is our favourite hike on Denman Island since it leads to an elevated view of Chrome Island Lighthouse. The trail is about 1 km long with a short side trail to Eagle Rock. Another bonus of this trail is the view of the eagle’s nest which is easy to find since you simply take a side trail to the right for 10 or so meters after you reach the end of the trail. The eagle’s nest is below you so you can look directly down into it to see any eagle chicks or adult birds that might be using the nest. On this visit there was 1 chick in the nest with some adult birds coming and going so bring binoculars and a camera!  In the photo below you can see the adult on the tree top and the chick just below on the edge of the nest. We ate lunch at the end of the trail and then made our way back to the ferry.

Overall the distance cycling and walking (1 way) is about 14-15 km from the ferry terminal to the Chrome Island Lighthouse viewpoint. That includes 1 km of walking,  2 km of cycling on good gravel road  and the rest is pavement. Denman Island has no shoulders for cycling but has limited traffic so it is an enjoyable destination for cycling (see photo below).  If you want less traffic go and come on Lacon Road but you can also do a loop which follows East and Denman Roads . You can also stop in at Fillongley Provincial Park which has a nice beach and small picnic area and some interesting grounds to explore. Our group used a mix of road bikes and e bikes. The wider tires of the e bikes performed better on the gravel and of course made short work of the hills that we did encounter.  Not sure how long the eagle chicks will be around so check it out. 

 

 

 

Exploring Pt Holmes at Low Tide

 by Keith and Heather Nicol      

     Last year we checked out Pt Holmes at low tide on several occasions over the summer and were surprised by the variety of tidal life we saw. It seemed like each time we explored the area we saw something new. For those people not familiar with this area it is to the right of the Pt Holmes boat launch and there is parking for a number of cars just off of Lazo Road in Comox , BC. Because of the large tides in this area the tide pools are 200-300 meters from the parking area and footing can be tricky especially near the outcrops of conglomerate rock where the tide pools are found. We wore hiking shoes but some people we saw were wearing rubber boots. Flip flops or similar sandals are not recommended given the slippery, sea weed covered rocks. 

 

On Sunday , June 13 low tide was just 0.8 meters  at 2:40 pm so it was ideally timed for an afternoon outing.  We like to get down to this area about 30 minutes before the low tide so that we can do some exploring knowing that the tide won’t start rising for awhile. We have been having some windy weather lately and today was no different. The winds were gusting to 40 km/hour but this added to the scene with dramatic clouds in the distance over the mountains. We saw several other people including a family with young kids who were having a great time exploring the tide pools. On our most recent visit we saw orange sea cucumbers which we hadn’t seen before as well as 2 midshipmen fish which had come into spawn. We found one in a tidal pool (see photo below) and it was doing its best to stay hidden since last year we saw gulls and crows eating these fish that they had caught.  The other one was hidden under a rock and saw the yellow eggs that it was protecting on the under side of the rock-see photo at the end of the blog post.  For more information on these unique fish see: https://theconversation.com/being-a-dad-is-hard-when-youre-a-plainfin-midshipman-fish-111214 

 

   We also saw many ochre sea stars and as well as a leather sea star which we don’t see that often. The next very low tides will be around June 25, 2021 so make a note of it. We will see you there.  Also since we are new to the area, if readers know of other good places to explore tide pools in the local area let us know at k2nicol@gmail.com. 

 

 

The Filberg Park is ablaze with colourful flowers and shrubs

By Keith and Heather Nicol
On June 8 we decided to see what the grounds at Filberg Park in Comox were like with the spring flowers and shrubs out in bloom. This park is one of our favourites since it has great ocean views, a beautiful old lodge and park like grounds with tall trees, flower gardens and lots of small trails to explore. It turned out to be a perfect place to visit on a sunny early June afternoon. There appeared to be a wedding rehearsal in progress so we steered clear of the area around the lodge and but enjoyed walking the short trails and seeing what flowers and shrubs were in bloom.  

 The vine covered arbour is a favourite place to check out and some of the nearby shrubs were in full bloom (see above photo). We also liked seeing the flowers near the seasonal restaurant (it wasn’t open when we were there). Here there were many foxgloves and other flowers along the path leading to the herb garden and the western side of the park. (see photo below). If you want to tranquil place to read a book and relax you couldn’t do much better than Filberg Park. The tall shade trees make it comfortable on those hot summer days but there is also lots of sunny areas if it is cool. For more info on the Filberg Park plans for the summer see : http://filberg.com and The Park and Lodge are located at 61 Filberg Road in Comox and they can be reached at 250-339-2715.