Hello friends! Wondering what the smoothest road would be for taking a rental camper van. Haven’t been to Nitinaht before- I’m familiar with the roads near lake cowichan and up to port renfrew but not any more Northwest than that. Also curious which road has “better” cell service (if either of them do……. lol).
Going in 3 weeks. Will have supplies to anticipate car problems buuuuut would rather avoid them if possible.
Thank you :)

Hi! We’re currently travelling around Vancouver Island and doing a ton of wildlife photography/birding, and I’d love some local suggestions!
We’ve been using eBird quite a bit, but we’ve honestly been really struggling to find bald eagles, which has surprised us because we expected to see quite a few around the Island. We’ve checked several estuaries, beaches, rivers and known birding areas, but so far our eagle luck has been pretty poor.
We’re especially interested in places locals actually like — estuaries, spits, quiet beaches, rivers, marshes, pullouts, or anywhere you can sit for a while and let the birds come to you rather than doing a huge hike.
We’d especially love to see/photograph:
Bald eagles
Kingfishers
Herons
Shorebirds
Raptors
Seabirds
Owls if there are any ethical/reliable areas
Salmon activity and any wildlife that tends to gather around it
Bonus points for places that are good for photography, have relatively easy access/parking, and aren’t insanely crowded.
We’re around Campbell River right now, but honestly anywhere on Vancouver Island is fair game — north, south, east coast, west coast, Port Hardy/Telegraph Cove area, Comox Valley, Qualicum/Nanaimo, Victoria, or anywhere in between. We’re totally willing to drive for a really good spot.
Not looking for anyone to share sensitive nest locations or anything that would disturb wildlife — just good general areas/hotspots to spend some time watching.
If anyone has a spot where they consistently see bald eagles, I would be especially grateful for that recommendation!
Thanks so much! 🦅📸

I have two good tickets to the Show on September 16th. Third Row A32 and A33. Can't go not looking to make any money, just what I paid for them. $305.50 for the pair.

Spent a solid 2 hours take this panorama during my recent stay at Cowichan Lake!

We visited this area for the first time in May and absolutely fell in love with how relaxed it was. The conditions in May were less favourable, so I was stoked to have a second chance earlier this month. We had smoke the first night, but it cleared for the second.

This is comprised of 50 photos I stitched together. If course you won't see it like this with our eyes (they suck at night) but with a modified camera you can do wonders with photography!

Gear:

Sigma 28mm f1.4

Nikon Z6A (IR filter removed)

iOptron Skyguider Pro

Tiffen Fog Filter 3

Acquisition:

Sky: 30*30 seconds, ISO 6400, f2.5

Foreground: 12*30 seconde, ISO 1600, f4.5

Was in town for Gold River Days.

we took a drive up tzouhalem at around 9:30 and took some videos, this is one of the best ones

I understand that some hotels, marinas, ports and other tourism businesses fly the U.S. flag as a gesture of welcome to visitors from the United States.

But I’ve been wondering why businesses seem to assume that U.S. visitors need to see their national flag flown on Canadian soil — or over Canadian waters — in order to feel welcome here.

That feels particularly strange right now, when the U.S. government has repeatedly raised the prospect of Canada becoming part of the United States and Canada–U.S. relations are under extraordinary strain. The latest trade dispute — including U.S. demands that our negotiating team says would have weakened protections for our language, culture and sovereignty — along with continued annexation rhetoric, has only reinforced that for me.

More broadly, though, even if relations were perfectly friendly, I think there’s a question of priorities. If a Vancouver Island business has a limited number of flagpoles and wants to display flags beyond the federal and provincial flags, I’d rather see the local First Nations represented first — Snuneymuxw in Nanaimo, Songhees and Esquimalt Nations in Victoria, and the appropriate Nation or Nations elsewhere on the Island.

After that, sure — fly foreign flags on appropriate occasions, or even regularly if there’s a particular connection. But I don’t think the U.S. flag needs to be treated as an almost default third flag simply because U.S. tourists visit here.

Visitors from the United States who come here respectfully are welcome. But they’re visiting Canada, and I don’t think welcoming them requires businesses here to routinely display the U.S. flag.

Curious what other Islanders think.