Exploring at Rugged Point Marine Park

 

August 31, 2022

Another perfect day; a perfect day to follow yesterday's perfect day! 

In the morning we headed out in Kiki all prepared for a beach day.  It was sunny and already hot.  Hot, sunny days are few on the outer coast and we considered ourselves very lucky to be in such a beautiful spot on such a beautiful day. 

The protected sandy beaches that we headed for, we had spotted on our way in yesterday.  We had also seen a large, sandy, exposed beach on the outer coast, which we thought we could perhaps hike across to.   

The tide was out, and since we knew we might be gone for quite some time, we pulled Kiki right up the beach past the high-tide line and tied her off.  Although she is a lightweight, aluminum-hulled boat, with a 20hp outboard on her, she is fairly heavy.  So, since we do not have dinghy wheels, we used a couple of round logs instead, and by placing them under her keel we were easily able to move her up the beach. 

It turned out that this whole spectacular area was a Provincial Park, and so there were tent pads, a fire pit, a sheltered eating area, and best of all for us, a trail across to the outer beaches. 

There were also trails connecting a full line of beaches, so we were able to explore our way along for about 5 kms from large sandy beach to large sandy beach.  It reminded us very much of Calvert Island. 

The tide was out as we made our way along and the sun was hot, so we walked in the water enjoying the beauty around us.  

At the end of the long line of beaches the park transitioned in to private property, so we could not explore any further, but we did see that there were two vehicles, a road system, and also a roof of a large building up on a hill.  What an amazing spot to have a place, and we wondered what it was.  We later heard from someone in Fair Harbour that it was apparently a place that grows very high-end mushrooms, and that they have scientists working there. 

We made our way slowly back, this time mostly on the upper parts of the beaches, and when we got too hot we would stop and go for a swim.  Part way along we stopped at a beautiful area that had large breaking waves and we went body surfing. 

It was lots of fun, but also very cold.  It was nice to come out of the water and warm up quickly in the sunshine.  By this time it was late afternoon, so we headed back to Kiki and had a small cooking fire on the beach in the shade.

It was nice to have a shady beach for our fire, as it was too hot for a hot dog roast in the sunshine. 

While we had been exploring, the tide had been all the way in and it was now on its way out again, but the water was still much closer to Kiki than when we had left her, so it did not take much effort to get her back down to the water. 

Back at our anchorage we went into the inner basin to check out one particular area that we had spotted yesterday evening. 

Sure enough, when we landed on shore we found a large patch of sea asparagus.  We made plans to come back in the morning to harvest a bunch.  It is such a delicious wild vegetable, and it keeps really well.