May 21-25, I made a Sunshine Coast trip with family, and my last post was the first one in the two-part series on Day 1-2 of our trip. In this post, I will share our experience from Day 3-5.
Day 3 – Egmont to Lund
For our third day, we drove to Earls Cove and then took the Malaspina Sky ferry to Saltery Bay. It was a short drive from Ruby Lake Resort to Earls Cove. There is no reservation required for this ferry trip, and you pay for the round trip on the way back.
Relative to the Queen of Surrey – the ferry we took from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale, Malaspina Sky, was a smaller ferry with about 112 car capacity. It was a 50-minute sailing, and we couldn’t get enough of the beautiful views from the deck.
Once at Saltery Bay, we made our way to Powell River’s Historic Townsite, one of the top 10 things to see in the Sunshine Coast trip planner. There were some old buildings and, yes, the Patricia Theatre – the longest continuously running theatre in Canada. But other than that, the historic townsite was not as interesting as I thought it would be.
We had lunch at Royal Zayka, right opposite the Patricia Theatre, and the food was good. After lunch, we continued our drive to Lund – about a 20-minute drive from the restaurant. Lund is the northernmost town on the Sunshine Coast and a cute little town.
After walking around the marina, we made our way to Nancy’s Bakery. It’s a beautiful bakery with good food and great views.
Later in the afternoon, we started our drive back and stopped at Willingdon Beach in Powell River. This was probably Kavya’s favourite part of the day. The beach has a fantastic play area.
Hɛhɛwšɩn – The Way Forward
I found the Hɛhɛwšɩn (meaning The Way Forward) and other signs about Tla’amin first nations very informative. Below is a beautiful video about the Hɛhɛwšɩn reconciliation movement initiated by Phil Russell.
June is National Indigenous History Month, and June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day. The government of Canada has some excellent online resources to learn more about the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples across Canada. I would encourage you to take some time and learn about Indigenous communities in Canada.
Later in the afternoon, we walked down the fishing pier. There was a wedding photo shoot, but it was quiet after that.
Although Willingdon Beach is known for its sunset, we decided to head back. We took the ferry from Saltery Bay to Earls Cove and then drove back to Ruby Lake Resort.
Day 4 – Princess Louisa Inlet
The biggest attraction of this trip was the Princess Louisa Inlet boat tour. We had booked our tour with Sunshine Coast Tours, and everyone was excited about this tour.
We reached the Backeddy Resort, and Marina in Egmont at around 10:15 am and left once everyone in the group showed up. It was 10 of us plus our captain Cliff. Cliff’s family has been in Egmont for at least three generations and has mixed Indigenous ancestry. He has extensive knowledge of the area and the changes over the years.
As we began the tour, Cliff went through the safety instructions and then provided an overview of the tour. Then he handed over some laminated and paper maps highlighting the key spots on our trip – creeks, waterfalls, two walls with indigenous paintings, etc. It was fascinating. We even saw two black bears along the coast past Soda Pop Falls.
Along the Jervis Inlet, on both sides are towering cliffs. As we got closer to Princess Louisa Inlet, the cliffs got bigger and bigger. At the head of Jervis Inlet, Mount Alfred was probably one of the highest at 2420 m (7940 ft.).
About two hours into the tour, we reached the mouth of Princess Louisa Inlet, where Malibu Club is located. The history of this place is quite interesting, and you can read about it here.
Chatterbox Falls
As we made our way into the Princess Louisa Inlet, Cliff mentioned that most of the area in this inlet was now protected.
We could now see the Chatterbox Falls in the distance and other smaller waterfalls coming down the mountains.
Once we docked at the Princess Louisa Inlet Provincial Park, Cliff gave an overview of the area and the small loop trail to the Chatterbox Falls and back.
It was a short hike to the Chatterbox Falls.
After visiting the falls, we took a snack break at the Macdonald Memorial Lodge (shelter). The shelter was cozy, with a huge fire pit in the centre.
Just before 2 pm, we returned to the dock.
It took us about an hour and thirty minutes to get back to Egmont.
Day 5 – Halfmoon Bay, Sechelt and Gibsons
We checked out from Ruby Lake Resort around 10 am and drove south to Halfmoon Bay. I looked at a few hikes in the region and decided to do the Smuggler Cove hike on our last day.
Smuggler Cove Hike in Halfmoon Bay
The wooden walkway over the marsh was unique among the trails we did on Sunshine Coast.
About 10-15 minutes into the hike, we were at the first viewpoint overlooking the Smuggler Cove.
We continued the hike and made a loop that took us to a few more viewpoints. It took us about 1.5 hours to complete the loop and return to the car. It was just under 4 km with over 100 m of vertical.
Porpoise Bay Provincial Park in Sechelt
We continued our drive south, and after lunch at Sechelt, we stopped by Porpoise Bay Provincial Park. We didn’t do any hikes here but just spent some time at the beach.
It was a clear day but was quite windy at the beach.
Gibsons Seawall
Our last stop on the Sunshine Coast was at Gibsons. We parked on Gower Point Road near the museum and then walked down to the seawall.
The marina was bigger than some other marinas we had seen on the Sunshine Coast. It was a lovely walk along the seawall.
We wrapped up our Gibsons visit with some Gelato at Mike’s Place.
Our ferry to Horseshoe Bay was delayed a bit, but otherwise, it was smooth sailing.
Overall it was a very relaxing trip, something I needed after a 16-week training cycle. Kasturi, Kavya and mom enjoyed it as well. My mom kept saying ಎಷ್ಟು ಚಂದ (pronounced Yeshtu Chanda – meaning ‘So Beautiful’ in Kannada) throughout the trip, and I think it aptly summarizes how we felt on the Sunshine Coast.
Territory Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge that this trip took place on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the skwxwú7mesh (squa-mish), St’át’imc (stat-lee-um), Líl̓wat (lil-watt), shíshálh (see-shelt), Tla’amin (sly-am-mon), Klahoose (kla-hoose), Homalco (hoe-mall-co) Nations. I commit to learning about Indigenous peoples and issues and making reconciliation an ongoing effort.
Source: Native-Land, Sunshine Coast Canada First Nations
Pronunciation Guide: First Nations.info, A Guide to Pronunciation of BC First Nations
Resources:
First Nations: skwxwú7mesh, St’át’imc, Líl̓wat, shíshálh, Tla’amin, Klahoose, Homalco
Sunshine Coast: Tourism Official Website | Sunshine Coast Hikes – Happiest Outdoors
BC Parks: Smuggler Cove Marine Provincial Park | Porpoise Bay Provincial Park
BC Ferries: Queen of Surrey | Reservations
Weather Forecast – SpotWx | Yr.No | Windy
Disclosure: The links I have shared in the post and under the Resources section are not affiliated links.
Did you enjoy reading this post? Please subscribe to get weekly updates. Please share your feedback in the comments section below. Thank you!
