Saturday July 8 - Pender Island to Victoria
We all had a lazy morning then Dieter and I left at 11:45 to catch the 12:45 ferry over to Victoria. It was a much shorter trip as it was a direct service. We drove to our hotel, the Oak Bay Beach hotel in Oak Bay (40 minutes - an ocean front suburb of Victoria. After dropping our luggage (as our room was not ready) we headed out to do some grocery shopping. We went to the Walmart super-center - about 25 minutes drive away. We were back at the hotel around 4:15pm and our room was all set. We stay in for dinner of sambo as our hotel room is a 1-bedroom apartment overlooking the ocean - it’s only 5 years old so in very good condition and quite up-market. We had our regular stay at home dinner of pesto and mushroom salad. 
Sunday July 9 - Victoria, Vancouver Island
We had a berry blast for brekkie then set off on a scenic drive around the ocean front and into Victoria downtown - we walked part of the way along an ocean front pathway. As we arrived in the CBD there was a gay pride parade starting. At first is seemed to be quite small but as it came to pass it was in fact quite a major event - I must admit the floats were all very amateurish but there was plenty of enthusiasm. We stayed home for sambos.
Monday July 10 - Victoria, Vancouver Island
We had brekkie at home again then set off on a but of a local roadie. First stop was Sooke national park where did a big walk - it was quite spectacular. Although it was lunch time when we finished the walk we opted to drive on and find somewhere scenic along the coast to eat our packed lunch. After a bit of a drive we stopped at a national park - however in spite of the scenic coastal location is was cold and blowing a gale. We drove back to the hotel the long way and only returned after 5pm. We had dinner at the Snug Pub in the hotel - it was very good.
Tuesday July 11 - Victoria to Ucluelet, Vancouver Island
We left early, around 9am for the long trip to Ucluelet - about a 5 hour drive. We stopped at Walmart on our way out of Victoria to stock up on groceries and grog just in case the grocery store in Ucluelet did not have much to offer. Along the way we stopped at an A&W for a quick lunch (shared burger) - we can definitely knock that off our gourmet bucket list. We arrived at our hotel, the Black Rock Resort around 2pm and checked in right away. We spent the rest of the afternoon settling in and getting the lay of the land. We stayed home for another dinner of pesto/mushroom pasta - good luck it’s one of our favourite quickie dinners. Our hotel room is an 1-bedroom ocean front unit with wonderful views - we sat on our balcony for fives’es in our puffer jackets as it was pretty cool.
Wednesday July 12 - Ucluelet, Vancouver Island
Ucluelet has wonderful ocean front beach walks - we spent the day doing several of these with a stop at ‘home’ for a quick sandwich. The day was overcast and cool - perfect for hiking but not for photos. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was excellent.
Thursday July 13 - Ucluelet, Vancouver Island
Another cloudy and cool day - high of 18C. We drove to Tofino, another ocean front town about 35k’s k along the coast. We did a couple more walks including one along the world famous Chesterman Beach - noted as Canada’s best surf beach - there were lots of people, in heavy wet suits, surfing. We walked to the Wickininnish Inn at the end of beach for a cafe lunch. The Inn is the “hot” spot in the area but we had opted for our resort as we could get a 1-bedroom with kitchen. Again we stayed home for sambos for dinner.
Friday July 14 - Ucluelet, Vancouver Island
At last a sunny day - and a bit warmer - high of 19C. We took a 3 hour kayak tour in the morning - it was a lovely outing even though some clouds moved in and we did not see any bears on the shore but we did see quite a few Canadian Belted King Fishers, the only Kingfisher in North America. After lunch at home we did a couple more short walks then finished off with dinner at the hotel restaurant.
Saturday July 15 - Ucluelet to Vancouver
We left the hotel early for the 3 hour drive to Nanaimo to catch the 12:15 ferry to Vancouver. It was a nice sunny and mild day (high in the low 20’c) - after the 2 hour ferry trip it was a 30 minute drive to our hotel, the Sutton Place. We arrived as scheduled around 2:30pm and checked-in - while doing so I saw Merrilyn in the lobby - not too surprising as we had arranged to catch up with them as they passed through Vancouver on their way from Alaska to eastern Canada. We re-confirmed our plans for happy hour in our hotel room as we had a 1-bedroom suite. We did some grocery shopping etc. Merrilyn and Geoff (M&G) arrived at our room at 6:45pm with a bottle of Champagne in hand (this was from their cruise from Alaska to Vancouver on the Regent). From here we headed over to Joe Fortes for a gala pre-birthday dinner.
Sunday July 16 - Vancouver - Pat’s birthday
We had a full day planned with M&G - unfortunately it was quite overcast and a bit cool. Nevertheless we visited Capilano canyon and bridge first then went up Grouse mountain where we had lunch. The highlight was checking out the 2 resident grizzlies (kept in a fenced enclosure). We headed back to the hotel for a rest then met again a 5pm for Happy Hour. The day had warmed up and the sun was shining - we walked to Coal Harbour for five’es then back to the hotel before going to CinCin for my birthday dinner - it was quite a blowout!!
Monday July 17 - Vancouver - Sunshine Coast
We left around 11am for our ferry from Horseshoe Bay to the Sunshine Coast.