#170 Nov 2017 More Repairs

We always attend Remembrance Day in Cloverdale. The crowd is larger every year and it’s heartening to see many young people and children.

The cenotaph was originally placed in 1921 to remember the war dead from the Great War. Since that time it has been updated and moved to its present location beside the Surrey Museum.

The next day we packed up the motorhome and ourselves and headed for Vancouver Island. In late summer we discovered the motorhome needed more roof repairs than anyone realized when we had the first repair done in May. We dropped off the RV at the original repair facility and drove north of Nanaimo to a timeshare resort for our next “adventure”.

For two weeks we explored more of Vancouver Island. There is a small ferry from Mill Bay to Brentwood Bay that saves time going to the repair shop in Sydney. While we waited for the ferry to arrive we watched a great blue heron survey its domain, which included a herd of seals sunning themselves.

There was a sudden commotion among the seals as they all turned over together. What a show!

Deep Bay Marine Field Station is open to the public while the staff continues their research and testing. Signs are well laid out with a great deal of information about the health of our oceans.

The beach garbage jellyfish were built by reconstructing plastic bottles, garbage bags and six-pack rings. If this garbage looks like jellyfish imagine how easily a marine animal could be deceived.

Oyster and clam farming are very well explained. 

A technician pointed out that microscopic oyster larvae are in this tank.

It’s difficult to grasp that the above cloudy water produces these oysters.

The touch tank is fun to explore.

An octopus exhibit is being developed but not yet occupied. 

There were some fun facts about them.

             Octopuses require a lot of mental stimulation to prevent them from dying of boredom.

A female Giant Pacific Octopus can lay between 120,000 and 500,000 eggs, which take 6 months to hatch.

Like salmon they have one reproductive episode and then die.

After 2 weeks we finally picked up our motorhome and headed to Weir’s Beach RV Resort for the weekend. Visiting with friends and a beautiful ocean sunset concluded our Island adventure.