June 25 – Dragons and Chainsaws Around Campbell River

It is supposed to be the worst day weather wise, not bad, just cloudy, so we saved the nature hikes for another day.

We awoke to the sound of pounding drums, music and an announcer. It seems that there were dragon boat races going on just next to us farther up the spit. Once we got ourselves together we wandered up to take a look.

Getting first things first, we hit the food booth.

Only $5 for a salmon burger or salmon on a noodle salad. We had one of each and they were very good.

They had an interesting water fountain.

The teams all had their own assembly areas under canopies. The open area was used by each one to limber up in their own way before their race.

There seemed to be a long time between each race so we only watched one of them.

Gotta love the sound of those drums early in the morning.

Before we had heard the drums, the plan had just been to walk down the spit towards town and then along the waterfront for a short way.

The spit used to be First Nations land and right at the entrance there was a cemetery.

It is still in use, as the plot on the left was for a 6 year old girl buried last month.

Nothing like a big headstone / totem.

Some rather different styles.

Next we passed a place called a net locker, where I assume the fisherman store their nets. I wonder how they get to the upper ones.

Next was a boat repair place. Some new ones.

Some old ones.

I think he is going to need a new prop.

This old one in the corner has seen its last days.

Once we got to the marina there was a walkway with restaurants along the front but on a Saturday morning it was deserted.

A new plant.

We went as far down as this view of the ferry to Quadra Island. It seems strange that it had the name Powell River Queen, when that is a town on the mainland.

Heading back we walked along the lower dock.

We walked about 4 km. I think they need to fix where the shoreline is in this map.

Driving here yesterday in the RV  we had passed by what looked like a chainsaw carving contest. We looked it up and it started on Wednesday and they have until the long weekend to complete their project. Since it was still early we went to check it out.

There were some other booths setup taking advantage of the attracted traffic.

 

If we had absolutely any wall space in the RV, one of these might have been nice.

Each carver had his own area under a canopy.

There was so much sawdust being generated that they had a bunch of volunteers going around with rakes and wheel barrows to cart it all away.

They are all at least far enough along that you can get a good idea of the finished product.

They rolled it over to work on a another section.

Down at one end some of them were in a contest to see who could create the best carving in one hour.

In progress.

Done

Blackening some of the wood.

I really liked this one.

But I liked this one the most.

The wife was the artist and the husband was the holder.

It was all really interesting to watch and the smell of cedar was everywhere. We will try and go back later in the week to see them progress.

Tonight as I was working on the post, the two guys sitting at the next site saw some kids walking up the spit with a ukulele. One of them offered the young adults 10 bucks if they would come over to the fence and play and sing a song. So …

Just a few more cruise ship pictures so that I remember because the timing seemed a bit unlikely. Two identical looking Holland America ships, Noordam heading south and Nieuw Amsterdam heading north, happened to pass each other almost right in front of us.

Then a couple of minutes later the Celebrity Infinity passed by heading south as well.

I guess the dance floor is on the top deck at the front.