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 The remnants of the huge coal piles are barely visible as you stroll
the length of Ladysmith's Transfer Beach. Used as a coal shipping port for the first 35 years of this century, the harbor is now a beautiful park. After a quick dip in the water, said to be the warmest ocean water north of San Francisco, you wander past the playground where the kids have spent the last hour or so. Nearby, the clang of horseshoes signals a game in progress. For a good half hour you watch the play, then wander past the picnic area on your way back to your campsite. Tomorrow, you'll pack up the gear and head west to famed Long Beach.
Twelve miles of sand line the curve of the bay while, to the west, the Pacific Ocean flows to the horizon. The water is plateglass smooth and the sun is shining. You kick off your shoes, grab a sturdy piece of driftwood for a walking stick and head south. For the next four or five hours you wander without care along the beach, stopping now and then to examine bits of flotsam, piles of bleached driftwood and beds of huge bull kelp washed up during the frequent storms. Beyond the horizon a storm is building. By tomorrow morning, the waves - some 25 feet high - should be rolling in. The surfers can hardly wait!
You exchange the pounding waves of Long Beach for the tranquil waters of Miracle Beach, halfway between Courtenay and Campbell River on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island. The tide is out and you wade out - way out - into the warm, shallow water. The kids have stayed on the beach, making sand castles with new-found friends. Nearby, under the guidance of a park interpreter, youngsters gingerly pick up tiny crabs from one of the many tidal pools. You swim out from the beach, past the group taking kayak lessons and the kids on inner tubes. You float lazily on your back, looking past the tips of your toes to the forested campground beyond the beach.
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