This is the 2nd post to follow our stay in Nanoose Bay on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island. Part 1 was the discovery of Brickyard Community Park with its sweeping views of the Winchelsea Islands.
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| 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
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| Harbour Seal, 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
Can a rocky island be classified an island if it's only visible when the tide is out? In the above photo, this Harbour seal was often seen in different poses when we could see the rock itself. Then as the water rose and covered the rock, the seal would slip into the water and we wouldn't see it for hours until the rock appeared once again.
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| Great Blue Heron, 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
We saw a few Great Blue herons fly past, close to shore, so elegant and quick it was hard to take a photo due to the trees scattered around the patio. By locking onto the heron with my camera and ignoring everything else, I managed to take a video which produced the screenshot of the flying heron you see in the above image.
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| Winchelsea Islands, 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
After supper I sat on the curved stone bench near the patio chairs and gazed at the view. It didn't take long before I caught Crystal lightly jumping from rock to rock heading down to the water with JJ not far behind. When they stopped, I was able to capture a photo of them with some of the islands, although I didn't know they even had names at that point.
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| 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
As Crystal and JJ followed the shore to the left, I heard some noises on my left and caught Jessie making her way down the rocks to join her siblings. Nick followed her down soon after.
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| 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
And then Nelson headed down. All of them, exploring a large stone surface that reminded me of the Canadian Shield. The area looks easy to get to in the above photo, but we found out the next day that it was only because the tide was out. With the tide in, the area became another rocky island.
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| Purple Sea Stars, 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
While they explored their strange new world, JJ managed to snap photos of purple sea stars clinging to the underwater rocks. Purple sea stars can be several colours. How many sea stars can you find in the above photo? I can see four, but there could be more. We were happy to see that they'd survived the Sea Star Wasting Disease we mentioned in our post Botanical Beach Part 2.
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| Green Sea Urchin shell, 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
Meanwhile, Nelson's camera captured this shell from a Green Sea Urchin. Our Botanical Beach posts on Vancouver Island's west coast shows some great photos of purple and green sea urchins.
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| 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
I dawdled around the patio taking photos of water, rocks and trees while waiting for them to return. My phone buzzed and I got a text message from Nelson to look down. And there he was surrounded by our children, posing for a photo with the Winchelsea Islands in the Strait of Georgia behind them, and further across to British Columbia's Sunshine Coast.
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| 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
On the water, we saw paddle boards, canoes, speedboats, and a cruise ship. The above screenshot was taken from video of two kayakers who effortlessly dipped their paddles into the water and spoke in quiet voices without disturbing the resting gull.
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| Winchelsea Islands, 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
I was up early the next morning taking photos of the sunrise. Low tide seemed to be around that 7 am mark and I saw rock formations I hadn't taken notice of before.
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| Bald Eagle, 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
On an island near the Brickyard Community park was a Bald Eagle that stood there for the longest time staring out across the water. I tried to zoom in closer but I was at the end of my zoom length and this was the best photo before it got blocky and pixelated.
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| Common Loon, 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
A Common Loon floated by. I held my breath in anticipation of its haunting call, but their was no yodel, wail, hoot, or tremolo that everyone associates with the wilderness. Perhaps because I wasn't in the wilderness...just sitting on a stone bench on a flagstone patio enjoying the beauty of the Winchelsea Islands near a busy tourist area.
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| 2025, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, BC |
My last photo of our Nanoose Bay visit leaves me with the fond memory of enjoying happy times at our Airbnb oasis. It truly is a blessing to share beauty, fun, and educational family times like this.
Photos from Nanoose Bay, BC correlate to the July calendar page.
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