The Sunshine Coast
Having set two alarms just to be safe, we caught the ferry without a hitch and made it across to the very pretty stretch of shoreline known in British Columbia as the Sunshine Coast. Despite being attached to the mainland it really does have an island feel about it, and a charming, laid-back aura.
We powered up north while the bleary-eyed toddlers snoozed in their car seats (having got over the excitement of the ferry) and started our exploration at Half Moon Bay.
Given it was still a bit early for a paddle we threw a few stones and took a short stroll behind the beach before we decided to head down to the next stop, Sargeant Bay Provincial Park. This was my favourite place of the whole day - we had a glorious stretch of water practically all to ourselves; Master H delighted in finding starfish; and Miss H was as happy as a room without a roof stomping in and out of the shallows over and over again.
From Sargeant Bay we carried on down to Sechelt to stock up on some cold drinks, before heading up the Sechelt inlet a bit to Porpoise Bay Provincial Park to have our picnic lunch and let the kids run about on the grass.
Next was a quick look at Roberts Creek, though we didn't really do it justice as by now we only really had about one stop left in us before we needed to head back to the port. Gibsons was our place of choice for this last stop, being a town close to the ferry with plenty of restaurants. It also features a very scenic walkway at the end of the pier which afforded me a couple of pretty snaps before we scooted off to dinner.
And here are a few final photos from the ferry trip back to Vancouver, thus rounding off our gorgeous day trip to the Sunshine Coast.
Coming up... lakes, lakes and more lakes!