Tales from the Wet Coast

My adventure to Bamfield began with a bang - or should I say a gong(show) - when I awoke to find that I was missing one of my contacts. With no time to return to my home and get a new set before the 8:30am ferry, and no other option to see (I forgot to bring a back-up pair), I borrowed James's glasses. They didn't really fit my head, or my prescription, but beggars can't be choosers, so along they came. It was with these glasses that I noticed, while boarding the ferry, that there seemed to be a lot of people carrying sleeping bags and I was not one of them. Great...
After a long bus ride, courtesy of the slowest bus driver in the world - he came out of retirement just for this trip!! - we arrived at Bamfield and the rain followed shortly afterwards. Friday and Saturday were great days of beach wandering, boat touring, bird watching, plankton catching, Sea Lion viewing, and bunkbed napping and Saturday night was the big night of Bamfield's Halloween party. I had no idea how legendary this party was - it's bigger than Christmas with some people beginning their costume in August and others driving from all over the place just to return for this bash (Kate is now a returning regular)! My costume was the cameraman for the Crocodile Hunter, the Croc and the Croc Hunter's wife.
I began with evening with rye, moved quickly to wine but didn't really feel any effects until I arrived at the party...and then I was pissed. The details of the night are hazy but what I DO remember is amazing costumes (Frankenstein on stilts won the best costume), the many boys eager for some lady attention, dancing (sometimes moshing) the eve away, the slippery floor and my sneaky (read: not so sneaky) refills of red wine into my coffee mug. Apparently I was rowdy and I found a huge bruise on my hip this morning - a good evening all in all. The next day I woke up (still drunk) and begun the day with an oceanography cruise (groan) and then climbed up a 116 foot Red Cedar. Note to the wise: this is not the best hung-over activity. On the top, 4th, very slippery, platform you could feel the huge gusts of wind that were whipping through the canopy and I, scared shitless, I was literally a tree hugger. After these fun morning activities, we rushed around getting ready for the bus that was to meet us there at 1pm. At 1:15 were started to wonder. At 2pm we started to play cards. To make a long story short, the bus company got confused and thought they were picking us on Monday - finally they dispatched a bus to come to our rescue (luckily NOT our first driver) and at 5:20 pm he sped us to the ferries just in time to make the 9pm.
Whew...what a weekend.