Up Island Explorations



Bald Eagle, Kyle Bay

Fishing Fleet, Comox

Headed up to Fanny Bay for a family get together in early March.  There was a lot of excitement in the area as March is the time the Pacific Herring return to the coast to spawn.  Females can lay up to 20,000 eggs which are feterlized when they are laid. On contact with water the fertilized eggs turn the ocean a milky white in the spawning area.  This is  the signal for the swam of commercial fishing vessles to put out their nets and for the gulls, ducks, bald eagles and California and Stellar Sea Lions to gather and feed on the bounty.  I missed the actual spawning event but saw the boats, sea lions, gulls, ducks and eagles in various locations along the coast..

California Sea Lions, Fanny Bay Wharf

The Sea Lions gather annually on the log booms at the Fanny Bay Wharf and spend their time when not feeding by sleeping, barking, jostling each other and posturing.  In the local community there are those who really enjoy the sea lions and those who despair over many nights of lost sleep because of the barking.  I could hear them from my room across the bay through closed windows but because this was a novelty for me I enjoyed the sound.

Fanny Bay is well known for its oysters.  Everywhere one goes there are sights and sounds of oyster industry whether it be large piles of oyster shells outside processing plants, oyster boats out in the bay or by the wharf, commercial oyster beds, or trucks picking up the oyster harvest from fishing vessels

Oyster harvesting, Fanny Bay (California Sea Lions on logs in backgroun)

Oyster shell, Ships Point oyster bed



Rainbow, Fanny Bay Wharf



On another day, I drove further north to the small village of Sayward (with its 400 residents) which traces its history back to  the 1890's and the beautiful Kelsey Bay.  Sayward is sustained by both logging and tourism and would interest anyone who enjoys being outdoors and photo enthusiasts.  I was lucky enough to see a harbour seal in the bay but it was too soon for the whales, salmon and bears.

Kelsey Bay, Sayward