Tent shake is at 6 am. As the sun rises, it drives away any mist and the sky is clear and blue. It is a stunning day. We cross Walbran in our crocs and water shoes and take a break for blister care. Today’s hike is along the shore that varies from soft beach, firm beach, rock, tidal shelf etc. The hiking is much easier and we make good time, stopping for a snack at Bonilla Creek and then taking the cable car across Carmanah Creek. Steve wades across and gets wet. The rest of us take the hand-pulled two-man cable car, in part to stay dry, in part because we have time and in part just for the experience.
We break briefly at Carmanah. It is a beautiful spot with a nice beach and a waterfall. It would be great to camp there.
We reach Chez Monique well before noon anticipating hamburgers. There is good news and bad news. There are plenty of hamburgers but there was a miscommunication and Peter, Monique’s husband, has not picked up our food drop. Peter is heading to Port Renfrew in any case. Three women who have had enough have hired him to take them off the trail. Our original destination for today was Cribs Creek – about 90 minutes further on. We have several discussions during the afternoon and develop many plans as to how to proceed and ultimately decide to camp at Monique’s if Peter’s boat has not returned to the buoy by 5:45 pm. He is not back until 6:30 pm.
Even before lunch, Martin had eaten three chocolate bars and Steve has joined him with chips and a beer. The two of them enjoy a junk food fest. They have been hungry. We order hamburgers arrive for lunch.
It has been a relatively short morning and the afternoon is spent lazily. There are 6-10 grey whales playing and feeding in the bay at Monique’s. We bask in the sun, lounge watching the whales and go swimming in the ocean. Our packs seem to explode over the driftwood as everything is unpacked to dry in the sunshine. Monique makes us dinner of fried sausages, couscous, mashed yams and tinned corn. We build a campfire in the evening.
[Note: There is no outhouse so Philipp designates an area down the beach behind a rock as a privacy area. The ocean is vast. Water dumping is a new experience; one does not linger.]