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Camping at Quadra Island and the Oyster Brigade

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There’s so much to say about my second camping but I have limited vocabulary (and time) to narrate the entire experience so I’ll choose only the highlights. First thing you have to know though is that the cellphone signal is scarce at the camp sites, which is a good thing since you’re there to chill and relax.

It was another long weekend in Canada. The CFC group decided to book a camping site far from downtown. I heard they’ve been doing this event annually. I was tagged along. The location was in Quadra island at the northeast side of Vancouver island. It was a 4-hour drive away from Victoria with an additional 15-minute trip on a ferry.

We were a big group, nine cars and nine families, which made it look like a convoy in the highway. There were twenty-four pax including babies and kids. There were plenty of food and countless boisterous laughters–the hyaenas would shy away from the noise. No dull moments even at the middle of the night. For some reason, the babies liked to setup their own meeting when their mommies and daddies were asleep. These toddlers were smarter than the parents.

24 happy campers The Convoy The entire group reaching the South Peak of Chinese mountains.

If you have an insatiable appetite for oysters, call this place a heaven. Once the tide ebbs, you can walk by the shore and start picking the saltwater clams as if you’re just picking pebbles and rocks. The sizes are bigger than what you’d usually buy in supermarkets. I remember, a piece of oyster is normally priced at $1 so if you could eat 20 of them in a day (without calling 911 or the medic), then your stay is definitely worth every cent. The oysters tasted really good, pair them with lemon and chili sauce (Tabasco or Sriracha). Keep posted for my next article, I’m going to show you the place where small crabs can be found.

Oyster on the campfire Clams and Oysters Shells Oysters on the griller

I never got bored in the island. There were mountains and lakes around. We trekked the Chinese mountains and reached the South Peak in two hours. The view was amazing. It gave me flashbacks of the trails that I did in Borneo and Korea (and the people who I went with). I saw a couple who were rock climbing.

After we got sweaty and smelly a few of us braved the freezing water. It was sunny so it helped a bit (psychologically). It must be the crystal clear water that hypnotized us and tricked us to dive.

The view from South Peak The mountains during sunrise The start of the trail Movie Night QuadraIsland001AldrinMercado-2 The view from South Peak Campfire

The place had free electricity. A laptop, projector, portable speaker and a white mantle were all we needed to experience a theater-like movie night. While drinking Corona cervezas, we gathered around the campfire and watched the movie, Now You See Me 2.

If you are in a peaceful and soul-searching mood, you can just gaze at the sky and the Milky Way. I tried to take that famous Milky Way shot but the quality was not at par with what I see in Instagram. I need more practice.

On the last day, some of us spent a few hours kayaking. Luckily, it was cloudy. The weather was perfect. I took a video of our kayaking. I’ll include it in my next post together with all the other photos from my Olympus camera. I haven’t uploaded and edited them.

Meanwhile, enjoy the slideshow video below. It is a little bit long. This was automatically created by iPhotos using the pictures and videos from my iPhone. If you have time, please subscribe to my youtube channel and follow my Facebook page: Aldrin Travels

The post Camping at Quadra Island and the Oyster Brigade appeared first on Aldrin Mercado.


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