today's episode is a pretty special one because I finally get to revisit my
hometown of Gold River on Vancouver Island I moved away at 17 to go to
university and I hadn't really spent a lot of time there is an adult so I was
really excited to not only go back but also to show Audrey for the first time
as part of our visit we planned a day trip to friendly Cove with get west
adventures cruises aboard the you Uchuck 3 this is the most popular tour you can
take from Gold River and it's a great way to experience the beauty this part
of Vancouver Island has to offer it turned out to be a really fun day so
we hope you'll enjoy this video
well good morning guys morning guys greetings from Sam's hometown of Gold
River first time back in Gold River in 12 years it's really exciting and we're
gonna be going on the MV Uchuck III today it's gonna be a fantastic boat ride we
are doing an excursion yeah the MV Uchuck 3 is like this massive boat that
apparently does delivery so the little communities along the coast it's a
working boat yeah I could tell you a little bit about its history it's it's
been in service since 1942 and it can hold up to 100 passengers and 70 tons of
cargo very nice yeah it's the two of us my dad Sam
we're gonna start boarding at 10 a.m. and I won't be back to like 4:30 yeah
it's a full day out on the water full day on the water and we woke up really
early in Mount Washington we start driving before the Sun even came up we
had a beautiful sunrise we drove through to Campbell River and then through the
meandering road the Gold river meandering yeah give you a little we
kind of drove through the town of it we saw where I lived a few different
buildings you know like the town is really small so didn't take us long to
drive through at all and now we're just waiting to board the MV Uchuck 3 so
let's do let's do this
we pulled out a gold River at 10 a.m. and began the two and a half hour voyage
to yuquot by a Nootka sound the landscapes were breathtaking the whole
way with sprawling coastal forests featuring Douglas fir Sitka spruce
Arbutus Western hemlock and western red and yellow cedar after enjoying the
landscapes we went down to the galley to warm up for a bit and enjoy a second
breakfast there is really windy and cold so we decided to come down here to warm
up a little eat something and then we'll climb back up some more pictures and
video we brought some you know like warm building but
you need a wind breaker it's not enough we thought it was going to be warmer than
this you know
oh and there was also very friendly dog Oh on board which made the journey all
the more fun so what do you guys think of the journey so far
enjoy it's right yeah very scenery is fantastic you're basically you've got
mountain ranges on both sides yeah yeah it's on your lievable forest anyways
some information about this boat so this the MV Uchuck III was built in 1942
originally it was going to be I think its purpose with us a mine sweet boat
it's been repurposed as a cargo and passenger ship can hold up to 100
passengers 70 tons of freight so the main purpose of the boat actually is it
isn't as a as a passenger boat it's a service remote communities that brings
cargo to and from and yeah it's just been a beautiful day so far it's a
little brisk not as warm out here but I kind of like it being overcast
it's a bit more atmospheric
choo-choo-choo chili what's on the menu Chili's on the menu looks delicious
like man so it is delicious and it's gonna be
warm it had cheese on it broke up some crackers in there
oh yeah they hit the spot big time it's a bit spicy too I like it I've got some
kick to it that's a good chili should we pulled
into Yuquot also known as friendly Cove just as we were finishing up lunch
so that was perfect timing here we got to meet Cujo who is part of the
unofficial welcoming committee on this island
we have Roy we made this friendly Cove friendly Cove this is it we've got the
Uchuck just behind us yep looking massive that was wasn't that a beautiful
journey journey oh my gosh that's your kind that's your kind of boat ride there
is no way smoothly motion sickness it was great wheat chili for lunch you
thought feel I feel I saw a seal some different different birds I mean there's plenty of
opportunities for wildlife spotting now we didn't see a whale I would have been
epic I saw a leaping fish leaping out of the water
anyway that's awesome so anyways we disembarked at around 12:30 and we've
got three hours here so there's a number of things to do there's a little beach
where we're standing right now there's also a lighthouse there's some different
buildings to visit you mentioned the trails to explore yeah there's a church
is a trail to explore so we've got lots of time and we're gonna try to do it all
yeah so let's see what happens
our first tip when you get off the MV Uchuck III would be to check out the views of
friendly Cove from the beach most visitors hit the hiking trails right away but
this black Pebble Beach which is directly to the right of the pier offers
beautiful views of friendly Cove plus there are lots of logs where you can sit
down and enjoy the beauty of the place we geotag this place on trover so you
guys can also find it
after a little stroll along the beach we follow the hiking trail over to you
Yuquot church the church that stands here today was originally dedicated to
Pope Pius the tenth and it was built in 1956 to replace the previous church that
burned down the structure was eventually decommissioned as a church in the 1990s
and today it acts as a cultural center and museum housing replicas of sacred
carvings
after visiting the church we walked over to the beach where we encountered a
totem with outstretched palms staring out to see you Yuquot was the summer home
of chief Macquinna and during its fur trade heyday in the 1780s and 1790s it
had a community of up to 1500 people this is the site where the first contact
between Europeans and First Nations took place in British Columbia
last stop of the day we saw the day before the boat leaves yeah we are going
to the lighthouse lighthouse and we're gonna have a fantastic view from here I
mean look at those views Audrey Yuquot means where the wind blows in all
directions so it would make sense to have a lighthouse here we added this
place to trover because even though the lighthouse may not be open to visitors
it is worth the hike as you get spectacular views of the coastline
and just like that our visit to friendly Cove came to an end and we boarded the
MV Uchuck three once more
we are back in the condo it is dinner time we all look pretty exhausted
because we were up by 4:00 in the morning today won't date today but very
fun a good meal it's gonna be yogi with a four cheese tomato sauce it's all in
pasta we got a big one liter wine on the table yeah so we'll show you dinner soon
and we'll we'll wrap up with some final thoughts on our Gold River and Uchuck experience
Big O great boys the dinner time is their time I've got a mountain lots of
vegetables some meat really really good oh yeah so we had a homecoming of sorts
really mm-hmm we got to revisit the town where I was
raised and grew up it was just it was so cool we got to drive around the town we
got to see what what's changed what hasn't changed I mean it's more or less
stayed the same some businesses have come and gone with the town itself looks
kind of like what I remember I think the the major change that I've seen is the
carvings that are around town now and they're adding some every every year so
I think that's gonna kind of like the story of chemainus you know just gonna
draw people in there so the other thing that was really neat
too is we got to reacquaint ourselves with some old friends a couple of my old
teachers and a few other people we knew someone I went to school with it's like
just a year older than me is working on the Uchuck and it was just great to
reconnect with people everyone was really friendly and just curious to see
what we've been up to yeah just to get in touch with everyone
I mean just the socializing was almost as fun as the sightseeing it's all yeah
the drive from from here into gold River has it hasn't changed that much it's
still a challenging road you have to be careful and there's a few tight corners
it was a serpentine road I mean the entire road is basically serpentine
there's some areas that are more whiny than others and he was going on the bow
the Uchuck was fantastic it's just it's such
beautiful scenery you're looking at rugged coastline and mountains and forests and
it's as far as the eye can see and then you know once you talk and friendly Cove
it's quite a bit to do there's two different Beach areas there's the
lighthouse to church to explore a church filled with totem poles yeah which is
fascinating and I think like more than anything it's just the kind of place
where you want to just sit down or walk and really just take it in because it's
a it's a very peaceful part of Vancouver island it is and for me just going back
over the nootka sound area being on Nootka Island again
I've been to every other place every other logging camp in Nootka Island yeah
but I actually haven't been on friendly Cove so finally I finally get to go to
so out of the three days we've been here two days of basically entirely new
things for you lived in on the Vancouver Island for over 20 means I guess you
know while I were here I didn't really know that was war as much as they should
have maybe you live somewhere it's like not as much of a priority but coming
back I wanted to really make sure that we do things that both of us never got
to experience when we lived here we'll some some familiar things so it's a nice
combination anyways guys if you enjoyed this video give it a thumbs up leave us
a comment below and stay tuned because we have another video coming tomorrow
cheers Cheers