Title: A Visit to Bamfield

Source: Dave Finlayson, Staff Writer, Edmonton Journal , August 28, 2001

A stroll down Bamfield’s main street is a unique experience, maybe even a little supernatural. You’re walking on water. The remote community on the west coast of Vancouver Island is built around an inlet so the downtown traffic is all water-borne, and the sidewalk is a wooden boardwalk that hangs out over the water and connects the homes, shops, galleries, resorts and marinas that cling to the rocky shoreline.

It’s part of what gives Bamfield a distinctive flavour you won’t find in your average resort town. And much of that flavour blows in on the salt air, for this is a village that’s always lived and died by the sea. Once a safe anchor for English and American adventurers who traded copper to the Indians for sea otter pelts, it now survives on fishing and tourists who come to kayak, hike the famous West Coast Trail or just escape the roar of four-wheeled traffic for a few days.

Bamfield’s only been connected by road to the outside world since 1963, and it’s still an hour and a half of gravel logging road from Port Alberni. The road stops at the east shore, too, so the only way to get to the west side is by boat, making the morning commute to work for those who have to cross the inlet unlike anything you’ll find in your average prairie city. Some take the water taxi, others jump in their own little motorized skiffs. Rush hour on the LRT, it ain’t. Once you get outside the inlet, you start to realize what a wild and wonderful part of the world this is.

Bamfield sits near the head of Barkley Sound where the Broken Islands break the wind that drives in from the open Pacific. The almost 100 islands, rocks and reefs, part of Pacific Rim National Park, are home to sea lions and countless species of birds. They are also the last resting place of some of the ships that came to grief on this treacherous coast. One of the most notorious was the Valencia, which wrecked on Pachena Point near Bamfield in 1906, killing 126 of its 164 passengers and crew. Nowadays the wrecks draw increasing numbers of scuba divers to the clear water, and modern technology keeps the big ships relatively safe. Although the battered hull of a small cruiser that still sits high on rocks near the mouth of the sound reminds the many recreational boaters that come to this area to keep an eye on the weather at all times. This trip the weather gods smiled on us. Twenty five degrees every day and the legendary Pacific wind merely a myth. Perfect for an early morning salmon fishing trip with guide Simeon Schmidt.

Although whale watching and other nature tours have grown in popularity, Bamfield is still renowned as one of the top saltwater fishing destinations on Vancouver Island. And the pre-dawn on “mainstreet” is the most exciting time of the day.

There’s an air of expectation as a new day on the water begins. Boats of all shapes and sizes leave their moorings, line up at the marina for gas and supplies and quietly slip out to sea as the sun comes up over the mountains that surround the town. We head to a kelp bed near Cape Beale at the head of the sound where Simeon says the salmon hold before heading to Port Alberni to spawn in the Stamp River. He knows his stuff. It’s not long before we have our limit of 30-pound-plus chinook salmon and can relax and enjoy the view of forested mountains that drop down to dark cliffs punctuated by strips of sandy beach. And all the while there’s the constant rumble of the surf, relentlessly carving out strange rock shapes.

Later, back at charming country-inn style Imperial Eagle Lodge, hosts Karen and Jim Levis serve up a wonderful “local” dinner of crab and halibut to guests who include a group of fishermen from Washington state, and a couple from Minnesota who just wanted a few days of peace and quiet. They certainly found it here. A walk across the peninsula to beautiful Brady’s Beach; a visit to the remnants of the ancient Indian village at Execution Rock, about to be named a national historic site; a tour of the old trans-Pacific telegraph cable station which is now a marine biology facility; and a late afternoon stroll along the boardwalk — perhaps stopping for a cappuccino or a chat with artist Babe Gunn, whose stone sculptures reside in the atmospheric old net loft — is about as exciting as life gets here. Of course you can always try to find out why it’s called Bamfield, when it’s named after William Eddy Banfield, the first white settler in 1846. But that’s too much like work.

BAMFIELD FACTS

— Although the Spanish were the first non-natives in the area they never set foot on land, so Englishman Charles William Barkley, captain of the Imperial Eagle, is credited with “discovering” it in 1787. Barkley Sound became important as the next safe anchorage after Sooke at the south end of Vancouver Island.

— It remained an Indian village until 1900 when the west coast telegraph line was built from Victoria to Cape Beal. In 1902, Bamfield became the terminus for the trans-Pacific telegraph cable reaching to a south-Pacific atoll called Fanning and then on to Australia. It was manned for 50 years until the cable was extended further inland to Port Alberni. The station is now a marine sciences facility run by a number of universities, including the U of A. They offer tours on summer weekends.

— Bamfield is the northern terminus of the famed West Coast Trail, originally built so wrecked sailors could find their way to safety. You can hike the last five km of the trail at Pachena Bay, or arrange for guided nature walks along the ocean or in the surrounding forest.

GETTING THERE

BY ROAD: If you’re coming from the south, take Highway 19 or the new Inland Island Highway north from Nanaimo to the Port Alberni turnoff near Parksville. Port Alberni is 50 km from Parksville. From Port Alberni it’s 95 km of gravel logging road to Bamfield. Bamfield is also accessible from Lake Cowichan through Youbou and then on 250 km of gravel road.

BY AIR: There are scheduled connections out of Vancouver to Nanaimo or Victoria. Floatplane service is available from Vancouver, Nanaimo, Victoria and Port Alberni.

BY WATER: Probably the most enjoyable way to get to Bamfield is to sail down Barkley Sound aboard the M.V. Lady Rose from Port Alberni. The ship runs year round, with extra sailings during the summer.

ACCOMMODATION

There’s a good variety, from bed and breakfasts to motels to full service resorts.

INFORMATION

Pacific Rim Tourist Association in Port Alberni, at 250-720-2808.
Online at www.alberni.net/~pacrimtourist.
Bamfield Chamber of Commerce, 250-728-3430

YES, THERE ARE SALMON

Salmon sport fishing in Barkley Sound has been excellent so far this year, says Jim Levis. There will be a coho fishery this year inside the sound, after a zero limit was imposed last year. Limit this year will be two per day, four possession. Chinook limit is two per day and four possession; and sockeye is four and eight, with a 500,000-700,000 run expected.

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