Day 19 - First day on the island

After a good night sleep with a roof over our heads, we enjoyed our morning watching the tokyo olympics before heading off to explore the harbor town of Nanaimo.

Nanaimo bars in Nanaimo

On our first day on the island we went out to explore Nanaimo. Walking on piers, we saw everything from kayaks to yachts and even sea planes taking off! We also had to stop somewhere to enjoy some great Nanaimo bars along the way. All around we really enjoyed the town, it’s a lot less touristic than the other ones we’ve been through and has a big small town vibe.

Romper room climbing gym

To end our exploration, we went to romper room climbing center, the local climbing gym. This unique gym strangely didn’t have mattresses everywhere but gravel (although it had movable mattresses for bouldering) this made it seem as though we were climbing outside. Having only belayed once before, Marty was a bit stressed for the mandatory belay test we must go through at each and every gym we visit, especially as this time we would belay with Tim’s ATC rather than a gri-gri as he had learned with. The stress went away after meeting the evaluator and seeing how friendly and understanding he was. He helped Marty with what he had forgotten, and as Marty’s belaying technique was very good for a beginner, he passed us. Overall, it was a really cool experience, the routes where fun and people there where really helpful and friendly. Some holds were even made of real stones, those were Tim’s favorite for sure.

Amazing halibut dinner

This week we’re on a break from camping as we are staying at Tim’s cousin, Ryan’s place. Ryan, being the awesome guy that he is, received us like kings. Tonight, he managed to get his hands on fresh caught halibut from the First Nations People whos land he is currently working on. Both of us having never had Halibut before absolutely loved it. The halibut is a huge fish commonly caught in the pacific, however, with the license necessary to catch the fish being so expensive and mostly controlled by big corporation, it is very expensive. Fortunately, it is not necessary for first nations to have a government issued license to catch this fish. Therefore, we had the opportunity to taste this great western fish.