July 24, 2025
Trudie and I spent the day on Denman and Hornby Islands.
We began our road trip from Nanaimo, taking the Highway 19 North heading towards Fanny Bay. Normally we would take the Ocean Scenic Route on highway 19A where we would take in beautiful Parksville, and Qualicum, but today we needed to catch the 12:45 pm ferry at Buckley Bay Terminal.
It is an hour and forty minute drive, and it was a beautiful sunny day – hardly a cloud in the sky. It was going to be a great day for pictures! And it was!!
We arrived on time for the ferry to Denman Island which is a 10 minute ride across. Our plan was to drive directly to the ferry terminal that would take us to Hornby Island because the last ferry to leave Hornby was at 5:00 pm.
It was extremely busy with the possibility of full sailings, so it was best to get over to Hornby Island and spend the most time there.
And good thing we did that!
As we followed the parade of traffic off the ferry we quickly realized that following the crowd of people going to the beaches was NOT the smart thing to do!
Trudie and I took off on in another direction and do what we love to do best – just follow roads and see where they go!
In minutes we were on a quiet road and found a beautiful secluded side road leading to the main beach – we were the only car parked there!
The Whaling Station
Here is the beach we found. The tide was way out – it was a New Moon at its strongest point.
Our 2 hours on Hornby Island went by so fast!! We needed to be back at the ferry terminal for 4:00 pm – because the last ferry off the island was at 6 pm and there was a strong possibility that there would a multiple ferry wait. And good thing we did that because we ended up having to wait for an extra hour.
We sailed back to Denman Island on the 5:00 pm ferry.
Now we could take our time and have dinner, do a little drive around the island, and then head back over to the main land (Vancouver Island).
We stopped at the Take Out Near You where we had burgers and fries. Mine was with a gluten free bun 🙂
Denman is a beautiful island and much larger than Hornby Island.
It is lovely, and has some quaint qualities.
Ford Cove, Denman Island
Okay, so we decided to do a drive and follow a road off the beaten path – which took us onto a gravel road that we followed for a long long way only to have to turn around and back track. By this time we decided to head to the ferry terminal.
We just missed the 7:00 pm ferry and the next one was at 8:00 pm.
Luckily we had some birds to keep us occupied!
The sailing time between Denman and Vancouver Island is a short 10 minutes.
You have the option of getting out of your car, but you don’t have to.
It was wonderful to arrive back on Vancouver Island – our home. We had such a lovely and fun-filled day with loads of sun and water and I was thrilled to have been able to feel sand between my toes!
We drove home and took the Ocean Scenic Route on highway 19A. Sorry – no pictures this time – we were both so tired!
