Blissed in Texada

August 7, 2018
|In Blog
|By Dennis Ducklow

Our holiday week on Texada Island was restful and filled with beauty. It was the perfect place to be for BC’s heat wave. The cool ocean breezes and the refreshing salt water were constant reminders of how thankful we were not to be in the crowded city. Shelter Bay Campground  has two huge beaches, old forests and an abundance of wildlife to observe. It’s a popular spot for locals but never felt crowded.

Coming home with over 1000 photos, the hardest part is not to share too many. So, I’ve divided my selection into categories.

Amazing Sunsets

We hardly saw a cloud during our visit to Texada but the skies did fill with forest fire smoke for much of the time. With the stable weather conditions, sunsets each evening were very similar and it became a challenge to find different ways to show the beauty. Hope you enjoy this selection.

sunset with pink skies at Texada Island
Probably my favourite picture of the week, this was our first evening at Texada. A long exposure creates a soft feeling in the water and a boat that motorized through my scene created a line of interest running to the right. The point of land is the northern tip of the island.
Old pilings in the ocean at sunset
Those old pilings add such great interest to a sunset photo. Here, we are looking west toward Comox.
End of a hot day
The heat at the end of the day shimmers over the water.
camera motion creates streaks of sunset light.
After the sun disappears, the best stuff happens. Looking across the water and moving the camera turned the distant lights into streaks of fairy dust.
Distant hills disappear in the night.
The distant mountains slip into darkness after a hot day.
Every time I make a photo like this, it is unique and absolutely unrepeatable. I love how the lines of light, land and water converge on the horizon.
the full moon watches over the evening twilight.
Each night, the old pilings beckoned me. During our visit, the moon was full. In this shot, the moon makes a guest appearance from the southern sky, thanks to a double exposure.
Twilight at Texada Island.
Twilight at Texada Island.
Kayakers in the light of the setting sun.
As the sun was shrouded in smoke, a pair of kayakers enjoy the evening stillness.
sunset with multiple exposure
This was either caused by too many cool beers or I was just having a little fun with multiple exposure as the sun put on another show.
The light shimmers as the sun goes down.
Although it looks like this was taken from an airplane window, I was actually lying on the beach with my camera just above the water surface.
sunset light reflecting on beach rocks.
The rocks on the beach glow like embers from a fire as the sun sends out its last rays.
sunlight reflecting on hot rocks
The final rays of the day’s hot sun smouldered on the beach.
people enjoying a late sunset with ice cream.
What’s better than ending the day with an ice cream cone?

Texada Creatures

Although some people observed humpback and Orcas from the beaches, we did not. However, there was lots to see, including our daily entertainment from a pair of seals. They showed up at the same place every evening and seemed to think they were Orcas as they constantly breached almost completely out of the water.

Sand dollar on the beach
Sand dollars are plentiful on the beaches of Texada.
a seagull in flight with a clam shell in its mouth.
Did you know? Seagulls regularly find clam shells on the beach, fly up and drop the shells on the rocks to crack them. They then quickly retrieve their fresh snack. Here, a gull is getting ready to gain some height.
Seagull dropping a clam to crack the shell.
Letting go! It’s fun to watch the gulls fly to a rocky area and drop their shells from about 8 meters high.
Oyster catcher at work
Oyster catchers are social, noisy and odd looking birds that probe the beach at low tide for tasty snacks.
large red jelly fish on the beach
A large red jelly fish makes for quite a sight under the full sun.
A cloud of bugs swarming.
Can you guess what creature this is? We did not have bug problems at all but one evening, a small cloud of bugs was hovering nearby. A telephoto lens allowed me to keep a distance away and a slow shutter speed showed the movement of these bugs that seem to circle and swarm aimlessly.
Two pileated woodpeckers at work
A pair of pileated woodpeckers worked this tree together for several minutes.

And a Few More Things

Dick Island at Shelter Point Park
Dick Island, located between the two beaches, can only be reached at low tides. Although it is privately owned, it’s ok to explore. Here, it is illuminated by the last rays of light.
Arbutus trees are plentiful on Texada Island
As one of the Gulf Islands, the island is rich with Arbutus trees.
a group of arbutus trees.
A group of Arbutus trees create a painterly scene.
Arbutus tree looks like a hairy sasquatch
A Hairy Sasquatch or a crazy Arbutus tree?
A spider web looks like a splash of rainbow colours.
Always on the lookout for nature’s beauty, this is a spider’s web. The silk creates a rainbow of colours when the light hits it.
a maple leaf on the forest floor.
The forest floor is a rich tapestry of colour and texture.
a stand of trees
A stand of trees become a beautiful pattern of lines when the camera is moved while the shutter is open.
A mother and daughter enjoy the beauty under water.
So pleased to see people enjoying the beauty of nature.
Hippy on the beach
A different beach on Texada is Shingle Point, where music festivals are held. It’s a beautiful spot. This is Adam, who seemed to be a volunteer caretaker and genuine hippy.
A full moon rises in a smoky sky.
The full moon that came up in a smoky sky was almost impossible to see with the naked eye. Only when I took a picture of what I thought was some brightness over the hills did I realize the moon had shown up.
The Milky Way and Mars light up a night sky.
On the last evening of our trip, the moon rose late enough that the stars were visible. And the Milky Way! And Mars (the bright orange light)!
Arbutus tree at night with stars.
Even as a skeleton in the dark, the Arbutus tree is beautiful. The stars don’t hurt either!
Moon rise
The moon eventually came up around midnight, creating a beautiful night scene but with fewer stars.
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