September 9
61mi/98km
1900ft/579m elevation gain
It doesn’t get much better than waking up to see the sunrise over the sea. We saw Great Blue Herons, more Belted Kingfishers, and Red-breasted Nuthatches, not to mention a bunch of gulls and ravens. We watched a group of four sea otters swim to shore as we drank coffee and ate pastries.
We returned to Highway 19A, the Oceanside Route. We passed a fruit stand and bought a bag of plums for $2, which were delicious.
About an hour later we hit the town of Courtenay. Naturally, we stopped for more coffee and pastries, and took another opportunity to charge our devices. We left town along a multi-use path before returning to the highway again.
Around lunchtime we decided to look for a spot to eat and found a food truck with picnic tables right on the waterfront. We had fish and chips which were awesome. We watched more birds while we ate. Aside from the gulls and Kingfishers, we saw a couple of Killdeer on the shore as well.
We were on the highway most of the day, but the last stretch was mostly along quiet streets and bike routes. We’re camped at another campground near the beach, and although this one doesn’t have beachfront sites like last night, it’s still a nice campground. We took a walk along the waterfront before cooking dinner. There are tons of bunnies around.
