Newcastle Island

Report by Anja H.

How to get there

This is a trip which was organized from the university for the students. You can sign-up for this trip in the international education center – just ask the ladies at the front desk and they will help you. But don’t forget your health insurance because without that they can’t take you with them. Also you have to pay them cash, but for this day trip you just have to pay 10 CAD. It is very cheap – if you would do this trip on your own, you probably would pay a lot more than that. So the 10CAD include the ferry transport to Newcastle Island and the Dinghy Dock Pub and the bus transport from the university to the harbor and back.
The bus will leave at the VIU Opgaard Bus Loop at 11 o’clock. The Bus Loop is above building 200. The day trip will end at about 5.15pm, so you have a lot of time to spend on the island and at the pub.

What to bring on the trip

So you will receive an e-mail in which the team from the international center sends you some tips what to wear, what to expect, etc. They write that you should have “warm socks, a warm hat or toque and gloves or mitts, appropriate footwear (running shoes, hiking boots, or gum boots), warm pants (not shorts!) and warm sweaters, fleece or hoody,” but you really don´t need this if you are going to the island if it is sunny or just a little bit cloudy (like in April). Maybe it sounds weird for you that I write about this, but I really considered at the day what I should wear because this mail confused me. It was a sunny day with just a few clouds. So I think they send this mail throughout the whole year and write in it everything for the warmer time and the colder time, so that it fits for every season.  A friend of mine wore a hat and a fleece jacket and she sweated the whole time until she put off her hat and the jacket. I think you just need a waterproof jacket because sometimes there is just a big cloud over the island and it will rain a lot – this could be possible, believe me!

Dinghy Dock Pub

If you are at the harbor you will take the ferry to Newcastle Island and then you will probably have a walk for two hours – it’s not hiking just walking with two leaders who will provide guided walks. The Island has been an important place for the First Nations (Snuneymuxw people) for thousands of years and you can see a lot of their art. Nobody lives on the island so it’s a quiet and peaceful place. There are beautiful beaches and most of the way is on the coast, but sometimes it’s more in the forest too, which is just as pretty.
After the walk the ferry will take you to Dinghy Dock Pub on Protection Island – just the neighbor island. The Pub swims on the sea and the atmosphere and the ambience is pretty cool because they designed it a little bit like a pirate ship. The food is good and the prices are reasonable. So this is definitely a trip worth your time!