NORTH VANCOUVER ISLAND TRIP | Visiting Port Hardy + Port McNeill + Telegraph Cove, BC

In today’s video, we continue our road trip across Vancouver Island in partnership with Trover, this time visiting three towns in the northern part of the island where we have lots of cool nature sightings and also come across some rather unusual attractions!
First up, we visited Port Hardy where we casually encountered a bald eagle - locals were very calm about this occurrence but the three of us were standing by the water’s edge ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the display.
Then, in Port McNeill, we came across the biggest burl in the world; we didn’t even know what a burl was up until our visit, so we’ll tell you guys all about it soon enough.
And finally, we hit up the picturesque seaside village of Telegraph Cove, where we learned all about killer whales and came face to face with two deer who seemed blissfully unaware of our presence.
It was a great day and we can’t wait to share it with you in this video!
That bald eagle encounter pretty much made our visit to Port Hardy! We then walked along the waterfront, where we spotted a curious seal peeping its head out of the water, plus we saw some impressive totems. It was a short visit, but we really enjoyed the town.
From there, we continued our drive towards Port McNeill, but we pulled down a logging road just shy of the town to visit a rather unique attraction. This right here is a burl; a burl is a knotty growth on a tree that can occur on the trunk, at the base of the tree, or even underground in the form of a rounded growth. It’s the result of stress on the tree due to injury, a fungus, or an insect infestation. This one here is apparently the world’s largest burl!
We then drove into Port McNeill to have a little wander and check out the marina.
We continued our drive towards Telegraph Cove, which may very well be the most picturesque town we visited during our whole Vancouver Island road trip. Telegraph Cove started out as a fishing and cannery village, but today it’s an eco-tourism destination where you can embark on a number of adventures including kayaking trips, whale watching excursions, and even grizzly bear tours.
After our little mid afternoon treat, we walked over to the Whale Interpretive Centre, which was founded in 2002 and seeks to raise public awareness about marine mammals and the threats they face. The Whale Interpretive Centre is home to one of the best collections of marine mammal skeletons in British Columbia. Of course we added this place to Trover because it’s a must-visit if you make it out to Telegraph Cove.
We didn’t hike more than 5 minutes before we had a surprise: two deer munching on shrubs and bushes! They were just a few meters away from us and their little snack must’ve been tasty because they didn’t even look at us.
And that’s it for today’s adventures on Vancouver Island.
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NORTH VANCOUVER ISLAND TRIP | Visiting Port Hardy + Port McNeill + Telegraph Cove, BC:
Come join us for an epic road trip to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada where we partner with Trover to cover the island from the south all the way up to the north. Unlike most Vancouver Island road trips and travel series which focus on the triangle of Vancouver, Nanaimo and Tofino, we branch off and visit lesser-known places such as Gold River, Port Alice and Malcolm Island just to name a few.
Our trip to Vancouver Island starts off with a flight from Toronto to Vancouver, followed by the shortest flight of our lives from Vancouver to Victoria. From Victoria, we head to our base of Mount Washington in the central part of the island, where highlights include spotting black bears, hiking in Mount Washington and visiting vineyards in Comox.
Heading to northern Vancouver Island, we base ourselves in Port Alice and visit the nearby towns of Port McNeill, Port Hardy and Telegraph Cove. For separate day trips, we take the ferry to Malcolm Island where we visit the former Finnish Community of Sointula and take another ferry to Alert Bay where we have the opportunity to appreciate First Nations totem poles, artwork and museums.
If you are thinking of doing a Canada road trip, Vancouver Island should be at the top of your list. For more information and tips on all the places we visited on Vancouver Island, you can check out this Trover list:
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