Discover the spectacular nature and wildlife on Vancouver Island during this scenic, narrated tour with your local friendly guide. Explore a picturesque park with excellent hiking trails and beautiful waterfalls. You’ll experience nature at its finest including native flora, roaring crisp clean rivers with scenic rapids and waterfalls. Next visit the North Island Wildlife Recovery Center a not-for-profit volunteer run organization dedicated to protecting and caring for injured wildlife. The center is home to Black bears, bald eagles, great horned owls, and a variety of birds. The center has an operating room, interpretive museum, Eagle flight cage, and Black Bear cage. Enjoy a picnic style snack of wild Pacific smoked salmon, cream cheese, crackers, and a Nanaimo Bar.

Enjoy a day in the countryside, while visiting vineyards and tasting locally produced wine. Cowichan Valley proudly promotes sustainable local wineries and vineyards that produce quality wines, using no pesticides, herbicides and little or no sulfites. You'll visit three different vineyards, all are owner operated. Your guide will provide an informative narrative during the one hour drive to Cowichan Valley.

First you’ll visit Farm Gate Estate Winery, one of the most award-winning wineries in the valley. Here you'll meet the owners and enjoy a tasting of their red and white releases, finishing with a blackberry dessert wine. Next, you'll tour one the newest vineyards and learn about the growing conditions, types of vines, and wine making, followed by a tasting of their red and white wines. Your last stop is at one of the largest vineyards situated on the slopes of Mt. Provost. After your wine tasting, enjoy a treat of wild Pacific smoked salmon, local cheeses, crackers and a glass of wine out on the patio. Departing back to Nanaimo there will be optional drop off downtown, before returning to the cruise ship pier.

While the existence of the cave complex near Horne Lake was no doubt known about for centuries by the island’s indigenous people, it was not mentioned in writing until 1912. As news of it spread outside the local community in the ensuing decades, increasing numbers of visitors, resulted in acts of vandalism and “souvenir gathering.” The caves gained protection and professional management when they were designated a Provincial Park in 1985. Meet your guide on the pier and drive for an hour north east along the coast to Horne Lake Provincial Park, voted BC's Best Natural Site. A gravel road leads you to the trail head, from where you'll hike about 1.5 miles / 2.4 km along a fairly steep trail to the cave entrance. Follow your guide down the narrow ladder and into the cave, where you’ll spend about 40 minutes exploring the Main Cave, with its beautiful crystal formations and numerous fossils. Once back on the surface, hike back to your van and drive to a spot above Horne Lake for a gourmet picnic of smoked wild salmon, local cheeses, crackers, olive/pickle platter and a Nanaimo dessert bar. Afterwards, return to Nanaimo, where you may elect to be dropped off downtown or return directly to the pier. Note: Participants must be at least 8 years of age and weigh no more than 300 lbs. less