Courtenay Museums
Elasmosaur at Courtenay & District Museum & Palaeontology Centre, Carol Clemens photo
Time in the Comox Valley goes way back, millions of years before the First Nations, who arrived only thousands of years ago.
Courtenay's Prehistoric Past
Like Alberta's Badlands, the Courtenay countryside once teemed with prehistoric life, only it was undersea. A mere 80 million years ago, this was the land of the elasmosaur. This fearsome marine reptile was 12 metres/39.4ft long, with a head that was all teeth, a crazily long neck and a turtle-like body. It was also 15 million years older than the T-Rex. Hollywood would love it.
Courtenay & District Museum & Paleontology Centre
The Courtenay & District Museum & Palaeontology Centre is a spellbinding repository of bones and fossils. The commoners among them are shell fossils - clams, crabs and snails. The superstars are the monosaurs, giant undersea creatures with characteristics of both snakes and reptiles.
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Get up close and personal with the elasmosaur, whose near-fully preserved skeleton was unearthed on the banks of the Puntledge River in 1988. Other such critters range from the giant sea turtle to the tylosaur, a monosaur even bigger than the elasmosaur. Eek!
Fossil Hunting Tours
The museum offers fossil hunting tours seven days a week, twice a day through July and August, twice daily on Saturdays and Sundays in June, and daily in April and May. Booking in advance is essential. No wonder: Where else can an ordinary tourist go out and pick up an 80-million-year-old souvenir?
How to Spot Fossils
A museum staffer directs guests to a rendezvous on the banks of the Puntledge or Trent Rivers. After a short hike, searchers find themselves scrutinizing every rock and clump for ancient treasures. The guide dispenses clues and hammers. Searchers are soon splitting telltale rocks and scouring cliff sides for crocodile teeth. Quickly trained eyes spot clam and snail fossils embedded in rocks. A split stone reveals a fossilized baby lobster. Shrieks and hoots of triumph follow.
For more information on fossils and fossil hunting in Courtenay, pop into the Visitor Centre.
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19 Wing Comox/CFB Comox
Comox, British Columbia
V0R 2K0
Come celebrate the history of 19 Wing Comox & West Coast Canadian Military Aviation. Relive the daring exploits of BC's Airmen in the short-lived Royal Flying Corps of Canada (1917-1918) & Canadian Air Force (1918-1924) through the glory years of the Royal Canadian Air Force (1924-1968), the consolidation of the forces in 1968 & on into the present day, all with a local focus. All of 19 Wing's squadrons, past & present, are represented. Our museum has a Heritage Air Park, exhibiting aircraft from the past including the Y2K Spitfire Restoration Project, a well-stocked Gift Shop & an aviation reference library. Admission is by donation.
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