Your adventure begins in the Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology Center. Here, a friendly and informative guide will give a brief lecture and show a short video about the famous discoveries made in the local area. Then, it's off into the exhibit galleries to see the actual specimen and reconstructed cast of an Elasmosaur found in the Puntledge river. You'll also see other vertebrate fossils, such as mosasaurs, turtles, and fish -along with the invertebrate fossils of shelled creatures that lived in the warm, shallow ocean surrounding Vancouver Island 80 million years ago.

A short 10 minute drive and an easy 5 minute forested walk brings you to one of the many beautiful fossil sites along the Puntledge river. Here, you'll experience the thrill of hands-on discovery. After a brief discussion about the history of the site and proper collection techniques, participants will have a chance to find a fossil of their very own. A limited number of hammers, chisels and goggles will be supplied. You can keep any fossils that you find on the tour. If the species is of scientific value, you may be asked to donate the fossil to the museum collection, with the finder's name attached.

Due to the popularity of the tour, pre-bookings needed for the fossil tours. You will require your own transportation to the fossil site.

Tour Information

Hours

• April and May
  Our tours run every Saturday: 1:00pm - 4:00pm
• June
  Saturdays and/or Sundays: 9:00am - 12:00pm & 1:00pm - 4:00pm
  (depending on availability, please call to confirm)
• July and August
  Daily - 9:00am - 12:00pm & 1:00pm - 4:00pm