Thirty years later

The first time I visited this island was 30 years ago with Mike. We hadn’t been together long. He’d been invited as a guest speaker at a meeting about disarmament, one of his areas of expertise. I was invited to tag along. He knew the local peace group didn’t have much money so declined their offer to cover his travel expenses and, instead of an honorarium, asked if there was any chance of going for a sail the day after the meeting. One of the organisers offered his boat. It was a lovely afternoon. Somewhere in a box in the closet downstairs I think I might have a photo taken that day. Of course we had no idea at the time that four years later we’d be buying a house here.

Other than taking the ferry to get to town that was the last time I’ve been on the water in the strait. No more sailing, no kayak or canoe paddling. Nothing. Until yesterday.

The pub has a burger and beer special on Wednesday nights. It’s a meal out I can actually afford and so I do fairly regularly meet friends there, including Heather and Paul. A few days ago I had an email from Heather asking if I was interested in a burger and beer, not at the pub, but onboard their sailboat. And not just sitting at the dock, but actually out on the water. Of course I was interested. 

There wasn’t much wind and we weren’t going to be out for long, so it wasn’t worth using the sails, but it was still wonderful.

A reminder as we pulled away from the marina that waterfront homes are highly sought after, whether or not they are practically built on top of one another. 

Yes, there is a fourth house tucked in on the left hand side. Even built chock-a-block, the view guarantees even the tiny house would go for pushing a million. (Until sea level rises put it under water.)

Impossible to travel on the water anywhere in southern Georgia Strait without passing one (or more) of these.

Awaiting word from the Port of Vancouver that their cargo is ready for loading freighters drop anchor and leave a skeleton crew onboard with generators running 24/7. And there they sit for days, sometimes weeks, occasionally months. A private member’s bill introduced in 2020 by a Vancouver Island MP with the aim of addressing concerns failed (as most private member’s bills do) to become law.

But enough about that. The only vessel with which we shared the cove for our dinner break was another sailboat.

If you think the sky looks a bit hazy, that’s because it was. Although the worst has blown on we did have a couple of days of orange skies from smoke from forest fires in the interior. 

During our return I got a (very) brief turn at the wheel.

After which I turned my attention to the setting sun.

What’s that second orb in the sky?

There it is again. Could that be the sun reflecting on the moon?

Gone now, but wow!

After commenting that I really must make sure to do this again in another 30 years it was suggested we might make it an annual event. I hope we do.