lubbin'

have we ever been landlubbers since the last post!

we arrived on quadra saturday mid-day after a *very* late sleep in - like an all-time record-setting ten o’clock wakeup for the kids… it was amazing! needless to say, we found ourselves back on the rock (quadra) with energy to spare - which was just as well, as we had a party to go to.

uncle/brother nathan picked us up at the heriot bay dock to give us a ride home. we had a few things to deposit back at the house, but otherwise we moved pretty empty-handed. our roommate emma was gone for the weekend, so we did a brief re-takeover of the house, putting away this, pulling out that (toys for the kids, clothes for me), showers, all the good things. we had originally planned to stay on the boat the whole time, but since emma was away and the shindig we were going to was just down the road, we decided to keep it simple and stay at the house.

the party was a fun affair. it was a birthday party for a friend of ours, and there was quite the turnout of people. at first i was very hesitant, in a way, to mingle back in with the quadra crowd. i didn’t really feel quite ready to look upon familiar faces, and i had been really enjoying the reclusive aspect of boat life. but of course, back among friendly, beautiful people, i couldn’t help but love them all. and the kids had their fill of kid time - it was a group of all ages.

it was also another late night; it was great to be at the house, each with our own bed and room to ourselves to get in a good night’s sleep (what a luxury!). although the next day was father’s day, both of our kids ended up going for sleepovers (sage’s first!) to make the most of our time back on the island. monday consisted of a town trip for more provisions (my greatest gratitude to georgia, not only for driving me hither and yon but volunteering to do so <3 what a great way to catch up), stowing all of said provisions, and then we were back on the boat.

it was fun to spend a night at the heriot bay dock, still doing our thing but right in the heart of home waters. there was maybe some aspect of a slow getaway to it, but also it gave us that much more time to wrap up loose ends and finish our business. tuesday morning (summer solstice, and six weeks on the water!), the kids and i marched up to the grocery store to get more mayo (i swear there are two jars aboard somewhere, but where? who knows…), then back down to the dock just as it began to drizzle. aaron had gone back to the house to drop off the car and still beat us back to the boat.

we untied and set on our way once again. it felt good to spend summer solstice - even a rainy one - out on the water. to be out in nature, between the elements that make up our bodies and all the life around us, felt quite right - and also to leave our regular life behind yet again.

six weeks and a solstice escape!

we didn’t go all too far - just a nip up hoskyn channel to our place at read island. i brought rafiki in to dock at the float house (and did a mighty fine job, if you can believe it), where we tied up for the night. read island is always a joy; it’s wild but familiar now, and speckled with dwellings built by people who are either practically or literally family. in other words, it’s a cozy place. the evening of solstice passed gently in one of the most beautiful places we have the privilege of knowing, with smiles on our faces and appreciation for the incredible life we are living.

the floathouse!

wednesday morning was bright and brisk. the wind was whisking up a jolly fray, blowing us about as we moved rafiki from the float house over to the group dock (side note for anyone who isn’t aware: aaron’s family - de facto our family - is part of a group that owns 150 acres of land on read island, just adjacent to quadra. each family has five acres to call their own, and the rest is communal land. we built a cabin on the hocking plot, which was actually the reason that aaron and i moved to quadra in the first place). once we tied up at the dock, aaron hung about to work on “things” and wait for uncle steve, and the kids and i walked over to the school.

the read island community is small and tight-knit. there are always incredible projects on the go, backed and fronted by many willing hands. after a lengthy and berry bountiful walk (salmon berries are perrrrrrrrrfect this year), we soon came upon this community spirit hard at work. the school and community hall on read are right next to each other, and there was a group of folks working to add a covered pavilion to the scene. rocks had been laid to build a pleasant retaining wall, and footings had been prepared to support the structure. on the roadside, next to a pile of beams milled on-island, men were sawing and chiseling logs for the rest of the structure. the pavilion had been designed by another member of "our" group, and all but two of the workers were volunteer. it was a happy, sunny work site, and inspiring to come across.

nature's succulent and weirdly hairy bounty

we played at the playground next to the working folk for a bit, snacking on more berries and chasing butterflies through the field, waiting for noon or dad to arrive - whichever came first. noon did, and we made our way down to the dock to participate in the weekly community lunch on the dock. we picked a good day to show up - lunch was tasty fresh tacos, though the wind was doing its best to steal away everyone's lettuce! even though we are only intermittent community members, it was comfortable to be there and see a few familiar (but not too-familiar) faces.

brownie monch at the floating post office

aunt kathy and uncle steve met us there for lunch, and afterwards brought us up to their place to hang out for the afternoon. their house is the highest on the group property, sitting high on the hill with the mountaintop just behind. the view is staggering; it looks down onto the last of hoskyn channel, through the eternally tidal beazley passage, then up along okisollo channel into layers and layers of mainland mountains. the whole property is west facing, so the afternoon sun makes the place into a radiant paradise. aunt kathy even let us graze the first of the strawberries! nomnom.

wednesday also happens to be group dinner day, so we enjoyed a lovely evening at randy and shauny's place - another stunning wilderness abode with a nearly 360 degree view of the property and ocean below. it was a blessing to not have cooked on a boat, or even cooked at all! what a time.

even after dinner, the sun was still far from setting. steve and kathy gave us a ride back to the boat, where we grabbed our night-time and morning things, then headed over to our cabin. we haven't spent a ton of time there since having kids, and obviously none so far this summer, so it was a treat to spend a sunny evening and quiet night there. also the wind was giving the boat a good toss at the dock, so it was a good evening to spend ashore!

being that the kids went to bed quite late yet again, we had a long, slow morning that included picking the only ripe huckleberries we had seen on the island so far, conveniently located just behind our cabin. it made for a peaceful morning tea for us "grown up" folks. we hung out there til mid day, then headed back to the dock for another pickup from steve. he hauled us back up the hill, the kids leaning out the back of the truck to snatch branches and sticks and the occasional berry.

back up top again, we lazed about in the sun, enjoying the view and the comfort of hanging out with family. the kids and i made some scrap metal art on the ground outside steve's shop. hot from the sun, they braved a little swim in the pond and did some near-naked tree climbing before dinner. originally we were going to stay one more night, but instead decided to catch the evening tide through beazley. with many thanks for dinner and generous hospitality, we said goodbye to kathy and kim, and steve gave us a ride back down to the dock.

a fun time with the barneses

with aaron at the helm, rafiki rode the last of the ebb tide through beazley pass, a swift and narrow body of water connecting hoskyn and okisollo channels. it's always thrilling to be ushered through there, the shore close on both side and the boiling, swirling waters simply having their way with us. other than one rock to avoid on the other side, it feels pretty safe - but still thrilling. soon through there, the kids were put to bed and we motored up to our friends homestead on maurelle island to tie up for the night. they weren't there when we arrived (as we knew they were likely not to be), though just before the sun disappeared for the day, they came buzzing down from the north end of okisollo on their way home. they tied up alongside for a bit and told us of their travels, though it was late for all and we soon parted ways on the water, grateful for the convenient tie-up and the inspiring company.

... zzz ...

early friday morning we let go our ties and headed for granite bay. when we have early departures, i often stay in bed with the kids to soothe them back to sleep after the engine starts if needed. (who am i kidding, i often stay in bed regardless.) not far from where we were moored are the upper and lower rapids - which aaron doesn't mind going through while they are running more than a bit mildly. all of a sudden us snoozers down below were jerked from our quiet morning reverie by the feeling of the boat lurching in the current, being sucked this way and that as we zipped along. it's one thing when you can see what's going on (and still a bit of a shaker), quite another to feel it happening when you're helpless in your pyjamas, eyes snapped open but still half asleep! it's an odd way to start a day.

anyway, we made it through all fine and well and soon joined papa on deck to watch the north end of quadra go by. it seemed like only a short time later when we poked our noses out into discovery passage, only to tuck right back into quadra's lanky shore. across kanish bay, we snuck through a tight channel into granite bay - our first time arriving there by boat.

granite bay is a lovely place, and no less so than when approached by the water. the bay is wide, but not huge, with a shallow shore on one side, modest waterfront homes lining the other, and the road entering along the creek to end dead ahead at the dock. the dock is a one-finger affair (my new band name) and has a boat launch alongside. it's absurdly cheap compared to any other marina possibly on this entire coast and gets sun all day. also it is pretty close to our friend sam's house - and we were headed there for a party! (we filled our summer party quota this weekend, i swear)

if granite bay sounded nice, sam's place is an absolute eden. his property includes a farm-garden, chickens, ducks, sheep, pasture, forest, a stunning heritage home, a woodworking shop, a mill, and half of an absolutely epic lake. everything grows lush and with vigour, feeding off the richness of the land. sam tends it very naturally, and in some magical way it seems both on the brink of being reclaimed by nature and simultaneously showing clear determination of dedicated care.

we arrived early in the afternoon to make the most of lake time. it was about a kilometre walk from the dock to sam's, but a continual supply of juicy salmonberries got us most of the way. the lake and its little sandy beach were lit up by the high noon sun - just the ticket to end a hot walk.

the kids were into the water and off like a shot. they swam and swam and swam, stopped for a snack, then swam and swam and swam. the sand slopes into the water on a comfortable angle, and the little dock is pretty friendly. there's a rowboat and some surf boards, so the kiddos were able to swim and float and paddle about to their heart's content.

into the evening, other people began to arrive and set up for the show. sam had acquired two bands, and they set up his flatbed truck as the stage, right by the lake. i don't know if music can get any more down-homey than the scene that unfolded there. the stage was lit by houselamps and construction lights muted with newspaper. as the musicians did their soundchecks, kids were swimming in the lake, growing in numbers by the minute. raw slab benches were set up, a fire was started, and as the day turned to dusk, the party by the lake began.

the first duo to play was a guitar/accordion pair - we had seen the gal, carolyn mark, play at sam's before and she is a rocker. the fella we hadn't seen before, but they played a gentle set to get the show started. after them came a band called kitty and the rooster. they set their instruments up on stage and did their sound check, then disappeared for a while. more people showed up, the night got darker...

...and finally they reappeared in their stage clothes - she in a shiny dress made of overlapping silver discs and and he in the most dazzling blazer with an equally dazzling vest underneath. they were glamorous! they climbed up on stage and started right away, playing a soundclip going "here, kitty kitty kityyyyyy, heeeeere kitty kitty" as they got ready to go. the strange call echoed around the lake, and while the audience chuckled with anticipation, they each whipped a mask on to their heads and jumped around to face us - as kitty and the rooster!

mooched this from the internet - but you get the picture!

right away they launched into catchy surf music, mostly original stuff that was super fun to dance to. a lot of their lyrics were weird and raunchy (what more could a person want) - admittedly it felt a little strange to dance with the kids to a song about the clap, but also it was just too good!

they were fantastic performers and they played a solid set. i was sad to see them walk off the stage at the end, but it was closing in on midnight and our kids were clinging to their last threads. aaron drove us back to the boat, then split for the rest of the party while i tucked us into bed. what a full day!

saturday was a sleep-in lake day - as i said, we lubbed the land hard this weekend. by the end of it, sid was doing cannonballs off the dock in his lifejacket. sunday was a lake day too, and by the end of that day he was diving off the dock with goggles on and swimming back to shore under water - without a lifejacket!!!! just like that, the boy is swimming! absolutely epic.

sunday afternoon also held another wonderful event: my sister and my dad came to visit! my sister came back to canada for a two week visit (she's been living in australia for about four years), and this was the first i had seen her in three years. they made the very last car on the 330 ferry and came out to sam's to meet us. i don't think a lake day could have gotten more perfect for me!

auntie time! my mini-me and my mini-dee - and my real dee!

the six of us crammed into the van and drove back down to the dock. we loaded all their stuff aboard, cast our lines, and scooched around the corner to orchard bay. still within kanish bay, orchard bay is a sweet anchorage with a lovely campsite on shore. dad, grandpa, and the kids went ashore while dee and i made supper and caught up. after the day was wrapped up, dee and i sat out on the deck (next to granda glen, tucked in to his sleeping bag in the cockpit) and chatted the night away, watching the approaching glow of cruise ships and then the illuminatory assault as they passed through our view. we counted five behemoths, then went to bed lest we see any more! i could hardly bear to waste a minute of our time together sleeping, but it had been an eventful weekend and i was easily lulled to bed.

monday morning was short and sweet, though fun-filled. from the boat we saw a seal pup, a mink, an otter, some porpoises, and a turkey vulture, sunning itself on the rock. after breakfast, we rowed ashore to check out the campsite and hunt for artefacts. and climb the big maple, as always. too soon it was time to row back to rafiki and raise anchor, because dad and dee had to go back to vancouver, booho!

it was hard to say goodbye after such a short visit, as it will likely be years again before i see my sister, but i guess you gotta take what you can get. our consolation was that they dropped us off at the lake.

we squeezed in one last afternoon of lubbery fun, then headed back to rafiki to once again cast our lines and capture a favourable breeze. time to leave this magnetic island behind yet again and sink our teeth into the heart of true adventure. to the north!