The wind and rain are whipping at the windows and it is prime storm viewing this evening. Being so close to the water, we get the full brunt which is fun. There is a “rustic” luxury hotel in Tofino, a beach town on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, that is known for its storm viewing during the winter. The Wickaninnish Inn is in a gorgeous spot on a rocky headland next to Chesterman beach, known for its surfing. The Inn has great views as storms roll in from the Pacific. I have never stayed there but we were in Tofino, on a motorcycle trip, back in 2018 and I imagined that it must be pretty nice.
Our Galiano place is a close second for storm watching. The Wickaninnish’ windows face the west and south and ours face south and slightly west so we’re similarly oriented. We had an amazing electrical storm a couple weeks ago complete with long, rolling thunder and lightning strikes across the water. It’s not something that happens often but it’s spectacular when it does.
Relations between Canada and its problematic southern neighbor have been stormy as well. I ended my last blog on this topic so I’ll keep it short but mostly want to say that I am thrilled that the Canadian leadership and populace is standing up to the White House bully, unlike so many other countries that have chosen to pacify instead of fight or work with allies. Canadians are united in having no interest in negotiating with the bad faith that the US has shown. This very clever video is one humorous response showing that Canadians are starting to see themselves in a different light and realize the need to disown “big brother” who used to be seen as family. In the long run, after what may be a lot of short to medium term pain, it’s possible the country will come out stronger for it. The same cannot be said for the U.S.
This is our fourth summer living on Galiano island and we finally bought a boat about a month ago. It is a used 18′ aluminum Hewes Sea Runner with a 115 horsepower Suzuki engine. The boat is 18 years old (aluminum boats last a long time) and the motor is 6 years old. We are keeping the boat on a buoy in Montague harbor and we got a standup paddle board so John can go and fetch it and then come to the dock to pick me up. We hope to winter store it in a parking space we created for this purpose. We have yet to name it (and I’m not really into naming forms of transport but a name is, apparently, required) so please send in your IDEAS.
We’ve been having fun taking trips to other islands, with our e-bikes in the boat, and then riding around the island on our bikes. This opens up many options for us as Mayne, Pender, Salt Spring, and Saturna islands have various destinations like breweries, wineries, beaches, and lots of farm stands. It will also be nice to be able to take future visitors on boat rides.
John also looks forward to fishing for salmon and putting out crab and shrimp traps next summer. I plan to leave the fishing to him, as killing the fish is not in my wheelhouse, but I am happy to eat what he catches assuming he does the cleaning and cooking. He suggested I add here “Yes, I’m married to this amazing man!” Duly noted. : – )
John on our new (old) steed, as yet unnamed. Both e-bikes fit easily into the back of the boat.
I head back to Berkeley tomorrow and have been saying goodbye to all my summer friends, the wildlife, and the gorgeous views that I’ve been soaking in all summer. Last Thursday, we joined three others for an evening kayak starting with the sunset and ending with admiring the bioluminescence. It’s always a magical thing to see the sparkles in the water, the bright lines that come off the bow of the kayak, and the darting of tiny fish below the surface creating electric lights in all directions. It doesn’t seem to work to take photos of the bioluminscence so I leave you with a sunset shot instead.
It has been a wonderful summer for wildlife. In the past week, we’ve had two owl sightings. The first was a great horned owl with a garter snake in its mouth. Then, on Saturday, we were on Saturna island walking from the Harvest Fest at Sage Hayward Winery back to our boat and we saw a Barred Owl. He or she was so beautiful and just sat on its branch and stared at us as we walked by.
As always, I feel so grateful to get to spend my summers in such a stunning place and also for all the good friends we are making here. We went to Soup and Bread today, a weekly event on Mondays where the Galiano community meets at our Community Hall for lunch to eat delicious home made bottomless soup (5 different soups to choose from each week) and bread (brown or white, also homemade), all for $7 per person. Everyone is welcome and so during the summer tourists also drop in from time to time. It’s a wonderful Galiano tradition and a great way to meet new people.
While I’ll miss Galiano as soon as I board the ferry tomorrow morning, I also look forward to returning to Berkeley and my friends and family and activities in the Bay Area. How lucky I am to have two such terrific locations to call home!