Water Adventure
I have them all the time, but this one is special
It’s pretty easy for me to write about a water adventure. For the past two years, I’ve lived on a boat, but our family has been boating for the past four decades on and off. My partner and I and our two dogs now live on our boat in the pretty nook of Cowichan Bay, on the west coast of Canada.
As it turns out, this prompt comes at a time when my partner and I are on a 30-day water adventure near our home port. It’s been a long time coming, this trip.
We’ve wanted to do an extended voyage for some time, but our working lives and many children somehow got in the way. Life got in the way. It’s what happens in the real world. But now, here we are.
We did not really set out with a destination in mind but have been travelling for over twenty days so far; adventures here and there but mostly the peace and quiet are what amazes us.
Beautiful sunsets have been abundant despite the rain being frequent. Water dripping from the sky is common here on the left coast, but this spring has given us more than we are accustomed to.
We’ve tied to docks and anchored in beautiful spots. My husband had a hospital visit due to a hand caught in a winch. Fortunately just a minor injury. He even took out the stitches himself when the time was right.
Our son and his family have brought their boat and visited with us twice, once for an overnight. Our granddaughter learned to row in one day of dedicated practicing. She’s a determined kid. That same day they brought us dinner they had caught from the sea.
We’ve seen whales, seals, otters, dolphins, sea stars and of course lots of crabs and other small creatures in the ocean.
Our dogs are habituating themselves with travel and jumping in and out of the dinghy to get to shore. The smaller of our dogs, Rover has learned to use the fake grass at the back of the boat when he needs to. Our more sophisticated rescue dog will not, preferring to suffer until we reach the shore or a dock.
In some places we only stay for a day, the longest has been four nights. That was the most beautiful spot and one that we will return to for sure. It had all of the elements that we seek: natural beauty, a safe and sheltered anchorage and not too many humans.
This particular spot was the Octopus Islands Marine Park. It has several small islands and parts of the shoreline of Quadra Island are contained in it. There’s no cell service and while we were there were very few other boats. The main sounds we heard were the birds: ravens, eagles, robins, woodpeckers and more.
The ocean and the forests bring both my partner and me a particular kind of peace. Just being near either of these is good for our souls. We feel calmer. It has always been that way for us. Now, we can blend these as the places we travel in our boat, on the water are most often surrounded by forest.
As we navigated from our home base slightly south on Vancouver Island, we watched as the geography changed. The landscape altered slightly as we voyaged into areas that typically get more rain. And in general, the further north we have come the wilder things look. There are fewer cottages and signs of people. We do see areas where forests have been clear-cut, sadly.
But some areas are pristine and unblemished by humans, at least not in visible ways to us, travelling by.
We will soon come to the end of our thirty-day voyage. But it is the first of many we hope to take in the decades to come as we journey further into our retirement, and up the coast.
