First Glimpse of the Deep Blue Sea

We are tied up in a very quiet, peaceful, lovely cove at a dock belonging to the Tlatlaslikawa Nation (a First Nation of Canada). One of the quietest sites you can imagine, tucked inside a narrow passage that leads a harried sailor out of the wide, windswept Goleta Channel at the tip of Vancouver Island into a piece of heaven. Two residents are keeping watch, manning the business of providing shelter, docking, and sometimes fuel for visiting fishermen and cruisers. The rest of the community of 30 or so have moved back to Port Hardy for the school season, to get their children educated (and maybe enjoy the other benefits of a small town?).

 

The quiet cove, however, is one of two environments the community lives with every day. At the front of the houses, on the other side of a thin isthmus, is the Pacific Ocean! The community is sandwiched between heaven and the deep blue sea. And, of course, the accompanying winds, waves, storms, and tsunami threats--as in the one 6 months ago, when the town evacuated to a nearby hilltop.

 

The two gentlemen on watch--and maintenance duty--say they love the peace and solitude. Wolves have haunted the environs lately. I am writing this on the porch of one of the gentlemen's homes--the only house in the community that gets Internet. In turn, I invited them to dine with us on the boat. We'll see if they come!

This will be our refuge for the night, then tomorrow we round the corner and face the fears and challenges that come with an excursion onto (not into!!) the deep blue sea. In the Goleta Channel, depths were already more than 1,000 feet. Waves were only one foot. I cannot even fathom the rolling swells, the unimaginable depths, and the risk of encountering more fog out on the Pacific Ocean.

 

Stay tuned for the next chapter--unlikely to get Internet for several days. Finding here was a surprise!