Look at at map of the Gulf Islands in Britsh Columbia, Canada. You will see a pant’s load of islands and even more places to anchor in and around those islands. I’d guess at least seven to eight pant loads. That is a lot of choices. That is lot of pants, it’s actually more pants than I even own. So to say choosing a place to go is overwhelming is not an exaggeration.
We’ve been through here before, back in 2008. We didn’t really stop and check anything out that time. We were in a hurry to get further north to meet up with friends. And then on the way back south at the end our vacation we were running out of time so we sorta blazed through again. And truth be told, we had sorta planned to blast our way through on our way north this year as well. But as we were sitting at anchor in Bedwell Harbor after clearing customs. We realized we had a lot more time to spare this time around….alot more time. And could not come up with a good reason to be moving so quickly.
We sorta decided to stop in Montegue Harbor or possibly Ganges to check them out, but a chapter in one of our guide books made a really good argument for Wallace Island.
We anchored in Princess Bay on the northwest side of the island. Its a long, narrow bay and the guide books indicate that stern tying to shore is the way to go. After the business of making sure the boat will be where we parked her (aka, Anchoring) and lunch, and a nap. We took the dinghy to shore and went for a hike.
Near the top of the list of things that I really like, is randomly finding things purposely left by others. If they put a date and a name on it, even better. When we were living in Colorado and hiking all the time. I loved finding cairns on the top of peaks with an old coffee can buried in it. Inside the coffee can would be an old notebook or two, with names, dates, and a short note about who/what/where.
As we were hiking around the island today, we came across an old ass cabin. The outside of the cabin was absolutely covered with pieces of driftwood. Each piece of wood had a boat name on it. And names, home ports. And Dates!
As we were looking at all the names, I spotted a boat name I recognized. s/v Eagle, which belongs to friends of ours, Tom & Jeannie. They were here, according to the chunk of driftwood, in 2011. They are now in La Paz, Mexico. Which is where we will be later this year.
S/V Eagle
We thought it was just the outside of the cabin was covered with alot of driftwood, the inside was out of control. It looked that little old ladies house down the street from where you grew up. You know the one. The one that your mom would not let you eat anything she gave you to take home. Lot of cats, not all of them alive.
Here KITTY KITTY!!
Anyway, as we were looking at all the names and places. We spotted another friends boat.
S/V Pearl
And a boat we don’t know, but somehow wish we did….or maybe not. Could go either way really.
Blame it on the cats.
We also spotted our arch nemesis’s boat…..BELLA STAR! Now we have a mission!
First we had to find the perfect piece of wood. Then write up a list of what we wanted our piece of wood to say. It had to be something deep. Something profound, something that would echo through the ages. Painstakingly plan out how we would write it. What font to use……..?
Actually, fuck all that. We sat on a log, drank a beer and carved something into the nearest piece of wood we found. Add some beach bling and tada….!
The fruit of our labors.
Take that back to the cabin and find the perfect spot to hang it.
Ahhhhh, perfect.
Just jokes Bella Star. :) This is the final spot.
Top billing of course.
A lot of you people reading this will never understand just how much the creative process can really drain a person. So after a long afternoon of searching/carving/writing, we car jacked the first (only) vehicle we found on the island and drove it back to the where we had the dinghy beached.
Hold mah Beer and watch this!
I don’t even feel bad about it.
