sailing trip of a lifetime

Last year Ian Giles (the partner of Jennifer, who taught the primary class at False Bay School this year) invited Sue and me to be paying guests on the schooner Passing Cloud which his friend Russ was beginning to operate as an ecological tour vessel. We accepted, but later I realized that it was right during my garlic harvest, and I'd lose the crop if I went. Zaaven went in my place. They had a great time on the central coast, starting on northern Vancouver Island and ending at Bella Bella.

Ian invited me to accompany him in early June, moving Passing Cloud from Kitimat to Nanaimo. There were a number of other friends of Ian's, and some friends of Russ' too - ten of us in all. At the beginning of the trip Ian led us through an exercise imagining all the things that could go wrong, and how to avoid them and react if they happened. Then he asked us if there were particular things we wanted to do or see, or places to go. He had some things and some places he wanted us to see and experience.

We stopped at a hotspring, a huge estuary, a semi-derelict cannery and reduction plant, a First Nations village, a gone-broke high end fishing resort that's now an educational institute, and saw lots of trees and rocks and waterfalls and mountains, and dolphins (or maybe they were porpoises) and sea otters and whales and bear and wolf tracks and poop. We spent time sharing knowledge of estuary plants and small oceanic life-forms that were drifting by the boat. I learned a lot about being on the water, navigating and steering a boat, rules of the roat (where there are no obvious roads at all). The ten people aboard had diverse knowledge and expertise, and we shared them with each other. After five full days, I was surprised to realize that I had not experienced any tension or impatience. We all got along extremely well, in spite of the limited space we were living in.

Three of the days we were able to sail, and that was spectacular and thrilling. I sailed small boats as a kid  and a youth, and have sailed some here on the coast, but the thrill of seeing sails all the way up a 70 foot mast, and the energy and  stability the sails gave to the boat, was remarkable.

Sue and Camille and Zaaven (our two oldest granddaughters) are just now finishing an eight day trip on Passing Cloud in Haida Gwaii, which they've wanted to visit for years. A couple of other Lasqueti people will be on a later trip there. Another Lasqueti person sent her parents, visiting from another continent. I told her that next time, she should not send her parents on the trip - she should go with them.

It's not an inexpensive vacation, but I highly recommend it for you, or for your parents or your friends or children. You need to be reasonably fit and mobile, but not much more than coming to Lasqueti. The boat is extremely comfortable. There is (for normal trips) a professional cook and a naturalist, as well as the very experienced and knowledgeable skipper, and maybe a deck-hand too. You might need to save up for it, but the trip will be completely unforgettable and worthwhile.

See pictures of the boat, and themes of the trips that are left in this year's schedule, and lots more information, at    http://www.outershores.ca/

If you'd like to know more about my trip, please ask me. I enjoyed everything about it. I even enjoyed my trip from Lasqueti to to Kitimat, by ferry, bus, ferry, bus, train and bus, taking nearly four days and spending time in Vancouver, Prince George and Terrace.