Desolation Sound & Broughton Archipelago 09

Oh my gosh! I am getting behind on this blog!! The summer is so busy for us and the trips quickly blend together in my mind. There are so many get wildlife shots, so many laughing paddlers and stunning sunsets and then I am faced with SO MANY photos to choose from . . . . ahh the digital revolution . . . . So here is a very random smattering of shots to give you just the barest idea of our summer. If the event was big and special but I neglected to include it then chock it up to Skipper failure!

We were very lucky to start our season with Alan Wylie leading an artist’s workshop. But my funniest memory of this tour was when we introduced Alan to our workshop where all the maintenance for our homestead and the Columbia III takes place. He had enjoyed the scenery of Desolation Sound and the wildlife and painted happily for several days but he REALLY loved all the tools and random collection of projects and supplies hanging from the rafters. He promised me a copy of the final painting.

Then we had Boomer Jerritt along again with his dynamic teaching style. The final, all student, slideshow was very impressive, especially the creativity expressed in the self-portraits of the students.

Jeanette Taylor joined us again this year on our perennially popular history tours. Besides wearing the mantel of “Resident Historian” Jeanette also found time to publish another book on the history of Quadra Island.

Ok, Ok, I was napping. As Skipper, I really just lay about ALL the time and usually I try to “mill about smartly” to keep the rest of the crew from getting mad at me, but just this ONE TIME, I was caught in the act . . .

Mark Hobson joined us as well this year but we were able to show Mark around the Broughton Archipelago were he had never been before, (surprisingly, considering how well Mark knows this coast)

The mothership seems a great place to regroup and focus on the important things in life!

Somehow, almost every tour, the scrabble tiles come out and we introduce or reintroduce the willing to “Speed Scrabble” . . . many a game proceeds long into the dark. When I get up in the middle of the night on my anchor patrol I often find the players still hard at it!

I was happy to have a good personal friend join us for the repositioning trip to the BC Great Bear Rainforest. Bill is ALWAYS in the the best mood, happy and appreciative for his blessings

Feeding 14 people everyday for the summer is a huge task and much of the work goes along when the guests are off the boat paddling. Here is just a little glimpse at the nerve center of the boat

And a visit to a wonderful new and promising village.

Here is a great little story. A repeat guest from England came with us to the Broughton Archipelago. He proudly showed us his new and “purchased-just-for-this-tour”, fancy and BIG, telephoto lens for his camera. “What I REALLY want to see is an eagle catching a fish!!” he exclaimed hopefully. And we of course said, ” Well, that is something we certainly see but not that often and certainly very rarely in just the right circumstances to catch on film”. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the very first afternoon on the water in the kayaks a bald-headed eagle swooped down right in front of fellow’s kayak and snagged a fish. But to make the whole event absolutely picture perfect, the fish was too large to fly away with so the eagle swam to shore and tried twice to take off before if finally made a successful lift off. All this gave the fellow lots of time to get many great shots. I wonder what he wants to see next?!

On a different note: A certain guest, to remain anonymous, has joined us several times and has a personal connection to Columbia III. This year he brought his whole family to join us for the week AND he brought a small gift to say “thank-you” in advance. Here is a model he had commissioned of the Columbia III for us!