2011 Christmas Cruises

This year the Campbell River Museum chose to celebrate their annual staff party on the Columbia III. As we were bringing the boat to town for our Christmas Tea Cruises anyhow, it seemed a perfect fit. Lights, holly, homemade egg nog and “action”!

Fern had to come out of winter retirement and “chef” the galley for the group.

This was our “6th annual Christmas Tea and Cruise”. And as usual, after the “word” got out, we had the 88 spots (4 tours over two days) filled and a huge waiting list. When the announcement hit the local newspaper, our phone literally rang non-stop. As I tried to answer one call, the phone was beeping as other calls came in and and the answering messages were stacking up. I gather the locals like coming on the Columbia III! Luckily we had good weather as you can see.

If you are unfamiliar with our tea cruises, we put lots of Christmas lights on the boat, inside and out. I hung holly sprigs around inside and hung as many candy canes as possible about the ship. Then I baked a zillion Christmas cookies in all kinds of shapes and sizes and filled the salon with tea and coffee and opened the doors for locals to have a two hour harbour cruise in Discovery Passage. Because of our Transport Canada certification we can’t take more than 22 guests at a time so we ask people to book ahead. The tours fill very quickly!

You have to look closely to see the candy cane cookies. This year was a bit different. Fern was away visiting her father and the task of making about 10 million Christmas cookies fell on my broad shoulders. So when I gave the introduction and safety briefing for each tour I mentioned that I would accept no complaints if the cookies were a bit over done on the edges or if my 2-toned hand-shaped candy cane cookies were a little lumpy and funny looking. “Too bad!” I declared . . . It certainly seemed like a great technique for eliciting compliments for my baking!

Now that’s sensible attire for a Christmas Cruise!

This fellow’s father use to own the Columbia III in the ’70s and he had many good memories of being on the ship as a boy. He was thrilled to see the “old girl” being so well taken care of.

It might be only a 2 hour cruise, but Fern still seems to earn hugs at the dockside after we secured the lines back in harbour.

SUMMER 2011

Oh my gosh! these blogs can get out of hand! I seem to barely turn around and the last entry is too long ago and I need to make another entry. Our summer is just a little bit busy with all the comings and goings of crew and provisions and guests such that the blog slips well down the “to-do” list.
Here is a smattering of photos from our 2011 season. Miray has loaded up the usual gallery with photos from this summer and as usual, the BC coast has been very generous with her wildlife! This was our family’s seventh season running the mothership and really, just between you and me, it is just such an amazing coast and the Columbia III is such a comfortable and beautiful boat to be on that I still pinch myself. How lucky I am, how lucky our family is. Great guests, great boat, great coast. As a friend pointed out, “Ross, you’ve got a poor excuse for a job!”.

Here our son-in-law, Luke is skippering . . . another tough day in the office.

Ace guide and family friend (and a total perfectionist when it comes to the perfect varnish finish!!) Steve

Not bad, Don, but you forgot to paint the Columbia III in the foreground.


Robert Genn workshop

Robert Genn is “heavy hitter” in the artist’s world, so its fun to have him paint straight into our guest log book.

Jeannette Taylor joins us every year as resident historian and story teller. Here she’s checking her notes.


You see a young woman posing on Mitlenatch Island in the middle of the Salish Sea. I see Farlyn, our daughter. the youngest woman on the coast to have her Limited Master’s skipper papers for the Columbia III.

A quiet moment running up Johnston Straits

Mom! there’s a bear on the beach. Here, look!!

Lillian Hunt joined us again for our First Nation’s cultural tour.

One of the most amazing sights of the summer and perhaps of my BC Coast life was a transient Orca kill of a Pacific Whitesided dolphin. We had a group of whitesides following us down Johnston Strait when all of a sudden they ALL lept clear of the water simultaneously and raced away at a truly unbelievable speed with every dolphin spending as little time as possible IN THE WATER!

It didn’t take long to figure out what was going on. Luke captured the Orca in very hot pursuit. There must be some advantage to being in the air when attacking because the orca kept leaping out of the water over and over and twisting and diving in pursuit! All the guests ( and crew!) were exclaiming loudly as the chase evolved. As this was the first day of this particular tour it took some explaining to the new guests that this was not a common occurrence and they were very, very fortunate to have witnesses such a moment. I have been on the coast 50+ years and it was my first close hand view of Orca kill.

We don’t get a lot of kids on the mothership but our family ( being a family!) love kids and the world viewed through fresh young eyes is such a wonderful reminder for us all.

I know it can’t be true but it sure seems like we have a birthday celebrated on every tour of the summer and sometimes 3! We are always up for another cake and we keep the ship’s stores well stocked with candles.

I know our regular gallery has lots of Spirit Bear photos, so I only threw one in here. But it was a really, really good year for bear viewing. As skipper I usually stay with the mothership and most guests have seem more Spirit Bears than I have . .. but this year I was in the right place at the right time (with a little help from our Gitga’at guides!!) and I saw 3 Spirit Bears and 3 black bears simultaneously!!!!

Summer 2011. We are ready . . .

This really was a very busy winter for us with the construction of the boatshed, and then we launched straight into our spring maintenance without a single day’s pause. With the boat protected from the foul April weather we had the time to give the entire exterior of the mothership a complete tune-up. But there were other aspects to our small family business occurring simultaneously. Fern was busy experimenting with new recipes (our family’s favourite time of year!), creating new menus and ordering thousands of pounds of food. A great “coming together” occurs as the food supplies, wine, mechanical spares, engine oil pails and ship’s stores are purchased, transported and stowed on the Columbia III. From the latest copy of the Canadian Hydrographic Survey’s “2011 List of Lights” to a custom made brass cookbook holder for the galley, from upgraded VHF radios and antennas to better towels for the guests, from 2 pallets of organic flour and baking supplies to new folding teak deck chairs . . . the season inexorably approaches and comes together. “What do you do in the off season, Ross?” guests often ask. And the answer is simple. We all get ready for our next season of exploring this wonderful coast and meeting new friends. The summer is the best part of the year and our reward. We leave home in 3 days for our 41/2 month season.