weekend on the island

we spent our last days in BC on "sonja&kevin's island", i.e. gambier island. if you ever look at a map, you will see that this island is pretty big and also some parts of it are quite inhabited. going by my memories of 8 years ago, i described it to b. as this very small place, with only 3 or 4 houses on it - i guess i'll never live it down.
the thing is, the part of the island where s&k built their cabin really is a bit wild/isolated, and their closest accesible neighbours are no more than 3 families, but okay, keep on laughing.

it takes a longish drive (or a pretty long bus trip) to get to the boat ride part of the journey. ralphie is not a big fan of the boat ride part...

...so we took turns consoling him. also i love wearing those safety vests, and yes, the wind is wild.

getting out of horseshoe bay

and...this is (part of) what we came here for! view from the ?porch?terrace? first thing in the morning

and an image of said terrace, well at least the sunny corner, with the spot i claimed on it

the first time i've been on the island, in 2009, they had barely started construction. actually, there's a blog of it http://7lcabin.blogspot.ca/2013/04/halkett-bay-update.html. i don't remember exactly what they had when i visited, but clearly it wasn't comfortable housing. i know there was a kitchen shack some distance away from the main building site...and that i lost  2 silver bracelets there somewhere (sonja thinks the sea lions are playing with them:)) now, as you see, there's a living space for hosts (including living room/kitchen downstairs and bedroom upstairs) and a visitors' quarters, with a 2-level sleeping arrangement going, as well as a separate toilet. the house had just passed inspection, the day before we arrived i think! so good to know we spent the weekend in an approved place

the power tower - which already existed in 2009. downstairs it has the batteries for the solar panels; upstairs, more room for guests

terrace also has the big dinner table, so at night we could follow the lights on bowen island (i think)

complete with telescope! and a binoculars which i used to look at an eagle in a tree.

i understand that some of this furniture has been relocated since

B. playing with ralphie, who is very possessive of his frisbee

the same view of the cabin, but in full sunshine

after lunch, taking it easy on the terrace with leftover brownies and sonja talking about her experiences as a reader for contests/ workshop-giving-important-writer:)

i must have taken like 25 of these pics of her, so i feel i have to include more than 1 here

going off with b. to "explore the island", and this was the closest neighbour we found: view (and boat) from what they call "the indonesian house"

farthest reachable point, and the best view on this side of the island (that's what they told us): on the deck of "the yurt" - a cabin that was built, you guessed, in the shape of a yurt, though not with animal skins and all (sorry to disappoint some potential readers)

back at the cabin: b. is showing off his suntan and also apparently showing his mum how it's still light out at 8.30 pm

in my case it's sunburn round 2 (that day was the brightest and sunniest we've had the whole holiday!), and maybe a little too many cocktails overall

last day after breakfast: best friends. although i have to say ralphie is friendly with almost everyone, probably

not pictured, because we either didn't take pictures, or it's a hassle getting everything together now:
- our quarters (it was really utilitarian cute, sad i don't have pics)
- a huge tangle of old tree roots/stumps in a clearing on s&k's property
- playing bocce balls (the only thing i could manage to win at, obviously by accident)
- every meal we had outside (pancakes! tacos! bbq! fish! soda stream! cocktails in jars! tea with cookies!)
- jumping (or in my case not jumping, just sitting there laughing and waiting to be thrown up in the air) on the famous trampoline.
so glad to return to the island after 8 years, and grateful for the hospitality!

waiting for the water taxi. no idea what sonja's point was, but she surely put a lot of energy in making it! and look, this is all our luggage - not only what we took to the island, but on the whole trip mtl to vancouver, for almost 3 weeks. impressed with our minimalism.