First Sailing Adventure of the Summer

We headed out from De Courcy for 10 days and enjoyed some lovely sailing and a few good walks. We met up with friends from Gold River in Howe Sound and enjoyed spending a couple of days with them including a great hike up to some lakes in the hills.

A brisk beat to windward

Motoring up an inlet in calm conditions

Rani checks out a waterfall

Lovely morning in a tranquil anchorage

What do you see? Cliff dwellings, pancake rocks?

We did several hikes including a coastal walk looking for pictographs

We did not find the rock art, but did find some naturally interesting rocks

Swamp Angel at anchor near the head of an inlet

These thistle loving bees ignored a camera plonked in their faces

We followed a decommissioned logging road that had grown over a great deal in less than 10 years

There's a road under here somewhere!

Panorama looking back down the inlet

Rock hopping

More rock hopping

Evening view from the anchorage

 The next morning view with an 'oil painting' filter applied

Friends on a hike to the lakes - Kath, Rani, Ned, and Mick

Tristan getting some air jumping a log on an old skid road

Mick, Kath, Tristan, and Ned

Rani at the lake where we saw Rough Skinned Newts

Rough skinned newts in their mating phase 

Check out these articles for more info on rough skinned newts: Salamander identification guide and Seattle Times article (great reading)

We saw this snake at another lake. It is apparently the only animal that is immune to the poison of a rough skinned newt, which contains enough neurotoxin in its body to kill 25,000 mice.

Waiting for dinner to appear?

We passed one of the few staffed light stations left on our coast on our way home

A Late Spring Hike

We had a lovely hike today near Lake Cowichan. Following are a few pictures. Thanks to Maret for leading the hike.

Broom flowers

The hiking group - Rani, Ronna, Marat, and Jacqueline - at a look off over Lake Cowichan

Lupine with rain drops

Rani charging through the broom, which grows in profusion on this hike

'Self-Heal' or 'All-Heal' purportedly can be used to treat inflammation and infections

Heart

Foxglove

The broom was everywhere - lovely but very invasive stuff

More lupines

On the trail

Daisies and broom

Spring flowers in our garden

Rani and I both love beautiful gardens but we are far too lazy to achieve our ambitions. The gardens along the walkway leading to our house and in a few other places are quite pretty just now, so I thought I would capture a few shots before the weeds take over. Please note I have attempted to identify these flowers but may have got a few wrong - corrections are welcome!

The yellow irises were already growing here when we moved in. They are lovely but bloom only for a very short time

 

These phlox were also here when we arrived and surprise us every spring. I think the white flowers are a rock cress (see better picture below)

These cress are very hardy and tolerate dryer areas of our garden. They also spread very quickly

The lupines were lovely when we left for a walk this morning but a deer must have come through and cropped the blossoms today! Looks like it was done with bypass clippers... The lupines were planted from Nova Scotia seeds from my parents' garden and come back every year.

We have three peonies that are all descended from one plant that was here when we moved in. This little one only has one flower and bloomed for the first time last year.

These came from a hanging planter we bought the first year we were here. We were surprised but happy when, after planting them in the late summer, they came back the next year

We planted this rock cress in year one and they survive in our dry sandy soil with infrequent watering

These blue bells are all over the garden and come up under plants we have added, dying away in the late spring

This azalea bush has lovely blooms but has not grown substantially in the 5 years since we planted it - a testament to our gardening abilities

This columbine has pink flowers. The rest of our columbines are purple as opposed to our native ones, which I believe are orange.

Vinca grows well here. A variety of these periwinkles survived 10 years of benign neglect at the cottage.

This sedum has pretty yellow flowers and survives neglect and dry soil. We brought some to the cottage garden, too.

Rani has always wanted her own banana tree. Her mother and sister both have banana trees in their UK houses. This one survived the winter under a bucket with a pile of sawdust around its base. It is just getting started for the year.

This lilac bush dominates the garden outside our back entrance and blocks a good chunk of our washing line. We really need to cut it back this year. We have some blossoms in a vase now and they fill the living room with their lovely thick scent

Cottage on De Courcy Island

My parents built a cottage in the late 70's on an acre of lake front land on Ponhook lake in Nova Scotia. My brother and I spent our adolescence there swimming and boating and when we were in college having friends over and partying. When I left Nova Scotia in 2003 and there was no one left to use or look after the place, we sold the family cottage to friends. Being without a cottage was liberating in some ways because I no longer felt obliged to spend much of my free time in one place and was now free to travel  in my spare time. However, over the years, I missed having a place in the country with its wood fire, the morning mist rising on the lake, and the call of loons.

Our friend Andy, who has a cottage on Ruxton island, put us onto the idea of buying an inexpensive place on an island. Ruxton and neighboring De Courcy island are about 4 hours sail north of Maple Bay where we keep our boat. They have no BC ferry service, so you can only get to them by private boat, water taxi, or float plane. These islands are off the grid, with no power or wired communications and it is this and their inaccessibility that has, at least until recently, kept prices relatively low. This has begun to change during the Covid pandemic, which has increased demand in general for country properties.

Over the last two years we looked at lots on both islands and even put in offers on a couple of lots on Ruxton, but ended up buying an A-Frame a few weeks ago on De Courcy, about five minutes walk from the beach at the south end of the island. The lot is about one acre and the cabin is powered by a generator that charges a bank of golf cart batteries to provide electricity. The current solar panels provide only a small amount of electricity due to their size and tree shading. There is a propane fridge and stove, a drilled well, and an indoor bathroom and septic system. The home is insulated and the systems are adequate for full time living. In fact the previous owner lived on the island for much of the year, leaving only for a few months in the winter.

The A-frame cottage has a large screened in porch - this picture is several years old and was used to sell the property. The grass has reverted to moss and natural plants and the deck needs work...

We plan to spend about half our time out here at least during the spring, summer, and fall. The residents we have met have been very welcoming and are an eclectic and talented group of people, many of whom make the island their full time home. Some work from the island and there are even families who send their kids to Gabriola for schooling. There are no shops, but there are some families that sell eggs and apparently other produce will be available later in the year. Otherwise, one must go to Gabriola island or Nanaimo for groceries. 

Swamp Angel anchored at Pirate's Cove marine park on De Courcy island

The island has a marina run by a few of the locals and moorage is available for island residents only. We have not arranged this yet and anchor our boat in the provincial marine park lagoon or off the south beach.

Rani kayaks near Swamp Angel at anchor off the south beach. Valdes island is in the background and we look forward to exploring its trails

A bonus of living on De Courcy is access to the lovely wooded trails and tide pools found in Pirate's Cove marine park. We walk in the park most days. Rani has also been invited to walk with some of the local women who walk around the island each day on the road system. 

Rani enjoying the scenery along the Pirate's Cove park trail

The roads are provincially maintained and suitable for vehicles, although the only way to get a vehicle on or off the island is via a barge service. 

We bought a somewhat decrepit 1993 Dodge Caravan with the cottage. Very useful for getting supplies to and from the boat.

The cottage is located by a 'wetlands' area

The cottage overlooks what the realtors call a wetlands area. It is full of bird life now and the frogs sing us to sleep each night. 

Down by the water at the edge of the property

Deer proof garden   

There is also a garden fenced off from deer to the rear of the house. It has not been tended for a long time (the picture above is several years old) so we will be doing some restoration this summer.

The beach at the south end with Swamp Angel at anchor in the distance

Another view of the coves at the south end of the island with the mountains on Vancouver Island behind 

A cozy fire in the living room. Most furniture, dishes, and linens came with the place.

A raccoon makes its way across the pond by walking on water (probably on a submerged log!)

Upstairs is accessed via a real stair case rather than a loft ladder. The main bedroom is a good size and there is a small guest bedroom too.

There is a small work shop near the main house as well as a good sized wood shed and a building to house fuel  for the generators

Seaweed on the south beach

We are looking forward to sharing this place with friends and family when Covid restrictions are lifted.