A Different Perspective | Life on the Left Coast

Life has been difficult these past months. Preoccupied and hijacked by troubles, I have felt like I’ve lost myself. A writer who hasn’t written, an artist who hasn’t painted, a photographer who hasn’t been making pictures. Lost. On top of that it’s the middle of summer and life seems to be passing me by.

Now, little by little I start to remember who I am. The other day I was walking on the floor of the ocean at the low, low tide of the new moon, totally relishing the warmth of the sun on my body and the feel of the warm salt water on my feet, feeling happy. At last. I looked out at the Strait over to the mountains of the mainland and north to the islands of Denman and Hornby. The sky was bright blue but over there, I watched as thick clouds formed over the islands. Now we have had only an inch of rain since April which is extraordinary, but isn’t everything about the weather these days. But there it was, this single cloud grouping and as I watched it roll in I could see that it looked like rain was falling over Denman Island, just about obscuring it from view. It only lasted half an hour at most, surely not enough to make a difference to the parched earth but rain nonetheless. I took it as a sign and a beacon.

I remembered that I haven’t been to the islands or anywhere else much around here since before Covid. Day tripping and longer road trips used to be a big part of my life. Over the years I’ve lived here (12 now) my go-to place of peace and joy has always been being in nature and exploring the landscapes and wildlife and birds and trees and rocks and shorelines. An idea formed and I went home to see if Howard felt like going on a day trip to one of these islands in the coming days. Well of course he did! And may I add, this is not exactly an onerous trip to make. Drive down the coast road for about 25 minutes then get on the cable ferry for a 10 minute ride across. Duh. Where has my head been? How has it felt so far away?

So Tuesday we took a wonderful trip to explore Denman Island and the resulting different perspective. Literally.

Waiting for the ferry, I amused myself by watching the purple martins swooping in and out from these nest boxes constructed along the pier, feeding the little ones.

This sight is part of a larger success story. Purple martins typically nest in groups along the shoreline in tree cavities. But by the 1980’s the number of natural nesting spots had dwindled to less than 10 and the species was almost lost in British Columbia. This was a result of competition from non-native species and human development along their coastal nesting areas.

A volunteer artificial nest box program started in 1986 and has provided the platforms for almost all B.C. Purple Martin nests today. There are now over 1200 nesting pairs and over 120 nesting colonies on B.C.’s lower mainland and on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island. Because of collaborative efforts of many groups of people, purple martins populations have recovered and are now assessed at a lower risk level of conservation concern.

Gotta love a sense of humour. Laugh out loud. A fellow vehicle traveller on the ferry over to the island:

Once on the island we stopped for coffee and explored the “town” which consists of a General Store, Hardware Store, Book Store, Cafe and Community Centre. That’s it. Bought some books and had the best vegan sandwich. A drive around the island looking at signs at the roadside of laneways to the rural properties – farm produce stands, yoga, pottery and other artist studios, reiki, massage, bike repair, paddle board and kayak rentals. Notices were posted of all kinds of community events on the bulletin boards of the General Store – writer’s festival, lots of music concerts, self-help groups, lessons on offer, people exchanging services – a very artistic, hippie vibe. I said to Howard, “In my next life I want to be an artist/hippie living on an island acreage.” To which he replied, “You already are!” Hmmm. Perhaps – although maybe a little better dressed on a smaller lot on a much bigger island.

Then off to explore the beach and the hiking trails and the views.

This low tide view is towards the little ferry that connects Denman Island to Hornby Island. Through the gap in the distance somewhere is where we live on Vancouver Island and the beach where I had been walking looking up this direction.

We hiked through the tall trees of the provincial park forest on the south end of the island to the tip and its view of Chrome Island Lighthouse and across the strait towards the mountains of Vancouver Island.

I was particularly stoked for this as Chrome Island was very much part of our sailing trips when we had the boat. Our marina was not far from here and we sailed past it many times. I have many, many pictures of it taken from the water. Now was a chance to see it from another perspective.