We took our boat out last weekend. We bought the boat in April this year, but have been too busy to use it. Finally, a chance to get on the water. We headed into the Gulf Islands, passing Salt Spring, a long three sectioned island, the biggest of them. We stopped at Chemainus and Ladysmith on Vancouver Island for a family visit, then went across Stuart Channel to Kuper Island, then Thetis.
If you look at a map of the west coast, you’ll see that the American border zigzags just below these islands. We tied up at Telegraph Harbour Marina for the night,
and travelled on to a Thetis Island cove the next day to try out the anchor and have a saltwater swim. Then home. It was a great getaway, if short. Before summer is over, we will definitely go again, with a longer timeline. Here is an arbutus tree, a unique green-leafed evergreen species.
They grow along the coastline, and on the gulf islands. It likes drought, thus lives well in the rocky, thin-soiled island areas. The arbutus has a lovely aromatic white blossom in the spring and bright red berries in the fall. This tree is peeling its bark, normal for the time of year, and the bright red underneath is the new bark appearing.
What have you done this summer for a getaway?
