Today we explored the island, had a couple wonderful adventures and also a mishap along the way. It was definitely low tide when we woke up, and we could walk out for a ways on the reef in front of the house. We snapped a picture of it from the water’s edge. As you can see, there is the larger home on the right – that’s Marian’s personal house – and on the right is the small cottage where we are staying. Marian and Buddha went to Vancouver for a couple days so we have the deck to ourselves.
This is the inside of our cottage, a picture John obviously did not take from the beach, showing the kitchen and the living area with the bedroom just off behind the door. I would not want things to white at home, but at the seaside in the summer it seems like the perfect color.
Back along the reef, we saw lots of mussels and there were also lots of starfish.
As we walked along we could hear the high-pitched sounds of young eagles, though we did not see any aeries.
We packed up the car and decided to head to the island’s biggest tourist draw – and one of its two restaurants – the Saturna Island Family Winery. Here we had our only real trouble of the day. As we were coming to our cottage yesterday, we went down of fairly steep hill covered with gravel. When we turned the corner on the road to go up it, the wheels of the car started spinning wildly in the gravel. One by one, all of the neighbors came out with various thoughts about the situation, all delivered kindly in that slow, Canadian cadence. “No four-wheel drive, eh?” observed one older man. “We all have four wheel drive here.” A gray-haired lady came out with a rake and we tried to rake out as much of the rocks as we could. It didn’t help much. Finally, one younger man told John just to reverse to the bottom of the hill and try it as fast is he could, veering from side to side. The two older people thought this dangerous and shook their heads, but John gave it a try. It sent up a dust cloud about as big as a 1950’s nuclear test, but we did make it to the top of the hill. We’re now parking it on the road. I am not sure that is legal, but the police only come to the island once or week or when somebody reports a problem.
Once safely on the road, we made it to the vineyard with no problem. It is stunning located on the other coast of the small island with fields nestled between a steep escarpment and the placid waters of Plumper Sound.
There are about ten tables set up on the patio outside the wine tasting room. The dogs were welcome to join us at our table. This being Saturna, everybody was friendly and as we walked up the people at this table called us over and talked to us. They were as fun as the group on the ferry.
It was a birthday celebration, I guess, and the guest of honor had found a sash for the occasion. She announced that she was Miss Las Vegas of 1936.
Talking to them some more, we learned that every last one of the group were retired teachers or administrators. None of them seemed to have any regrets about leaving their service in the Vancouver area schools behind them. One of the men had been a high school principal. He now devoted his time whenever possible to fly fishing, and he had a series of tattoos now, each commemorating a big summer fly fishing adventure.
We had a charcuterie platter and our new friends bought us a bottle of Pinot Noir to go with it. It was the closest thing I think you can find in Canada to sitting in a Tuscan vineyard. Of course, in Tuscany you don’t get a water view.
Speaking of water, after we ate, we walked down to the cove. We did not have a tennis ball with us, but it turned out that Eli was quite happy to chase after a piece of bull kelp. John had his trunks on, and he finally took a plunge into the cold water. He found a swing attached to an old pine tree at the waters edge.
There were lots of plants in bloom, and one of them gave me a one of the world allergy attacks I have had in years. John, who suffers from allergies more than I do, had some super-prescription stuff back at the cottage, so we drove back there so I could get some relief from sneezing and itchy eyes.
We watched for whales, but today there were none to be seen. So as late afternoon turned into early evening, we went three miles down the road to East Point, the tip of the island. The evening was clear, and we could see the glaciers on Mount Baker in Washington as well as other snowcapped Canadian peaks. East Point, with its grassy fields and granite cliffs, looks a great deal like the coast of Maine. The old barn there, now carefully restored with new cedar shingles, completes the Down East scene.
Edie loved it there. I cannot imagine Andrew Wyeth painting pictures of dogs, but he if had, this could have been his scene.
Back at the cottage, I roasted a chicken and some ears of corn on the grill. John made a salad, and we ate as we watched the sun sink bright red below the horizon at about 9:30.
