It only took us a couple of hours to get to Echo Bay yesterday after zigging and zagging our way through the Broughtons. Matt had read that Echo Bay, a floating visiting boater oriented facility like Sullivan Bay, was very popular and he was concerned about being able to get a berth. We found it to be almost completely empty when we arrived.
In the office we met Tove, half of the couple that owned and managed the floating resort. She and her husband Pierre have been in this business for more than forty years, and as much as they have loved it were calling it quits. The marina was for sale. Did we want to buy it? Matt looked up the listing info on the internet after we returned to Thankful. Fourteen acres of land surrounding the marina and all the infrastructure for a measly $1.9 million Canadian. Such a deal!
Tove told us that the season is just about over now. They are full of boats all summer, but most cruisers have gone home. She also told us about a forty minute hike to Billy's Museum in the next bay. We were itching to stretch our legs, so off we went singing songs to scare the bears away. As we walked out of the forest and up to a couple of shoreside buildings we found eighty two year old Billy sitting on a bench outside his museum.
Billy was a fisherman, collector, and story teller who has lived his whole life in the area. He started collecting as a kid, and his museum was full of pre-contact native stone tools, old glass bottles, artifacts from the fishing industry 100 years ago, and stuff he picked up on Pacific beaches. He had a decent collection of glass balls, and we got to talking about those. He showed me some new ones he'd collected recently, glass inside of a plastic case. I'd never seen one before. Now I'll know better than to ignore plastic floats that I see on beaches.
Billy was also the author of three books about his life's experiences. There were copies on sale in the little shop next to the museum.
The Thankful crew attended the resort's prime rib dinner last night, the last such event of the season. We weren't sure what to expect. It was a bring-your-own plates, utensils, beverages affair. Tove and Pierre are pretty good at this after forty years though. The prime rib dinner for fifty guests was excellent, and lots of fun. We sat at a table with Allen and David, two guys on the first long cruise out of Vancouver aboard their new to them used cruising sailboat. They are having a ball and hope to take longer cruises in the future, perhaps to Mexico and Hawaii.
I turned them on to Noodle's Notes, my free on-line Hawaii cruising guide. This morning before we departed Allen yelled over that he had downloaded the guidebook after returning to his boat last night. They'll call when they get to Hawaii.
No comments:
Post a Comment