Finding Beauty Close to Home

Morning Glory (click to see the details)

Over the past four summers we’ve focused our boating adventures on waters close to home, here on the south coast of British Columbia – unlike in previous years, when our younger, adventurous spirits were lured north by the promise of wilder, more remote destinations.

The south coast holds most of BC’s population, and it’s where my husband and I have lived and boated most of our lives. So in setting off these past few summers, we had some concerns. One was whether we’d find safe, quiet spots to anchor – places where we could be, if not totally alone, at least not cheek-to-jowl with other boaters.  Another was whether we’d miss that sense of adventure we’d felt when cruising up north.

I’m happy to report that we were able to find what we were looking for, even in the most popular cruising areas: secure and relatively private anchorages, gorgeous scenery and lots of wildlife (including orca and humpback whales).

Best of all, we felt a sense of newness even within areas we’d thought very familiar. We found beautiful spots we’d never seen before, renewed our acquaintance with places we’d last visited decades ago, and discovered a good number of lovely new anchorages, often just around the corner from spots we’d been to more times than we could count.

For example, we had passed by the bay in the photo above many times over the years, but never stopped before this summer, when we found we liked it so much that we stayed three nights.  The mackerel sky I photographed that first morning may have been foretelling a change in the weather (and indeed, rain arrived 48 hours later) – but at the time, the sky and its reflection spoke just one simple word to me: beauty.

“Morning Glory” is one of a dozen new prints I’ll be showing at the Gabriola Photography Club’s Fall Show & Sale on Sunday, Nov. 19 (details here). If you’re on Gabriola Island the show is definitely worth attending. As well as mounted prints, cards, and door prizes, there’s a group slideshow, featuring 15 talented and diverse photographers, including some of our newest members. See you there!