Ferries and flowers

A colourful ferry under colourless skies...

BC Ferries connects Vancouver Island to the rest of Canada. In these days of COVID-19 though, they are suffering from a severe drop-off in travelers as a result of lock downs and a closed border between the U.S. and Canada.

Mt Arrowsmith

The snow capped peaks of Mt Arrowsmith...

Mt Arrowsmith dominates Vancouver Island's central region. It can be seen from Parksville on the island's east coast all the way to Port Alberni on the island's west coast.

Here it's lit up by an early morning sun on a winter day...

Missing children

Parksville's main park... a victim of the current COVID crisis.

The main playground of the excellent children's park at Parksville sits empty and unused. This is our world right now.

I hope it doesn't last long.

Blue sundial

Why so blue, Sue?

Wandering the grounds of the Galiano Inn, I came across this weathered looking sundial in one corner of the yard. The inscription around the outer edges reads:

"As tyme and houres passeth awaye
So doth this life of man decaye
As tyme can be redeemed at no cost
Bestow it well & let no houre be lost"

I guess it could be distilled down to "Use it or lose it".

Mostly moist moss

Moss and tree converge into one...

Okay, say the title of this post fast five times... I'll wait here.😏

One fact of life about living on the We(s)t Coast, is that you see a lot of moss. It's everywhere... on your roof, spreading across your driveway, growing up the side of your garden shed, hanging down from tree branches...

It will literally take over trees as demonstrated by this specimen on Galiano Island.

Parksville Bay x 2

High noon versus sunset on Parksville's beach...

My wife and I decided to retreat to our condo in Oceanside during the Easter weekend. People across the world are being urged to stay indoors during the COVID crisis. Rather than sitting in our house we figured we could at least enjoy some seaside scenery and fresh air.

This is the view of Parksville Bay from our room. One was taken during the low tide of day, the other during the high tide of sunset...

Don't call me Shirley

Another one bites the dust...

On the way to surf at Jordan River, you will pass through the blink-and-you'll-miss-it community of Shirley. Most surfers and west coast campers know it for the coffee and deserts served at the Shirley Delicious Cafe.

On a recent surf expedition, I saw that the cafe was closed. Like every other cafe, bakery and restaurant in the province, the COVID crisis had forced it to shutter its doors.

Shirley loves you and wants to keep you safe...

On the other side of the highway, was this sign urging visitors from the urban core to #stayhome. A recent sunny weekend saw the highway and western beaches jammed with city folk looking to escape the urban lockdown.

Following the example of Tofino and the Gulf Islands, these communities promptly shut down the campgrounds and beaches in an effort to control the crowds. Too much road traffic and too many people threatened to strain the response time of any emergency services, and overwhelm local emergency facilities.

Retreat indeed

West coast beautiful...

Retreat Island is a pretty-as-a-postcard 7-acre island off of Galiano's west coast. It's hard to believe that this photo was taken during a very spring-like day in February.

There is a home on the island... Google tells me it was for sale as late as 2017 and sold sometime in early 2018. You can see more details of this island and the superb home on it on this Youtube video and here.

How small is it?

Life in the slow lane of Galiano...

It's hard to believe that it was only a five weeks ago that my wife and I spend an idyllic weekend on the southern Gulf Island of Galiano. The COVID crisis was still a week or two away from hitting Canada. Since then everything about our way of life has changed.

Now Galiano is closed to outside visitors over fears that its limited health care facilities would be swiftly overrun by sick tourists.

Galiano is pretty small. Cue: "HOW SMALL IS IT?"

It's so small that these sandwich boards in Sturdies Bay are the local versions of billboards advertising the handful of tourists shops and eateries in the community.

Mexican muscle...

You work out however you can...

While in Mexico, I got a workout in by pushing over the waterfront lighthouse.

My wife poses...