Copelands – Page 2 – Skelton Sketches

Emerging from the shadow of cedar and fir to the seaside road, faces flushed with the vigor of the walk and the briskness of the wind…we paused to take in the glory of the wind-swept ocean reaching away to the snow-frosted mountains…

…the gulls wheeling and playing in the invigorating rush of wind…

…our placid strait, transformed into a sea of bedazzling diamonds…

…the white caps surging in to lend their froth to the wind-driven sand and reckless abandon of a wind-whipped day!

It was glorious!

The following day, when wind and wave had subsided substantially…we took “Chase Me” for a sail to our best-loved island with kids and friends in tow…

It was my first sail since the balmy days of summer…and what a sail it was! Heeling in the wind, tacking back and forth into a lively Northwester, we did at last arrive at our quiet haven…had a jolly wiener roast, a ramble about, and a quite nap nestled close to rock and moss…

And somewhere along the way my camera battery died… I leave you to imagine the rest ( ;

–LS

“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” Ps.16:6

My trails of late have mostly ended with water. We’ve had a record breakingly wonderful hot summer– the likes of which we have never known here in Powell River. It has brought back memories of summers growing up when days were hot and corn grew tall…
So, we’ve been heading to the water a lot to brave its chill and celebrate its getting warmer with each successive week of sunshine. The day I want to highlight here was an all-girl adventure. We set out with our bikes to fetch a friend’s boat out of Okeover Inlet… The tide was w-a-y low so the ramp to the dock was rather precipitous…
But we got the bikes all tucked in at last and donned our ill-fitting life jackets for the cruise out to sea…

We picked our way along slowly, sharing the job of deciphering the charts and determining which rock was which! We missed them all (whew!) and here’s the view–the gateway to Desolation Sound.

But we were headed the other direction–towards Savary Island, fabled land of white sandy hot beaches, home to summer cottages for people from far and near…

But first a stop at the Copelands–designated a ‘marine park’ and more affectionately known as the Ragged Islands. We tucked into a little cove there for a picnic lunch and swim in the brisk ocean water! (brrr! good thing the sun was hot at least). This cove was the first one we discovered as a family in our sailboat so it’s full of happy memories…

(in the cove…)

(looking out to sea)

Then we were off to Savary Island…dropping our bikes off at the dock, anchoring off shore, waiting for our ‘captain’ to swim in, and then setting off for the little wee church to have some focused time to pray… (this was in fact the purpose of our trip)

Next notion was to pedal to the end of the Island; not sure how far that was going to be we took our cue from signs (and passersby) along the way. The island was all set up for a triathlon on the coming weekend so we had the bonus of mileage signs to count down our distance. It was about 8 km. to Indian Point, the island’s westernmost tip. And it was all adventure, esp. the running out of water and the prospect of no stores on the island– but surely someone would give us some water?…

Had to pause for a photo of this whimsical knight adding decor to someone’s private drive…

And then there was Indian Point–snack time with what we could scrounge. It was now actually supper time and time to get going home but first one last dip in a very cold ocean…

Oh, and we did find water at last–a tiny house store with a shingle out– the price? $2.00 a bottle. But what’s a little money when you’re going to die of dehydration otherwise?! And somehow the pedaling back seemed shorter than the coming and the hills not as foreboding as we’d thought. We arrived safe and sound at the dock and after fetching the boat and loading the bikes we headed off across the sea to the dock at Lund just down the highway from home. We were met by our gracious escort with not only the boat trailer but watermelon and Sesame snaps besides–sweet pleasure to end a sweet adventure.

“In [His] presence is fullness of joy; In [His] right hand there are pleasures forever…” (Ps.16:11) and to think we haven’t seen anything yet!!

Tag: Copelands

Wind-whipped days

Life as we know it…