Vancouver Island, Day 1

JJ and Bud with the catch of the day. I'm not the best fisherman, but had a blast trying today!

If I told you I drove from Puyallup to Tsawwassen, your first question might be regarding what continent I was on. Perhaps you would think that we’d returned to Europe, or maybe the Indian sub-continent. (Not sure the exact definition of sub-continent but it sounds very collegiate and/or exotic.) But chances are you have Google Maps – or know where I’m from – and would eventually be able to decipher that our drive took us from Washington State up to British Columbia in order to grab a ferry to Vancouver Island, Canada for the weekend to visit family and friends.

Vancouver Island lies just off the coast of the Canadian mainland, a mix of wild beauty and laid-back living. Like its counterpart, the San Juan Islands in the US, “The Island” as the locals call it is a world away from the stress of the big city life across the water. The US originally claimed Vancouver Island in the 1800s but gave it to Great Britain in the Oregon Treaty of 1846. It is the largest island on the west coast of North America at 280 miles long, and with 32,000 square kilometers (sorry to switch to metric) is two-thirds the size of England!

Very typical Vancouver Island coastline. I grabbed this pic off the net because I haven't had a chance to shoot myself... yet!

Traingulate yourself!

The travel went without a hitch, and our two-hour crossing of the Georgia Straight brought us to the town of Nanaimo, halfway up the island. Here we are stopped for two days to visit Christie’s cousin Mandy, who has two children (Caity and Lilah) with Bud. They are great people, and it has been two long years since we have seen them.

Didn't see any Orca (Killer) Whales... but you can imagine what it would have been like if we did! Huh, huh!

As anyone who reads this blog can attest, I love new life experiences. I’ll go anywhere and do anything. That is why I was really excited to come here on a different level – as it provided me the opportunity to do a number of outdoor activities I normally don’t get to. Bud is an awesome guy and he was so kind as to invite me fly-fishing on Friday and deep-sea fishing on Saturday. I was pumped.

A cute picture of Caity that I took near the window this morning. She is hilarious - cute and absolutely comical with her one-liners. Once, upon getting in trouble for not listening at the store, she started crying, "I want to listen!"

Now, I’m not the most “out-doorsy” person, and this is where Bud was going to have to help me. In fact, on the spectrum between John Deer and J. Crew, I probably land closer to city slicker. It’s not that I lack the Man Gene, rather I’ve always just been busy playing on a team while other boys learned to hunt and gather. However, being on Vancouver Island puts you smack dab into the middle of Man Country, where your natural surroundings are meant to be hunted, fished, and conquered with testosterone pumping through your veins. This atmosphere helped me to do two things I normally wouldn‘t do:

1) Admire a friend’s gun collection. Bud has a half dozen; each designed to hunt a different species of animal. He set me up to look out the scope of his 70 mm anti-aircraft gun (not the exact model but that’s what my imagination told me it could do), which was pointed out the window. I found this a strange perch for a sniper. I complimented its range while pretending that the neighbor a few houses down washing his car wasn’t in range. I asked about the sawed off shotgun, “That’s for shootin’ people!” he joked. I laughed nervously.

2) Help load a pick-up truck & get my hands dirty. The only time I’m ever around trucks is when I’m moving. In fact, if I had to summarize the role of trucks in my life, it would fall under the ‘cardboard box transit’ heading. Today while attempting to assist Bud in packing the back of his truck, I got what appeared to be dirt on my hands. “You know that’s cow sh&#, right?” Bud said with a laugh. No I Did Not. (It would be funny to me 5 minutes later.)

But the coolest thing I got to do on my first full day of Vancouver Island was to go fly-fishing with Bud. Let's put it in perspective: the last fish I caught was a sunfish. I was seven. Both of these facts are pathetic. I chose not to reveal this to Bud, for fear that it would become fodder for gossip between his group of Manly Men after our departure. Instead, I jumped at the chance to go fly-fishing – and ended up having an absolute blast. (Chris, you'd be proud!) Bud hooked me up with all the gear, including a pontoon boat, waders (like a wet suit designed for being in the water), and pole. We fished at a local lake, using the pontoon boats to cruise around with our feet in the water (inside the wetsuits of course). We caught three rainbow trout – officially one was mine – and had chances for many more. It was very interesting being in someone else’s world and getting to experience their passion – much like football is my domain. Here’s a few videos from our day:


Bud gets fish #1 - very good size!

VICTORY: The first (official) fish of my adult life!

For dinner, we had a true Vancouver Island feast: Fresh stuffed salmon, organic beans and carrots, jasmine rice, pinot grigio, and tiramisu. (OK, there’s still a little Italian in us.) The salmon was actually caught by four-year-old Caitlyn! It was delicious, and I kept thinking to myself, “Where else can you enjoy fresh fish caught by your host’s toddler?” Europe may have its charms, but sometimes you can find equally as unique places in your own backyard.

The young angler ready to eat her catch!

Now it’s time for bed – the Brown’s Bay deep-sea fishing derby is tomorrow.


~ J. Twice