Julian John Richard Lyon and a visit to Cortes

After our adventure in rainmageddon calgary, Noa and I flew to vancouver for 3 thoroughly rain soaked days. Nothing like making you appreciate not living in vancouver after that welcome.  But that Thursday, we rented a car and were headed for Courtenay on vancouver island for another wedding.  More about that in another post. So after spending three days there, we went up to Cortes island, where Erik and Naomi live, in order to hang out with their son, Julian.  Technically we had already met them briefly on the way to Courtenay, but this was to be a full 5 action packed days of sitting around on Cortes together.  On top of that, Erik and my parents were joining us and staying for a full two weeks.

But I digress, please let me introduce Julian.

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the first picture of him was at one week old, the second closer to two weeks.

Julian was born on June 21, 2013, at the St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox, BC.  He was almost two weeks late, and weighed a whopping 9.3 lbs at birth.  His middle names are after his two grandparents.  And he already owns a sail boat which he needs to fix up so he can sail to university.

Let me back up a little bit and talk about Erik and Naomi, and then ill go back to our Cortes visit.

The Nicholas Allen docked at Manson’s Landing on Cortes

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So some time in 2011, Erik and Naomi bought the Nicholas Allen and fixed her up with the intent of living aboard and eventually moving up to cortes island.  in January 2012, they had fixed up the boat and were living aboard her in False Creek.  after getting married last summer, they then took the boat to cortes and have been living there since.  The plan was that two weeks before Julian’s due date, they would sail to Comox and spend a few weeks there, give birth, and then sail back.  well, since Julian ended up being 2 weeks late, they spent a total of 5 weeks in Comox, where apparently they have lots of nice boats.  About a week after birth, they were allowed to leave and sailed back to Cortes, where we met up, and our story begins.

In order to get to Cortes Island, you need to first get to Cambell River.  Now remember, we are already on Vancouver Island, so we had to take one ferry to get there.  Campbell river is about an hour and a half from the nanimo ferry, or else 3 hours north from victoria.  so its a ways up there.  Once you get to Campbell river, you take one 15 minute ferry to Quadra island, drive across Quadra, and take another 45 minute ferry to Cortes.

ferry to Cortes

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Map of Cortes

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We landed on Cortes, and then drove straight to Manson’s Landing, where the boat is kept.  We got there just as Erik, Naomi and Julian pulled up from their 6 hour motor over from Comox.  Once settled in for the evening, erik and noami opened julian’s presents, while noa and i made shakshuka for them on the boat.  We just hung out on the boat, erik played some music, and we just had a great time watching the sun set.

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i think it was one of the more beautiful sunsets of the trip.  the weather was changing from overcast and rain to clear blue skys, and the sun just lit up the sky.

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then we went for a small walk down the beach

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The next day my parents were slated to arrive.  we hung out on the boat waiting for them to show up.

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once my parents arrived, they b-lined it right for the baby

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and that evening we had a nice relaxing time sitting on the boat again and watching the sun go down slowly

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it was not a really full day of activities, but it was nice to sit and relax and chat.  plus the sun was out all day and it really takes it out of you sitting out all day long.

the next day we wanted to go on a boat ride, so everyone piled on the little tugboat of erik’s, and we motored over to the gorge, which is another dock, that has a little store and some cottages.  At this point dan had joined us on the island, which was wonderful to be able to spend some time with him there.

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before getting to the gorge, we threw some crab traps and a shrimp trap, with the intent of catching some dinner.  then we got to the gorge, i did a baby photo shoot in the grass, we hung out for a bit, and then went back to hang out by the boat.

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So that evening dan, erik and myself thought we would check the shrimp pot.  well, it had gotten a little windy out, and we thought we would take the dinghy as its faster than the little tug.  well, we get out on the water and its pretty choppy, so erik had to slow down a bit, and we end up going the same speed as the tug, except for its absolutely horrible for dan and I, as we are sitting in the front and are just getting hammered by waves.  it takes us about 20 minutes to get there, and then dan’s pulling up 400ft of rope to get the trap up.  at this point we are thinking the thing will be full, and we pull it up and WHAT??!!  no prawns!  bah.  we move it over some, and toss it back overboard to sit overnight.  back to the dock, and we swapped to the tug, and this is a much nicer cruise to check the crab traps.  Dan even managed to take a power nap.

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we get to the crab traps, and low and behold, there huge star fish sucking things totally covering all the food in the trap.  DARN IT!

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Disgusted, we got them out and took the traps home, as it seems all of Cortes has been crabbed out by commercial fishermen.

the last day we took oliver to play out on the low tide for a bit, and then erik, my dad and i went to go try fishing. I think i should of just saved my money and bought 2 salmon instead of a fishing license.  but anyways we had a good time out on the water trying to catch a salmon.

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so we ended up hauling up the prawn trap again, and this time, just as it almost came up to the surface, we notices shrimp kind of jumping off it.  so we thought we had them this time, and as we got it up, what, there was only one little guy in there!

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we were so disappointed.  erik wanted to place it elsewhere to try again, and as we were motoring to deeper water, im looking at the trap, holding it up, and noticed something.  this is a professional trap that got bent, so erik found it for free.  and when he hung it on the leader rope attached to the buoy, it hung in a certain way so that one of the two entrances happened to be at the bottom.  so as we are pulling the damn thing up, we just happen to be also jiggling and shaking all the little shrimpies RIGHT OUT OF THE TRAP!  BAH!  so, we fixed that problem before we threw the trap back in!

The only other excitement of the trip was noa and I went for a 6 hour ride in the tug boat as we were pulling erik’s Barge around the tip of cortes.  we travelled at an fast paced 3 knots for most of the trip.  good times.

That last day we had a nice BBQ, and the following morning we were off back to the main land to head to vancouver.

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Overall it was a wonderful trip.  it was amazing to meet julian, and such a nice opportunity for the whole family to spend some time together.  we dont get together that often, and even when we do, im working, and so i have very limited time.  it was so great to be able to take the time and enjoy myself.  As for Cortes, its a wonderful island.  because its three ferry rides from vancouver, its super islandy.  everyone is on island time, nothing happens fast, and everyone takes the time to spend time with people and no one is in a rush.  it was a very nice change of pace for us, and due to the lack of connectivity forces you to be offline for much of the time there too.  even though i would check my phone, i think that was probably one of the nicest aspects.  as much as i like the internet, it was nice not to have to check anything every night.

if you have the time to get all the way over there, its highly recommended.  i dont think we even saw everything there is too see.  i wanted to do more wildlife stuff, but did not get a chance too, and apparently its the gateway to desolation sound, which sounds amazing.  so next time we are back we know what to do.

This time i skipped a BUNCH of baby pictures.  so if you wish to see all the pictures from cortes, please go to the flickr set here!