Friendly Faces
The owner of 4 Spice Express in Ucluelet: Even though it was super busy, and you had run out of food, you had such an awesome attitude. I think you almost managed to cracking a smile when I first introduced myself to place my order. What out you over the top was when you were giving me my food you stopped to take the time to tell me about the two places to visit in Guyana, and to take care in Georgetown. Thank you!
Today’s Highlights
Andrew writes:Kissing a fish. I don’t like fishing. It ends up being a huge time waster I think. I’m just not able to relax with water heaving underneath me, and my breakfast heaving over the side of the boat. Still, I was so elated to reel that little gem of a fish in. It’s not the site that counts!
Today’s Lowlights
Andrew writes:Learning over Skype that my grandpa had “another” heart attack. I feel really stuck. Like I’m the only one in the family who can take time to goto Mexico to get him; which is true. Then I’m confused with myself as to why I don’t just drop everything to go and get him. Maybe I’m just waiting for him to ask? When I talked to him tonight, he seemed pretty excited for our trip, and has been keeping up with the news, so perhaps it’s more important to keep his spirits buoyed in that way.
What happened…
The plan for today was to wake up super early, at say 0530hrs and weigh anchor to set sail for the high seas. Yet when I was roused this morning by the sounds of other people dropping their boats into the water at the ramp beside our site, all I wanted was a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee. That was at..9am? I know that Paul and I didn’t actually get out to open water until after 11.
Vast. Dense. Scary. Those were my first thoughts upon experiencing fishing in the Pacific. Floating along, we could have just as easily been fishing off the coast of Mars, the water seemed endless. The fog coated everything and visibility was limited to about a hundred meters most of the time. Then there was the size of the swells. The rolled toward the boat and it made me think they would roll right overtop, but instead they would just pick us up gently and lay us back down. Maybe gentle is the wrong word. My seasickness bore witness to that nature of the water.. it was mostly calm, although the wind did pick up a bit on the way home.
I really enjoyed fishing with Paul. He is quite often a reserved guy, yet when he is out doing things he loves (golf, skiing, fishing) he gets so exuberant. He spotted a fin above the water and we thought for sure it was a shark. Then the fish pulled up alongside us and it turned out to be a sunfish that had somehow ended up in cold waters. I wanted to bring him aboard for dinner but was vetoed. When I’m with Paul he opens up an were able to swap advice on how to best treat our lovely wives, and most importantly, survive their craziness. His words, not mine, honest Honey!
I remember him saying how when he has 12 or 13, he dreamed of playing in the NHL, but how life just didn’t work out that way. We’re both the byproduct of single parents, so perhaps there is a bond or affinity there too. It was really nice. We didn’t catch the salmon we were after, but it was still fun times out on the water.
When we got back to camp, Amanda and Megan went fishing. I spent some time blogging, including updating our crazyguyonabike blog. Then we went and picked up some dinner from a small joint in town. There was a Nice Swiss family outside who talked to me a bit about biking after they saw my hat. The owner inside was definitely just trying to keep her head above water inside because it was so busy, but she was still really friendly and helpful.
Today’s Photographs
