We are so grateful that the weather stayed nice and dry, especially for that area , where it almost rains all the time!!     We walked the Light house trail a couple of times, all we had to do is step outside of the door of where we were staying, it was very busy on the walk, being Saturday and Sunday, but the walk is worth it.      The ocean is as always amazing, over powering, and truly wild and beautiful.

Trail map.

Wild and gnarly trees.

We always head to the marinas, especially Bert loves to check on which boats overwintered there, and the different kinds of sailboats that are tied up.    Both Ucluelet and Tofino have a large fishing fleet, only the odd one goes out this time of year.   But we were after the sailboats, and we found just a few.

This is “White Dragon” a beautiful ketch.

This is “MAHINA TE PUA” a beautiful little schooner.

SV GRIZZLY BEAR

CLOSING MY EYES , THEN OPENING THEM AGAIN, AND I AM STILL HERE ,AT THIS WILD AND GREEN WEST COAST, THE SWORD FERNS AND DEER FERNS LINING THE PATHWAYS,LARGE HEMLOCK,CEDAR AND FIR, I CAN HEAR THE OCEAN ,THE SWELL, BREAKING AGAINST THE SHORE.     THE AIR IS FRESH, SO OVERPOWERING ,MY LUNGS FILL TO THE FULLEST WITH EVERY BREATH.    AN EAGLE CALLS OUT IN EARLY MORNING,DAWN BARELY BREAKING ,I CAN HEAR THE SURF, FAR AWAY, AS THE TIDE IS OUT.     IT IS QUIET, NO RAIN, NO WIND, THE LICHEN HANG LIMP FROM THE TREES, ONE OF THE MANY PEACEFUL COLORS OF GREEN.

BRIGHTEST OF GREEN, DEER FERN.

On February 3rd. Bert had his birthday, he is now 70!!!!       We decided to go away for a weekend and celebrate, Karen and Trev had told us about http://www.thecabins.ca   , and thats where we headed to.     This resort is located right next to the light house trails, nestled in the trees, from your room you can hear the swell and breaking of the waves of the ocean.   Ucluelet is lovely, still a small town, not as touristy as Tofino has become,  there are several great restaurants, i found them all on Tripadvisor.com  , one of them is “HANKS “, super good food and lots of it!!      Because it was a long weekend, ( i had no idea), it was darn busy, Sunday morning, for   breakfast, we had to drive to Tofino, every place in Ucluelet was full, not a table to be found!!    But it worked out well, as on the way back we walked the Rain forest trail.

Our room, beautiful heh?????

I am just reading what i wrote, saying “we had lots of snow here, LOTS!!”   yeah right, say the folks back East, especially in Newfoundland right now, i remember  living in Cape Breton, with my sister and her family, and that first winter , this was in 1967 , we had so much snow that we had to crawl out of the second floor window, plus we could not find the car!!!!    I have the most wonderful memories of that year, the day i had to walk home , up Pleasant Hill, after my days work at Canadian Tire, the blizzard was in full power, i could not see a thing, everything white, i knew i was heading up hill, my sister lived at the top, but could not identify anything, when all of a sudden a dog stood in front of me, looked at me, started walking , up the hill, i followed him, all the way to the top, right to the farm house, and he disappeared into the snow, never saw him again!!!!

This house is on our route to the stores, every time we go by, every seagull in the area is standing on this roof, we figured that the owner is a fisher man, maybe they get tidbits,but in the meantime i found out from my friend Amber ,that the lady living there , feeds them, she , once upon a time found a dead ,very skinny seagull in her yard and since that time she been feeding these guys!!  Lucky birds!!!

Two very handsome pigs at a farm on West Saanich rd. Saltspring Island in the background.

We had lots of snow here, LOTS!!!!        We cleared Curtsy three times, plus several other boats, plus the docks and the ramp, it would get cold at night, so in the morning , lots of ice had accumulated which is very hard on canvas.      But, how beautiful it is, early morning, the sun barely  shining its light on the water, the snowy slopes of the Malahat already lit up, the boat gently crunching in the thin layer of ice, Curtsy is warm, she is insulated and we run the diesel stove 24/7, plus, in the aft cabin, we have a small electric heater.    The ice did cause some problems though, as the meltwater during the day sat in the locks of the hatches, they would freeze at night, and later on, when it started raining, we had a dandy leak in the large front hatch.      Once things warmed up, the problem went away, but its good to know what can happen when things get cold on the boat. 

A very lonely dinghy , surrounded by pancake ice.

We have a very smart friend, Shendra, the former owner of “Balandra”, and she told us about Collagen, something most important for out bodies to work properly. Once we are in our twenties, the amount of collagen depletes, as quoted from the container”  the body’s natural ability to repair supporting connective tissue (bone,tendons,ligaments,cartilage, skin,hair and nails),diminishes in one’s mid-twenties.   Collagen contains amino acids such as glycine, lysine and proline, which are important amino acids and can be used by the body to build connective tissue structures to support the functions of the cells”

Hydrolyzed collagen is the same as found naturally in bones , skin, and cartilage. It is a bioactive product containing 90% protein and is easily assimilated by the body.  So, there you go, i have had trouble with my nails and skin, and they have already improved after 3 weeks of use.     I buy the product on line at Amazon.ca      It comes from organic,grass fed beef, and is kosher.    It dissolves easily and i usually put the two tbs.in my coffee, you cannot taste it .