Erosion

A peak through to Retreat Cove and Island...

Wave and weather action has carved a cave out of the sandstone on Galiano Island...

49

One degree of separation...

Drive down the length of Galiano Island and you'll pass this unassuming boulder on the side of the road. It sits in the permanent shade of the trees around it, so you'd miss the plaque attached to it.

The plaque marks the 49th parallel... the latitude that separates Canada from the United States through much of its length.

Airy aerie

Soon to making sweet sweet eagle love...

And speaking of eagles...

On Galiano Island a few months ago we spotted this pair of eagles "skree-ing" in a tree overhead as we were walking along the harbour waterfront.

It was just good luck that we turned and I happened to glance up another nearby tree to see this nest.

Soon to be the sight of eaglets...

An eagle's nest is known as an aerie. Typically they are constructed from large sticks and lined with moss, grass, seaweed, etc.

A typical nest can be as wide as ten feet in diameter and up to nine feet high. However, first year nests are usually smaller, and the nest size will increase each year as eagles re-use the nest and add sticks to it. So that would suggest that this nest is a newer nest.

Bald eagles are territorial. Breeding pairs return to the same nest site year after year.

Very large nests can weigh as much as 1000 pounds!

Mostly moist moss

Moss and tree converge into one...

Okay, say the title of this post fast five times... I'll wait here.😏

One fact of life about living on the We(s)t Coast, is that you see a lot of moss. It's everywhere... on your roof, spreading across your driveway, growing up the side of your garden shed, hanging down from tree branches...

It will literally take over trees as demonstrated by this specimen on Galiano Island.

Retreat indeed

West coast beautiful...

Retreat Island is a pretty-as-a-postcard 7-acre island off of Galiano's west coast. It's hard to believe that this photo was taken during a very spring-like day in February.

There is a home on the island... Google tells me it was for sale as late as 2017 and sold sometime in early 2018. You can see more details of this island and the superb home on it on this Youtube video and here.

How small is it?

Life in the slow lane of Galiano...

It's hard to believe that it was only a five weeks ago that my wife and I spend an idyllic weekend on the southern Gulf Island of Galiano. The COVID crisis was still a week or two away from hitting Canada. Since then everything about our way of life has changed.

Now Galiano is closed to outside visitors over fears that its limited health care facilities would be swiftly overrun by sick tourists.

Galiano is pretty small. Cue: "HOW SMALL IS IT?"

It's so small that these sandwich boards in Sturdies Bay are the local versions of billboards advertising the handful of tourists shops and eateries in the community.

Morning breakfast

Warm sun, good food, excellent company...

Both mornings during our Galiano stay, I picked up some coffee and some very tasty baked goods from a nearby cafe/bakery.

We enjoyed them from our very private balcony which overlooked the resort grounds and the main ferry terminal of Sturdies Bay.

In the warm mid-morning sun, we were happy to eat our breakfast while watching the ferry traffic go by.

Lover's Leap

A cliff... and a memorial. Is there an ominous connection here?

If you drive along Galiano's length, you'll pass Lover,s Leap. It's a viewpoint overlooking Wallace Island and Trincomali Channel from Bodega Ridge Provincial Park. The drop to the water below is pretty significant. If you were to tumble off the edge, you'd hit a few ledges and trees on the way down before you hit the water.

I have no idea how/if Lover's Leap earned its name. My wife and I stopped to take some photos and we noticed two things:

i. The protective chain link was missing. And there was no warning sign to keep wayward dogs or children away from the edge.

ii. There was a memorial of some sort at the site.

It was disturbing to contemplate what the implications of these facts, but no Internet research on my part has turned up any tragic stories.