Leavin' on a Greyhound
All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...and now that I've said goodbye to everyone, I have a day's grace and don't have to leave until Sunday.
This is the weekend I begin my summer job as a person Friday at Blackfish Lodge. I was prepared to leave tomorrow at o600 to be on the Greyhound at 0730, ready for the *shudder* nine hour journey up island. I've done it before, it's a nice ride, but I was not looking forward to being on a bus for that long
But o! Frabjous day! I have discovered that Shaun, the new fishing guide, is starting on the same day, and is driving up from Parksville. I get a ride. In a car. Not a bus. The serendipity of saving money, having company, and not having to use Greyhound washrooms. I always carry hand sanitizer, but sometimes it's all a bit much anyway.
So now I have a day of grace. I can clean my room and set it up so I have a haven instead of a squalor when I return. I can water the rest of my garden. I can say goodbye to everyone. For the third time. I'm starting to think I just like the attention I get when I tell everyone I'm leaving. I swear this time I'm actually leaving.
Getting to the lodge
Blackfish Lodgeis located in the Broughton Archipelago, within the new Great Bear Rainforest Preserve. When I tell people where it is, I usually say "go up almost to the northern tip of Vancouver Island, then head back towards the mainland."
My journey begins in Vancouver, I cross over the Strait of Georgia to Nanaimo, and then go north to Port McNeill. To get your bearings, look at this map of Zoomed in slightly, you can see Port McNeill to the west, and Gilford Island to the northeast. Blackfish is at Baker Island, close to Gilford Island. In this final map, you can see Baker Island and the much larger Gilford. What you don't see is the the village of Echo Bay, just to the east of Baker Island. The village has a one-room schoolhouse (soon to close down), a floathouse community, artists, a marina, and the local general store/post office. The store owners' website is here.