#Dicebox island free

#Dicebox island free

“Feel free to participate as much as you like–steer, hoist the sails, pull the lines or wash the deck.” We’ll see where the wind takes us.” As he spoke, bald eagles soared above the masts. Our route will flow with the weather, the tides and wildlife we encounter. Male sea lions “sunbathing” on rocks in the Broken Group Islands area off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada.

But when I boarded the sleek wooden vessel in Ucluelet Harbour, and met owner (and captain) Russ Markel–at 47, an ecologist and environmentalist with a PhD in marine biology–I sensed this voyage would have a serious, though decidedly delightful, course. I had imagined that sailing on Outer Shores Expeditions’ 70-footer (21-metre) designed by William James Roué, the famed designer of the iconic schooner Bluenose, would be a caper, with sails puffed on the breeze en route to idyllic islets. Claire, who is legendary on Vancouver Island’s west coast as an archeologist and ethnographer, explained: aeons ago, this village in the Broken Group archipelago was populated by the Tseshaht people who thrived by foraging and fishing in a symbiotic relationship with the land and sea.Īfter we had travelled to this spot by Zodiac boat with him from the schooner Passing Cloud, left anchored in Barkley Sound, sailing by scattered islets where trees grew from rocks with seemingly indomitable strength, this elder’s stories gave the region historic and cultural credence, and our little band of sailors an authentic appreciation for what may have been taken for a simply scenic place. Perched on a rock in a clearing amid towering cedars and spruce with deer grazing nearby, St. Claire, reflected the spirit of our jaunt to Benson Island, a remote isle at the wild, windswept edge of Pacific Rim National Park. “Hishuk ish Tsawalk, Hishuk ish Tsawalk, everything is interconnected.” The words, softly spoken with spiritual veracity by Nuu-chah-nulth elder Denis St. On both the west and east coasts of Canada, Toby Saltzman cruises on small ships that allow a deeper immersion into the wonder of our country’s ancient nature.