A Mystic Afloat
A Mystic Afloat
Sailing along the outside, that is the wild ocean side of Vancouver Island is like nothing else. The scenery, the wild waves and sometimes weather… sea otters, whales, there is nothing like it. We have sailed to SE Alaska and out to Haida Guaii, visited the upper fjords. Nothing holds a candle to V.I.’s outside.
Our ninth and most recent visit was just pre-Covid and after all this time, I feel it is beyond time to start sharing the experience with more people. Thus is born “A Mystic Afloat”. My original intention was to bring you an account of our travels every week or two, but I never succeeded in finagling cell or internet and for weeks at a time, there was none. I’m not kidding that this is the wild side. We typically see only occasional other boats and thus very few humans. Even the first peoples have moved inland to send their kids to school.
So let’s pretend that it is still summer and that we are still out there. These writings were spontaneous, usually the same day. There are pieces about the sensuality, the water, the quiet, the lessons and the adventures, descriptions of inner and outer space. Wildlife, life at sea. Rain. Rainbows. SPIRIT.
So please enjoy this vicarious adventure of life at sea on the wild side of amazing and awesome Vancouver Island. My constant shipmate, husband Jimmy.
Capt Marnie
Log 1: Setting sail…
Every year around March I have commonly a brief sense of fear at the risk we take heading into the wilds of British Columbia, but it gets subdued by the inner call of the Sea which grows over April and May and by June the Call is master.
So much changed in me over the winter months, fears melted, new joys bloomed.
Especially after May Programs in Toronto, where I studied the deeper essence of Kabbalah with Founder Gudni, and was handed down some very inspiring new rituals by Ipsissimus Dave and from a day where the ladies had a day all to themselves, while the men learned Viking magick.
For years, Founder Gudni has told us the women hold a critical key to the cosmic shift we need to make as a species. As the ingrained tomboy that I once felt I had to be, I was given so much to process and I have started to see through new lenses, new archetypes and even through the new experience of being a priestess in the tradition of the Earth magick: Wicca.
So much new inspiration and I so look forward to weeks and then months at sea to integrate all this! And, of course, to experience the glories of nature: whales, dolphins, seals, sea birds, big and little fishes, seaweeds, beaches, bears and breezes as they whisper through my hair and the waves as they lick the hull of our dear Blue Star.
How I fell in love with sailing…
My first memory of the Sea was, of course, from the beach at the age of five and the calm waters of Nantucket Sound(Cape Cod, MA) which featured splendid crystalline sands and cute little shells, some of them translucent orange and yellow that we called toenail shells and the little “boat” shells. An occasional trophy, a knobbed or channeled whelk, would wash up after a storm. I still have one I found when I was eight.
The beach was one thing. The excitement of gliding over the waves, pushed only by the wind was a whole other thing and by the time I was eight, I was single handing our little 12 foot Waterbug. Freedom at eight! What was there not to love about that? I was smitten!
I had gotten over the terror I had felt in a small boat at five, when she heeled over in the wind and I thought we would all fall into the water!
The glory outweighed my fright pretty quickly.
For all the years after that, I remember so well that first sail of the year, which was dangled like a carrot in front of us, as our little wooden boats all needed scraping, sanding and painting and in those days of oil-based paint, each of at least 3 coats took a whole day to dry. My kid brother and I did all or most of the work, encouraged by our dad. That several days seemed like an eternity.
So we really worked for that first sail which was nothing short of emancipation into a divine freedom! I’d set the sail, get out a ways and throw one leg over to drag it in the water. Destination? Who cared!!! Ahhhhh! The wind in my face, the peaceful sounds of the water against the boat… And home again… Total BLISS!
Blue Star, our cruising sloop, is too large to drag a foot over the side. She is very comfortable for several weeks. After my many smaller boats, Blue Star is a palace with her sizable fridge and freezer, hot shower and plenty of headroom for my very tall husband, Jimmy. The bunks are queen-sized. The main cabin causes people to gasp it is so large. Blue Star seems to be “at the ready” for the chance to spread her wings in a good 30 knot breeze. She was built for ocean sailing and I love to feel her take on the wild outside of Vancouver Island.
So off we set out from our Vashon Island, WA slip, heading north. Ship is well provisioned, water tanks full. I can feel any stress I have melt away as I take in a deep and luxuriant breath of fresh air and set my eyes on the far shore of Quartermaster Harbor. Round the peninsula and north towards the vast Pacific Ocean.
