Finding Creative Flow in the Broken Group
In the Broken Group, I reached a wonderful rhythm. Get up, work on my watercolours, hop in the dinghy to go exploring and sketching, swim in the ocean then back to the boat to paint. Routine can be hard to find in the ever-shifting patterns of boat life, but I loved this balance of adventure and creativity- and even had time to read in the evening!
Our explorations began with a return to a place we knew. Effingham Island has a well-protected bay which makes a great anchorage. The northeast side of the island has tide pools, sea caves and a white shell beach which is the last remnant of a First Nations settlement. To the west lies a string of rocks, reefs and islands, each begging to be explored. At Cooper Island, wading in the water at low tide tempted me to take my first ocean swim of the year! It was bracing, but nice when I was in! The anemones and starfish agreed- though Jim didn’t. He stayed warm and dry in the dinghy.
Our most fascinating find came in some sandy shallows. The bottom of the sea appeared to be scattered with large curved pieces of plastic, shaped like round bowls with a crack down the side and a hole in the bottom. Around them were clam shells with holes neatly drilled through them, like someone was preparing to make a necklace but lost their treasures part way through. My marine life book held the answers to the mystery- the pieces of ‘plastic’ were moon snail egg cases, and the clam shells were the remains of the snails’ dinners. Thankfully I hadn’t begun a clean-up operation, and the next generation of moon snails is perfectly safe (much to the disappointment of the next generation of clams).
I was washing up that evening when I heard a sound like a small explosion outside. It wasn’t quite like a gunshot, but was enough to send me rushing up on deck to see what was going on. I was glad I did- an orca was a couple of metres from the boat, and the explosion was her blow.
Six more soon surfaced. They swam a leisurely circuit of the bay before diving as they neared the rocks where seals like to lounge. They surfaced one last time in a flurry of misty breath before vanishing to continue their journey. It was a brief but absolutely magical encounter (and makes me want to add to the ‘A Breath of Ocean’) Collection!
Thank you to the lovely souls on Instagram who told me the pod was the T109s- matriarch T109 with some of her offspring and a few guests. The Ts are transient/ Biggs orca. Transient is a bit of a misnomer as they often have home patches of ocean. Top of the food chain, they hunt fish and other marine mammals, including seals, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises and larger whale species. Thankfully they don’t seem inclined to snack on humans!
After a few more days, we shifted anchorage to Joe’s Bay. Protected by Dodd, Willis and Turtle Islands, this was a sheltered, idyllic place to stay- and we were often the only boat in the anchorage! We had a whole new network of islands to explore, and I found a fantastic swimming spot. Giant kelp forests and reefs of rainbow seaweed soon had me digging out my snorkel and mask for the first time since we sailed through Hawaii (though sadly my dive camera has died after almost a decade of good service). Currently my paintings are filled with islands, West Coast sea stacks and tumbling surf, but I think I’d like to paint this wonderful underwater world when I need a change from seascapes!
Have you read my previous posts about our circumnavigation of Vancouver Island?
You can view some of the paintings from the finished series in my Portfolio!