un año nuevo

We expected a different kind of winter living on Vancouver Island and we were not surprised with much warmer temperatures overall, however, we were treated to a white Christmas which helped ease us into the season although, with no family around It's a little harder to get motivated. 

With the renovations behind us, we breathed a sigh of relief but then we wondered, what now?

Retirement can be a battle to stay occupied sometimes - especially during the winter months when the rains come, but having said that, there's rarely a day goes by that we aren't doing something new.

The snows came and went within a few days leaving many of our neighbours rubbing their hands together "well, that's winter over with, so now let's get on with spring and get out the golf clubs" (which you can do twelve months of the year subject to there being no snow).  

Early February, we decided to take a two-week vacation at a resort in Playa Del Carmen on the Caribean side of Mexico. 
The snow had disappeared so we were happy but all of a sudden, the "big guy" upstairs seemed to say Hey! not so fast buckaroo! 

It was February 4th, the day of our flight to Mexico. We awoke at 2:30 am as we had to be at the airport by 4:15. I looked out of the window........WHAT? Lying on the ground was another six to eight more inches of the white stuff, so by 3:00 am I was out shovelling again donned in winter clothing, a hat, scarf and gloves. My shorts and T shirt were resting on the dresser inside, but the suitcases were packed and we were ready for the off in an hours time. 

We checked in and sat quietly in the airport departure lounge still trying to recover from awfully early rising. We were not sure if we would get out if the snow continued to fall in what seemed like ever increasing amounts. It was looking like a serious blizzard coming in over the Strait of Georgia (now called the Salish Sea) and there was no indication that it would cease anytime soon. Of course, you know what they say....snow? we don't get snow on Vancouver island. OK, you get two Pinocchios for that!

Lucky for us, after two de-icings we boarded and the aeroplane departed for the hour and a half flight to Calgary, Alberta where we would have a two- hour stopover before boarding our connecting flight to Cancun, Mexico. 

Five and a half hours after leaving Calgary, we arrived in Cancun. We collected our baggage and walked to the customs lineup. When beckoned, we both stepped forward. I pushed the large button in front of me as instructed. There was a red light to the right and a green light to the left. 

Yay! a green light. We were quickly waved through, picked up our bags and wheeled them out into the main concourse. Had we been unlucky and received a red light, we would have been moved over to the next counter where a rather determined looking team of customs inspectors were sorting their way through someone's bags searching for drugs, contraband and other illegal items with sniffer dogs constantly sniffing at the suitcases. 

It gave me the impression these guys meant business, demonstrating way more due-diligence we thought than that of the inspectors in the US or Canada. I thought to myself, who on earth would risk bringing drugs through all this? But some do, and if caught, they pay dearly for the crime.  

The main entrance to the airport was like a zoo. We were inundated with literally hundreds of people trying to sell timeshares to us. Hustlers were everywhere selling anything that moved such as time shares and trips etc. Same stuff, just a different location I thought. 

Mexicans were coming at us from all angles, offering taxi-rides to our hotel 20 minutes away, but I am sure that en-route, somehow we would have ended up in a timeshare presentation somewhere. Nope, we ain't going there. 

Luckily we had been forewarned by the hotel not to accept rides other than from their people who wore name-tags and were dressed in recognizable colours. 

Finally, after 45 minutes we located our guide. As we jumped into the small van, I thought to myself Welcome back to Mexico.


It took almost an hour to check in. We were in our room by 10:45 pm (2:00 am Pacific). We had been awake now for 24 hrs and we were both pretty tired. 

The Entrance to The Grand Mayan - check in when it was quiet.

The room was nice and the king sized bed very comfortable. That was it for day one and with no further ado, we flipped the door sign to "No Molestar Gracias" and were out for the count.

Ring-ring, ring-ring. The phone woke us abruptly at around 7:30 am. "Would you like to come to a timeshare presentation and have breakfast on us this morning it has a value of $100 US?". No thank you was our reply but the caller persisted in the conversation until we reluctantly put down the receiver mid-conversation, the greeter's mouth still moving at the speed of light.

Just a couple of doors away from our room, an American couple were departing. "Had we had the dreaded phone call?" the gentleman asked shooting a smile in my direction.  "It happens every morning you know," he said as he handed me some unused and unopened groceries they were about to throw out as they departed for the journey back to the US. 

"Thank you", I replied gesturing to the food. I don't think so I thought to myself recalling the American saying "It happens every morning". 

We remedied the phone call thing by unplugging the two phones in our room as we were advised to do by the departing Americans. Problem solved for the rest of the stay but with people arriving every day, at 7:30 am every morning, we could still hear the phones going in other rooms at the same time every morning. 

During our stay at the resort, we met some really pleasant people. In particular, Don, a US Naval Captain and I believe a pilot (retired) and his friend Barbara from Florida and a nice couple from Iowa Dave and Judy.

We went into Playa Del Carmen for lunch a couple of times but were not tempted to rent a car to visit the local sites, content to sit around the salt water pools of which there were four or five to choose from.

Downtown Playa Del Carmen same stuff different city.

The famous Margarita - Not sure where the booze is because it's rarely in the glass

The Flora was gorgeous at the timeshare we were at with lots of palms and all sorts of plants and flowers.

There were about four or five really nice pools to sit by, one was massive We chose the quieter ones

Beach was a bit rocky but lots of nice coloured fish swimming in the water

Donna and me on the beach in downtown Playa Del Carmen - a 20-minute drive from our hotel

Meanwhile, when we called back to Courtenay one week into our two-week stay, Terry our neighbour who is in his early/mid 70's told us it had not stopped snowing since we had left and there was now two feet of snow in our yard. Be damned - I thought as I chuckled my way through a gin and tonic.

As we boarded the aircraft in Cancun for the return journey home one week later, I dreaded the amount of shovelling I was going to have to do.  

Many people who have lived on the island could not remember snow like they had while we were away. On our flight home, I learned that our neighbours had received torrential rains a couple of days before we returned so we arrived back to mild temperatures and no snow which was a blessing.

I asked Terry cajolingly, "I thought you said you had heavy snow while we were away!"  Terry shot his RCMP glance at me incredulously. Beth, Terry's wife stepped in and eluded, "We got out of Dodge at the right time", as she too, was on the flight to Calgary with us headed for California. Terry had to look after both homes.... Ouch!

February 22nd The snow has gone and mild 8 or 9°C temperatures were back. 

Mar 27th - Spring Break.

Kath is now fully entrenched in working for a Tax Corporation and at the end of March, as the submission deadline approaches for tax forms, many people submit their last minute returns to the girls expecting an immediate turnaround. No kidding, these girls are working from 7:00 am until sometimes 9:00 and 10:00 pm at night.

We agreed, therefore, to drive back to Calgary to look after Kath and Roddy's two young ones over Spring Break so they could both work. We spent a nice week in Calgary. It was fairly warm with the Chinook winds sometimes bringing with them, temperatures as high as 15°C.

We visited the Calgary Zoo where I was not the best company in the world as I was catching the flu. We visited the Foothills Lottery Show Home, went to Ikea with the kids and spent money we should not have and generally helped out. We also took the kids swimming which they loved.

We had two days left when the flu worsened. Reluctantly we called son Jason and his family who had planned to meet up with us and told them not to come over as I did not want to give them whatever I had. Such a pity as I would love to have seen them all. 

Prior to leaving, Donna had a nasty fall on the stairs at Kath's home, leaving her badly bruised. So we made our way back home to Courtenay, Donna sporting a very painful and badly bruised leg.

Still looking for things to do, Donna and I decided to make a tufted headboard for our king bed. This was or could be a major undertaking so we carefully reviewed many videos on YouTube so we would get it right.

We purchased all the materials including a power stapler that would work off my compressor and set too, to make the headboard. 

All in all, we were very happy with the way it turned out. It also cost us half of what it would have cost to purchase the same type and style and, that included the price of the tools we purchased to get the job done. It was a very satisfying venture.

After the headboard, We immediately went to work on the yard, making sure that everything was prepared for springtime, we planted the first veggie seeds in our raised vegetable beds for the year.

Our yard is full of flowers. Everywhere you look there are lots of flowers

May and June passed uneventfully. We have had glorious weather and appreciated every second, especially after the snowy winter. 

Then, friends of ours came out to Courtenay for a visit. They stayed with us for a few days. They liked it so much, they would subsequently purchase a patio home on their next visit so they would have somewhere to come to during the summer time. They have a boat, so since then we have been out fishing lots and have been treated to some nice Salmon.

A 19 pound Chinook Salmon I caught July 17

My friend and owner of the boat Wayne, with his 25 lb Salmon caught a couple of weeks earlier.

We have also toured in their boat. We set forth and navigated our way to the mainland of Canada to Lund, on BC's Sunshine Coast. 

We also found a very cute place called Gorge Harbour, an elusive location you would never know existed if you had no GPS. as you could be 200 meters away from the entrance looking straight at it and never know it was there.

Approaching Lund Marina

In the Marina looking way back in the far distance at Vancouver Island

Our good friends Wayne, his wife Donna and my Donna

The hidden entrance to Gorge Harbour

The two "D's" docked at Lund stood by the boat.

Gorge Harbour

"wifey" enjoying her day out on the boat.

I love to fish. and on July 27, Wayne, Ken (Wayne's brother) and I all head out to the west coast of Vancouver Island to a very remote but lavish fishing lodge called Newton Cove.

We put in at Gold River and motored the 42 nautical miles out to Newton Cove, an executive floating lodge (one of many) out on the West Coast of BC.

This Executive Fishing Lodge is located in an inlet on the remote west coast of Vancouver Island. It is not accessible by vehicle so a boat is really the only way in or via float plane. The location is below.

This was a 43 nautical mile journey from where we put in the boat to the lodge.

The sheer size of everything out there is stunning. One could easily get lost.

This is a shot of my friend's boat. We had a ball for the five days we were gone.

The view from the deck of the lodge. There was every luxury one could ask for at a cost of around $1,600 for five days, not including boat or guide.

We arrived in time to check in and have a fish that evening. The following day it was windy so we fished inside the Esperanza Inlet, close to rocks in a very remote area on the west coast of BC.

The following day, it was rough weather and the seas were high so we fished close in next to some rocks.

The following day we decided to take a chance and go six miles offshore. The swells close in where around 8 to 10 foot so we were very careful.

At last, we reached the "Guitar" a popular fishing spot where the guides go regularly. Upon arrival at the guitar, the seas calmed and it was a spectacular day, to say the least.

Taken from Six miles offshore. A very rare pleasure, calm seas etc.

We got into some nice Salmon

I love this sport.

Another catch. We caught lots of Salmon, both Chinook (King) as they are called in the US and Coho.

The Chinook and Coho Salmon were there. We also hooked a nice sized Ling Cod and a Rockfish but missed out on a Halibut after quite the struggle with it.

In anticipation of a reasonable haul of fish, we went to Costco and purchased a 5.1 Cu. ft. chest freezer to hold all the fish.

We ended up with about 52 pounds of Salmon each, for a value of around $1,900 each so we were happy and the chest freezer is half full.

Life is a Journey.

l am sad to say that recently, we lost a couple of really good friends.

Donna and I lost our friend Denis Beaudry on July 18th. Denis and Patti his wife who gave me my opportunity to come into real estate back in 1987, have been friends for 30 years. Recently Denis, after being donated a kidney too, was having a go at a second life. Unfortunately, he contracted bone cancer. Maybe, (because of the fact that the doctors had to suppress his immune system which would remain like that for life after the transplant), he passed away quite soon after. Denis was a very talented and gentle person who had a slew of talents. We will miss him. 

Sandy Sanderson, a Phys. Ed Instructor who passed into the Army Physical Training Corps with me many years ago lost his battle to Cancer on August 5.

Sandy was a colourful character, always had a smile on his face and was a pleasure to be with. He was an excellent instructor and rock climber.

Both of these friends were wonderful people and all I say to their families is that they will always leave me with fond memories. Rest in Peace the both of you. Your struggles are over.

All in all, we have enjoyed this year. Donna has visited family in Calgary and also had a particularly nice visit with two of her Realtor® pals from 1989 Deb and Marilyn.

Donna, Deb and Marilyn boozing and shmoozing

Gwamma visits the kids.

I have been on a great fishing experience. We have vacationed in Mexico and travelled forward and back to Alberta. 

We are happy with our home in Crown Isle, Courtenay. If there is anyone even thinking of making a move out to the island, please email me. Although I am not licensed, I can help you out and put you in touch with the right people who are in the know.

Best wishes to you all for the fall.

Ken and Donna