A Saltspring solution

When this is your backyard and you have a fully outfitted sailboat anchored in it, what are you going to do when your summer visitors have filled up all the beds in your house?

After a day of storm clouds and a spatter of rain, we could just see silvery grey water shining through the trees as we walked the 30-some steps down to Vesuvius beach at sunset Tuesday. A tangle of branches and blackberry vines hides the vista until you nearly reach the bottom of the stairs, but when we got there, it was like walking into a watercolour painting. All soft blues and greys; the only brightness was the pulp-mill plumes across the way transformed by the sun into spires of light.

The melancholy day had sent the beach into near-winter seclusion; the usual crowd of sunset-watching summer visitors had vanished. But there, nearly at our feet at the bottom of the stairs, were two of our Vesuvius neighbours, packing something into a little rubber dinghy. Against the evening chill, Suzanne was wearing a red coat; Keith a long-sleeved shirt.

"We have a house full of guests," Suzanne laughed by way of explanation. "All the beds are full." And so they had packed some overnight gear and were rowing out into the twilight. A few hundred yards away, the comfy overflow beds of their fully outfitted sailboat awaited them in the pastel watercolour that was Vesuvius bay.

Suzanne and Keith prepare to take off in their rubber dinghy.

Off into the sunset, Keith at the oars. Photo by John.

The pulp-mill plumes in the background, Suzanne and Keith head out for a night on their sailboat.