A winter night at Stuart Island, Reid Harbor

My inner adventure clock had been pounding loudly and I could barely wait for our tiny little overnight to Stuart Island this weekend. On one hand it is a pathetic facsimile of the sorts of adventure I truly crave and once enjoyed, and on the other hand it is a perfectly acceptable bit of happiness within the self-imposed boundaries of my current life. It turns out my clock was pretty reasonable because upon a check of our boat journal it had been since my return from Comox, BC that I had been out overnight on Aeolus. We have had quite a few wonderful day sails since then, but nothing overnight. It was high time.


We took off Saturday morning and brought along a friend of Elliott's. The two hour trip to Reid Harbor was beautiful. We motored the whole way as the wind was on the nose and it was pretty cold. Not too bad, but maybe 43. With the very short days, we wanted to get them with time to go on our hike before dark. Going through Spieden channel is always a highlight and it didn't disappoint. Several Sea Lions were active and the usual assortment of birds. The exotic sheep/goats on Spieden island were as prevalant as always. I have to really wonder why there is no active management of those herds. All it would take is some birth control in some feed and the population would be gone in a few years and the oak trees and wildflowers could rebound. As it is, every tree is old and nothing new can possibly grow due to the intense grazing. They are truly hooved locusts. Better yet, drop off a mating pair of mountain lions. Now that would be fun to watch.

Anyway, we ended up tying to the state park dock in Reid because we had it to ourselves. I prefer to anchor, but in the absence of anyone else around to bother us, we took advantage of the opportunity for the kids to be able to get on and off easily. With no delay, we took off on our hike up to a high point on Stuart and every step rejuvenated me. The more we climbed, the happier I got. With every calorie burned, my heart got lighter. The views from on top are truly incredible, and even on this overcast day we sat for quite some time and pondered deep time.

There are wild sheep that run around on Stuart, and though I don't know if they are recently feral or one of the old stock from the Spaniards, they are still crazy to see. When we got to the top, they were nearby and gave us very long stares. It is hard not to credit them with some measure of intelligence even though it is undeserved. They stare blankly but you think they stare maliciously. We had a good laugh imagining their conversation about us.

We made it back to Aeolus just as dark was settling in. A few more minutes and we would have needed headlamps to hike. The night was enjoyed away by playing cards and eating a delicious dinner. Our kerosene cabin heater does an admirable job of heating the cabin to about 70 degrees in about an hour. Cozy. Elliott sat on the bow of the boat for some time whittling away on some wood. He has recently been allowed to use a knife, after a safety lecture from me, and so he was eager to do what kids like to do to wood.

After the kids were asleep I went out into the cockpit to look around and was struck by the absolute lack of artificial light in the harbor. Reid harbor is narrow and has some fairly high hills around it. The ridge line of the hills could be seen against the faint starlight, but no other lights were visible. This is a great, and rare, thing.

In the morning I took the boys and we did the little 1 mile walk around the isthmus at the state park to stretch our legs. It had not rained on us at all the day before, but today it was raining steadily and we took the chance to get back for Amy to take a pastry baking class. Crazy to realize that we can get away on our boat to a remote island with almost no people and go on amazing long walks without seeing another soul and then return home to our nice home and all this relative civilization and Amy can take a class in the finer points of pastry baking. What a contrast.

Aeolus is better, and better and better. The new cushion foam really made a difference and we enjoyed the quiet of the relatively new cabin fan. Boats are like a blank canvas we paint upon, depending on our time and budget. They reflect us. They certainly reflect our values and priorities.

This little overnight trip felt like we were gone a week. It was perfect.