British Columbia Part 3: Comox - Cortes Bay

One of the aspects I love most of all about life on Mohini is its incredibly slow pace. While some sailboats are built for speed, ours decidedly is not. It's built for stability and comfort, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Throughout my life, I've always had a strong dislike of air travel--not so much for the usual reasons like fear of heights or airplane crashes, but more so because of the disconcerting and somewhat surreal experience of traveling so far with such great speed that you can't really comprehend how far you've come or what you've skipped along the way. Whenever I get off an airplane, I feel like I need to re-acclimatize to the reality of the world around me. Road trips offer a somewhat better alternative, but you still watch the world flying by through a glass windshield. If, like me, you crave a slower, more in-touch travel experience, then sailboat is definitely the way to go.

When you travel by sailboat, you are immersed in the feel and smell of the wind and graced with the luxury of deeply absorbing every detail of the sea and landscape. From mesmerizing patterns created by sun sparkling on water to endlessly shifting shades and depths of shorelines, forests, mountains, and cityscapes, every scene and view endures. If you're traveling for business or on a tight schedule, there's nothing less practical. But as a way of life, the relaxed pace of sailing is incredibly fulfilling and, strangely enough, grounding. It resonates with me that the speed of walking or sailing on Mohini is truly the speed at which we're meant to linger over the beauty of creation and I'm never disappointed when the motion of the boat makes it impossible for me to do anything but sit, observe, and take it all in. At the end of a day sailing, we're physically exhausted from feeling the elements and the undulation of the waves, but it's the best kind of tired and we always sleep soundly with the boat rocking us like a cradle.

Let's take an average day on Mohini. With a brisk breeze in our sails or both engines motoring on flat water, we travel at a speed of roughly 6 knots (11 km) per hour. Under less ideal conditions, we sometimes cover as little as 3 knots (5.5 km) per hour. To put this in perspective, I could often pass Mohini when out for a jog. It illustrates why the 115 km trip from Nanaimo to Comox, which takes an estimated 1 hour and 15 minutes by car, took us most of two days to complete, with an overnight at a sheltered anchorage off of Texada Island along the way.

Comox and Cumberland

We'd heard lovely things about the twin cities of Comox/Courtenay and were not disappointed. Of all the urban areas we visited during our time in B.C., this was undoubtedly our favourite. Marina Park, a meticulously manicured green space with playground, splash pad, and one of the oldest and most gracious weeping willow trees I've ever seen, was accessible directly from our anchorage and offered a gateway into Comox's clean, welcoming, and walkable downtown.

Comox and Courtenay are something of a hub for homeschooling, so I was curious to feel the vibe of young families in the area. The playground turned out to be a great place to chat with other parents as well as some fellow teachers, and I enjoyed hearing more about the community and culture that keeps them rooted in this particular place. The kids and I visited the local used bookstore (one day Mohini will sink from all the books on board) and I explored the peaceful Brooklyn Creek trail system on my daily cardio walks.

We were fortunate to also reconnect with some friends we'd met back in Paradise Village who were spending the summer away from their sailboat and renting a place in the nearby mountain town of Cumberland. They were beyond generous in picking us up to run some errands, taking us to their favourite local produce stand, and inviting us to spend a day with them at their home. We bonded over gourmet pizza and homemade ice cream and our kiddos played together until sunset at the local park. It was a truly memorable experience and yet another reminder of the person-to-person goodness and kindness that so rarely gets highlighted by media channels. We were so grateful!

Cortes Bay

From Comox, we headed north to Cortes Bay, on the southern side of Cortes Island, a Pacific northwest paradise with 13,000 hectares of wilderness and a population of only about 1,000 people. The area near Cortes Bay has some homes, but there's no town to speak of. If you wander up the winding road, you'll soon find trailheads leading off into the forest on either side.

Our first attempt at hiking on Cortes Island was woefully derailed by the discovery of thousands of ripe blackberries. We had arrived in the height of blackberry season and couldn't walk more than a few steps without the kids stopping to gather handfuls of ripe, bursting deliciousness (okay, it wasn't just the kids). Soon, we were on a mission to bake a blackberry crumble but, in our excitement, we forgot about our half-sized boat oven and picked at least twice as many berries as we needed. Needless to say, not a single one went to waste in the end.

We did finally make it to the Easter Bluff trailhead and enjoyed an invigorating scramble through old-growth forest and on up to a rocky overlook. We were the only ones on the trail that day, and took our time drinking in the view and letting the kids take the lead on the way back down. Aaron and Yael were drawn off-trail to an inviting hollow filled with springy star moss and spent an eternity creating an elaborate kingdom there. It was a wonderful day followed by an evening stargazing at the magic of the Perseid meteor showers on Mohini's bow.

The next day we hiked to Kw'as Park via the Katimavik trail, a moderate trek that took us up and down through mossy, sun-dappled forest and ended with a steep cliff walk along the shores of Gunflint Lake.

Both hikes near Cortes Bay were satisfying and we couldn't wait for more experiences like these. We were finally at the entrance to the more remote wilderness that it had been our goal to reach all along and were eager to enter Desolation Sound.

To follow Mohini into backcountry territory, read our post: British Columbia Part 4: Desolation Sound & Surrounding Region.