 |
travel / travel magazine / may10
 May 2010 issue
Notebook
Making waves
THOUSANDS of Canadians earn their
livelihood by working on the water — fishing,
patrolling, transporting, researching
and guiding. But for most of us, travelling
by water is a treat we get to enjoy only on
our days and weeks off.
Think back to your best summers as a
kid: bodyboarding in the surf on Old
Orchard Beach with your big brother;
inner-tubing down Rivière Jacques-Cartier
with your cousin; exploring the serpentine
shoreline of Lac Mercier in an old
green-red-and-grey Vercheres rowboat with
a buddy, a bagged lunch and a beach towel.
Getting out to play on a lake, a river or an
ocean always notches up the summer from
dry and dull to wet and wonderfilled.
The same holds true for us now grownups,
even if the vessels are larger. Who but
the most aquaphobic among us can resist
that three-hour tour through the Thousand
Islands, or a houseboating weekend on
Shuswap Lake, or a cruise aboard the
Fairview, leaving four times daily from
Peake’s Wharf in Charlottetown?
There’s magic in exploring a place, even
your own home turf, from an aquatic angle.
Take it from James Raffan. Last August,
he shoved off from a shoreline tangle of burdock and wild hemp, sliding his canoe into the current just north of his hometown
of Guelph, Ont., and paddled solo down the
Speed and Grand rivers to Lake Erie. The
scenes he saw en route triggered long-lost
childhood memories and poignant new
connections with his ailing father. Touring
by water, Raffan shows, can be a voyage of
reflection and catharsis.
Or it can be a chance for a new adventure.
Diehard surfer dude Lesley Choyce
found this out when he traded his board for
a sea kayak and took to the tidal shoreline
around Nova Scotia’s Chezzetcook Inlet
for a guided day tour. Tricky tidal timing
set the schedule, but close encounters with
cormorants and seals set the mood. It’s a
mere half hour from his home, but a destination
worthy of a cross-country journey.
And from across the country comes an
island-hopper of a tale by Jim Sutherland,
who picked up a BC Ferries equivalent of a
Eurail pass and embarked on a game of culinary
pursuit through the Gulf Islands, visiting farmers’ markets, seaside
seafood cafes, organic wineries and artisan
cheeseries. Taken all together, the stories in
this issue have inspired a new all-Canadian
motto: make waves while the ice melts.
Eric Harris
|
|
|
