Wooden Boat Festival

Sun-warmed, yet invigorated by the chatter of people and the dulcet sounds of a saxophone played by a gentleman in a gold hued Hawaiian shirt, and the glistening waters of the bay, we wondered why it has taken years to visit this part of the island.

For several years I’ve wanted to visit Maple Bay here on Vancouver Island. Their annual Wooden Boat Festival greeted us after a serenely beautiful country drive off the highway. You could safely say this is my year of day-trips. Either alone or with my husband, there have already been about a half dozen. So many that I felt it would be boring to force you to tag along. I hope you enjoy this series showcasing Maple Bay marina.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” (Mark Twain actually did not say that)

Some of the wooden boats we’re about to see.

Most of the current owners were on board to talk about their boats and every boat had a story. Some owners allowed the public to view inside, others chose not to, though all the owners were very friendly and loved talking about their boat. Each boat had their “story” typed out with all the statistics about the boat which was posted in a visible area for the public to learn more about the boat’s history.

The Romance is one of the newer wooden boats in the festival and was built by the current owner. It took him seven years to build her working on weekends and evenings. They use her a lot now that he’s retired and it’s purely a cruising boat. Beautiful detailing and quite modern inside. She won the People’s Choice Award at this year’s festival.

They were all spiffed up and not a detail missed or out of place.

I loved the styling of this boat and what a beauty inside! If you’re a car buff you may, as I did, suspect this styling is from the 1960’s and you’d be correct.

Not the same boat, but another of the same styling and era. Just playing around with shapes (above).

The majority of the boats in the festival originated as working boats whether for fishing, hauling, or as tugs. Now they are all pleasure boats.

Because we had Heidi with us, one of the couples we talked to shared their stories about boating with their dog, which has recently passed away. Interesting how they dealt with the dogs needs as well as their own while on the water.

The Maple Bay marina was a real going concern with all kinds of things happening, entertaining spaces, artists & artisans, and several people showing off their detailed model boats, both at dry dock (on display tables) and in a mock marina (a huge ‘pool’ set up in the promenade). The marina itself includes a large and well attended pub, restaurant, an espresso bar, mariners market, gas/oil, boat mechanic, laundromat, realtors, and boat sales. We found it quite impressive considering it was well out of the way. A beautiful little spot to come back to for certain.

A sample of the model boats. The detail is incredible in all of them.

Artist with the model boat ‘marina’ pool in background.

There’s a row of float homes at the bay-end of the marina, some were quite modern looking.

I bet you don’t believe that Mark Twain didn’t say that quote I typed at the beginning. Dr. Cindy Lovell wrote this excerpt in Huffington Post,

“And perhaps the most commonly misattributed quote is this one that has been making the rounds on the Internet since the mid-1990s and has even been included in numerous books:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain did NOT say that.

The quote belongs to H. Jackson Brown’s mother. See page 13 in Brown’s 1991 book: P.S. I Love You: When Mom Wrote, She Always Saved the Best for Last.”

I was pretty surprised to learn that too. Anyway, I do hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into one of our road trips here on Vancouver Island.

And to finish here is a wee video created by moi. Did you know that standing in line can actually be a pleasant experience? Judge for yourself. You may need to turn the volume up a tad. Enjoy a moment from my world.