The Outer Coast

The Ocean

"I am in love with Ocean

lifting her thousands of white hats

in the chop of the storm,

or lying smooth and blue, the

loveliest bed in the world.

In the personal life, there is

always grief more than enough,

a heart-load for each of us

on the dusty road. I suppose

there is a reason for this, so I will be

patient, acquiescent. But I will live

nowhere except here, by Ocean, trusting

equally in all the blast and welcome

of her sorrowless, salt self. "

~~Mary Oliver~~

There's ocean all around the city of Vancouver, but you have to go west to Vancouver Island to get to the place where there is only ocean. An early morning ferry from Horseshoe Bay does part of the trick - although I recommend avoiding the acrid concoctions of Karma Organic Coffee. The next step is a three hour drive through some of the most beautiful scenery I've experienced on the roads of the northwest coast. Along the way is Cathedral Grove, they say it is a postage stamp of the old growth that once was.

On the other side of the island is Tofino and the Pacific Rim National Park. Here is Chesterman's beach, open ocean, and everything in between.

The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls

"The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;

Along the sea-sands damp and brown

The traveler hastens toward the town,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,

But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;

The little waves, with their soft, white hands

Efface the footprints in the sands,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls

Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;

The day returns, but nevermore

Returns the traveler to the shore.

And the tide rises, the tide falls."

~~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~~