Leaning arbutus cottage framing

On the nicest Thanksgiving weekend we were busy framing the arbutus cottage.  Wendle the dog was busy fishing.

The Catch of August

 We had a great catch this august with 2 rock cods, a red snapper and an enormous green ling..  (Don't worry fisheries we caught them over a few days on a few different fishing liscences.) The fishing off Nelson Island seems to be inproving these days, or our techniques are getting better.  This fall and winter we will be prawing and fishing like crazy so I will be posting the catches as we haul them out of the chuck. 

Landscaping the Leaning Arbutus Cottage

We were able to salvage some plants from a jobsite and they went straight to the cottage.  Although some of them might not survive I hope that we have pretty good survival rate so that next spring and summer the site will be in bloom.  We also collected the drain tile and rainwater leaders into a single outflow and this is now  the seasonal creek that you see in the last picture.  Its starting to look pretty good up there with the grass growing in too.

The first boat load of shrubbery

Rhubarb

final grading

The new creek from the rainwater and draintile 

The front yard

The new cottage site

Located on the western side of the property is the site of the new cottage. We have named it the Leaning Arbutus Cottage in homage to the leaning arbutus in the front yard.

The foundation, Summer 2010

Attaching the foundation to Nelson Island itself.

After 2 years work has begun going forward on the new cottage again.  We built this foundation in the summer of 2010 and it has over 45 cubic meters of hand mixed concrete.  The main floor is being built so that we can get the lumber off the ground.  We are very busy backfilling and grading out the yard in preparation for landscaping.  I can't wait till the grass grows in and the plants are all rooted.

The new cabin site, graded and ready for grass seed.

The Princess

Just like when we were kids on the school bus

Looking back, the Princess

Ask Xav what happened to this Anchor

The Best Investment EVER

We named the crew boat the cockburn princess or princess for short.  I later discovered that she was actualloy called the son of ugly but we still prefer to call her simply the princess.  she hasn't let us down yet.

March 30th



heading out of pender harbour

We headed out of pender harbour with a boat full of plants that we got from one of our jobsites. The weather was beautiful, (hence the name the sunshine coast) and we were prepared for a weekend of landscaping and prawn fishing. 

awwww coffee, a luxury

it snowed on april 1st

the fireplace keeps us warm and cozy

entertainment in the cabin way

Fishing off Nelson Island

You never know what your going to catch up here but so far we have caught: Spring Salmon, Lingcod, Red Snapper, Green Lingcod, Rock Cod, Flounder, Ratfish (not for eating), Prawns, Red Rock Crab, Octopus, this list will grow.

Slimey

Daves first catch at Nelson Island

Its a green Lingcod

Harry's Beach

Across the bay there is a dock owned by BC Hydro which you can tie the skiff to, and which is the accss to the logging road network.  If you stroll for around half an hour you will come to Harry's beach.  Harry was the founder and original homesteader at roberts creek.  As the town grew harry decided to move on and built this homestead on southern side of cape cockburn.  The homerstead is now deseted but the trees, orchard, and house as well as many things remain.  There is also an impressive stone beach which is a wonderful spot for swimming and sun bathing.

Many people beach there boats for the day

Harry's pebble beach

Harry's beach

View of Texada Island

Fire

Cleaning up after cutting fire wood and clearing and area for the firepit and camping area gave us one of the best fires up there.  Only in the winter can you have a fire like this.  There is now a cleared area and a fire pit with lots of wood for camp fire for the rest of the year.  Don't forget that fire bans are in effect for most of the summer though, and if a fire were to ever get out of hand and cause a forest fire it would burn uncontrolled.   



Courtesy of Dave and Jasmin



Maderia Park Marina and Boat Launch

Maderia Park marina, Pender Harbour

The Boat For Hire, Rick, 1-604-741-3683

Heading out of Pender Harbour

Fine Dining at the Cabin

I plan on taking some more food pics in the future so that I can do justice to all the great eating that we do up here.  The first pic is the dining room when we are not eating outside and the others are of our fresh caught dinners.  Nothing beats eating the seafood straight out of the ocean.  The BBQ adds all the flavour we could want and the careful attention of great cooks.   

dining area

Out of the ocean and onto the BBQ

As fresh as they come, picked from in front of the cabin.

BBQ Green Lingcod, Roast Yams, Garlic Bread, Spaghetti and Red Wine

Prawn Fishing off Nelson Island




Prawn Fishing is a bit of an art; too shallow, too deep, too close, too far.  I mean, a good fisherman never tells his secrets... You have to be there to find out just how great it is.

The Princess never lets us down




The boys before we had the prawn puller




Me at the wheel




The bounty on a beautiful spring day




Sometimes we get a suprise




They are smart though and have their escape route off the boat




ever seen a pacific squat lobster




or sometimes a stone crab comes for the ride




good friends