Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/309330
S U M M E R 2 0 1 4 | W E S T W O R L D A L B E R T A 25 abandoned and forgotten dreams. A hardy Scot named Jeremiah Chivers homesteaded alone on Wallace from 1889 until his death in 1927. In 1946, Americans Jeanne and David Conover (the photographer often credited with discovering Marilyn Monroe) bought the island and built a small cottage resort; they closed the resort and sold the island in 1961 and it became a marine provincial park in 1990. It's now a favourite stop for summer- time Gulf Island boaters. We stroll among the Conovers' old cabins, one of which has become an informal gallery crammed with whimsical driftwood art left by decades of visitors – then we follow a slippery trail of moss-covered rocks and roots that descends into a marshy wetland. We climb onto a bony escarpment, with bedrock poking out like the ribs of the land from a stingy forest floor. Here Douglas fir and arbutus, some with trunks as wide as wine barrels, send roots down into the crevices in search of soil and sustenance. Hamersley Chambers pauses next to an ancient arbutus, scarred by a black fungal blister. " We're not sure what's causing this," she says. at evening, raindrops again dimple the water as we cruise into Montague Harbour on Galiano Island. Even in the fading light, the beach ahead is a brilliant white, a sign that hundreds of First Nations generations have harvested clams and oysters in the intertidal zone. Shea and Anstee manoeuvre the Maple Leaf into position. The clanking of chain echoes over the chug of diesel as the anchor is lowered, then all is quiet except for the gentle lap of water against the Maple Leaf 's hull. ere are no other boats at anchor. e dim lights of Montague Harbour Marina sparkle among the darkening green of the rainforest, which huddles against the shoreline as though bracing for a storm. Savoury scents drift up from McKerricher's galley. For a moment I marvel in a feeling of remoteness and solitude. en I remember that we're less than a half- day cruise from the glittering skylines of downtown Victoria and Vancouver. W Save 10% on daily green fees at Olympic View and Arbutus Ridge golf courses, and 10% on regular- price clothing and gear at select GolfBC shops. AMARewards.ca p14-25GulfSchooner.indd 25 14-05-06 8:09 AM