Hi! This blog will be about the boat trips:

Will got us on a boat trip twice now. He has a little red boat with a big motor that goes “superfasttt” (just what Ophelia calls out when she’s running across the room:)

With the kids and the girls we went out fishing for prawns: there are a lot of them in the ocean between the islands. In the morning, Will put some traps out, so in the afternoon we went with him on the boat to get the prawns out of the traps.

Once we found the marked buoys from Will, we had to pull up the traps. They were so heavy ‘cause of the water pressure: the lines were 100 ft long! After we got the prawns out of the traps, we needed to search them for pregnant ones: the prawns with eggs needed to get back in the water so they can reproduce. The prawn fishing culture around Gabriola is a good example of sustainable fishing: the government designates fishing areas and there are rules about how to fish (like the amount per fishing license).

We ended up with three full buckets of prawns (with a value of 250 dollars!). At home we had to prepare them: we needed to squeeze their heads off and cook them after that. I helped Will with the job, but some of the prawns were still alive so it was a bit nasty to do that… But otherwise, Will would do it still, so I got over it ;)

That evening we ate a lot of prawns and some salmon. The seafood tastes so much stronger than at home!! But it was delicious.

The next day we got on the water again with a friend of Will and the rest. Just like the day before, Will had put the traps out in the morning, so we only had to pull them up. After we finished all the traps, we put some new ones in, and we went to Ruxton Island (the island next to Gabriola Island where Ruxton is named after), to get some oysters from the beach. The island was really small but it was beautiful out there! There were a lot of flowers and some small sandstone caves which looked a bit like the Malaspina Galleries. After that, we pulled the traps again. We had two full buckets of prawns this time, so Will decided to freeze some at home. On our way back there was another guy on the water who blamed us for stealing his trap. That was a bit weird, but Will told me that sometimes traps are stolen or cut by ‘pirates’ to indicate ‘their territory’.

At home, we made a campfire next to the house on which we roasted the oysters. I have never had oysters before, and I actually expected I wouldn’t like them, but they were better than I thought and they were super fresh. Jenn made a really tasty pasta with prawns and salmon.

It was cold but really nice to be on the water: it was such a nice view with the islands, the forest, and the mountains in the background. We even saw a few seals! You should take a look at the boat trip picturesso you can enjoy the view too :)

I would love to go again!

Bye!

~ Sophie