Echo Cove

Echo Cove, originally uploaded by macatay.

It would be an exaggeration to call Echo Cove a natural harbour, not as we have come to understand harbours as places for ocean liners and tankers. But it is perfectly sized for fishing boats and runabouts and kayaks, and makes room for sailboats and the various motor vessels that cruise the BC Coast. Rocks ring the cove, some of them rising up several hundred feet in cliffs. Pictographs suggest it was home to very ancient peoples. It is now a hub for a network of people who have organized in opposition to current fishing farm practices.

I think the place feeds the passion. This is an enclosing, welcoming cove. Just outside the entrance, there are whitecaps and choppy waves. Inside there is relatively calm water. A few buildings perch on the rocky shores, but most are constructed on floats, and connected by wooden walkways. Just across the cove from our moorage, there is a spot where the walkway is a little wider, and an awning has been stretched to give some shade from the setting sun. Late in the afternoon, people gravitate to that spot and sit together into the evening. One more day here and we will overcome our shyness and join them.