The 3rd and 4th day on the open water.

On the 3rd Day of our adventure we went to Saltspring Island which was a complete experience of culture shock! Saltspring Island is basically just a hippie island that dances to the drum of its own beat. We arrived at their Marina and everything seemed normal, however when we went further into the town it was clear that it was completely different than life in Calgary Alberta.

It seemed like a flash back to the 60's.. Everyone had super long hair and the women wore long skirts, bandannas, and sandals. None of the men we saw were clean shaven, and some of them didn't wear shoes.  Aside from the obvious difference in how everyone dressed, you could smell marijuana pretty much everywhere. When you looked around to find the sources, you noticed that people were smoking it just like it were a cigarette, out in the open, around kids. That was interesting considering you don't tend to see that too much around Calgary, at least not as casual as it was on this island. 

That was the end of the adventure on SaltSpring Island. The next day, which was the 4th day, we went to  Galiano Island. We didn't do much here other than walk along the beach and go for a hike throughout the camp site that was on the island. The beach was beautiful however it was full of big rocks in some areas with a lot of barnacles. The awesome part of this island was the new creature that it was filled with! Under every rock and every log there were tons of tiny little crabs! It's amazing how tiny these crabs start out and how big they can get throughout their life! This was my first time playing with little crabs and I wanted to bring a handful of them back to Calgary with me. When you went to grab them, they would try to run away, and when that didn't work they would try to pinch you with their little claws.

Galiano Island was also the first place that I was able to actually pull a starfish off a rock and hold it. The starfish we saw on this trip were all purple except for one, that was huge and a salmon color. The underside of starfish are the complete opposite to their tops. Underneath are thousands of little suction cup like feelers that constantly moved around. They retracted with I put my skin near them, but with other people, they grasped on and suctioned themselves to their skin. That was extremely cool.

That sums of the third and fourth day of my week long sailing trip. The open water, nature, and beaches were so relaxing compared to the busy daily life that was waiting for me back home. With only two more days on the boat, it was all coming to an end too quickly.