Echo Bay
Another floating community - Echo Bay. We stayed for two nights so we could have a full day to explore. No restaurants or fancy meals, but an amazing man we got to meet.
Meet Billy Proctor. He is 90 years old and has lived on this island since he was a kid. He lives alone with his dog and his home is located where the first community was settled. It is about a 30 minute hike from the marina. It encompasses several buildings, including the old school house, which is about as big as most of our bathrooms. There was only room for 5-6 students, the teacher and a piano, which was very out of tune.
He created a museum of all the things he has accumulated over the years. It was fascinating but also a little sobering as I recognized several items we had when I was a kid - they were very old. He also has a gift shop where he sells several books he co-authored over the years. Mary Anne purchased and read one and said she very much enjoyed it.
Keith and I dingyed around to the back side of the island to drop a crab pot and found a bear near the waters edge. He wasn't too far from the trail to Billy Proctor's place, but no threat to anyone.
We were surprised how many homes were in this little community, some floating and some not. Most seemed to be occupied, but we suspect only for the summer, although the marina is open year round as they have fuel, a small store, showers and laundry. No water available though during the summer.
It was said you could catch halibut and ling cod right off the dock. A man was fishing there the day before and caught a small ling, so I was determined to see what I could catch. I had something on the hook but couldn't reel it in. Holly and Sue were walking docks to get steps in and happened upon me just in time. They snapped my picture and went to get Keith. In the end, whatever was on, was lost. He's convinced it was snagged on a rock, but rocks don't move and this moved about 30 feet before it released. But I did catch a crab, which as you can see, was a momma.... so back she went. It was a good morning of fishing, but not good at catching.