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So far the majority of these Super, Neighbours travel features have been about resorts and hotels that are mostly concerned with delivering their visitors a relaxing, restorative and memorable stay at their destinations. You may have noticed that in the past few months, since around Easter of this year, we've ramped up the frequency of these features. It is absolutely no coincidence that around that time I was diagnosed with a rare eye disease called Central Serous Retinopathy. It's stress-induced and I'm not going to cry to you about it but in a nutshell it has caused a blister to form behind the retina in my right eye making it so there's a dark and blurry spot right in the middle of my field of vision. As it's a "rare" disease there's no prescribed cure aside from reducing stress, and the best way I've found to reduce the stress of running the content side of V.I.A. as well as the business side of it is to completely unplug and get away from my desk. I've been super fortunate to be able to lump together "getting away from my desk" with "still working" while also "relaxing" by taking on these travel features. |
Since my diagnosis I've been exposed to the healing powers of Pacific Sands in Tofino, Sonora Resort in Desolation Sound, The Fairmont Empress in Victoria, Nita Lake Lodge in Whistler and the Fairmont Waterfront right here in Vancouver. We've received some really positive feedback on these features and it gives me great joy to know that people are into checking out these potential vacation spots while my eyeball heals a little more with each trip. I had a slight setback recently but I am on the road to recovery and have to thank each and every one of these destinations for allowing me to visit them on media trips, sometimes even with my small family in tow.
So now that we've got that out of the way, a slight departure for this latest Super, Neighbours series of 3 posts about Hollyhock on Cortes Island. It was a bit of a vacation of sorts but while I was heading to those previously listed destinations in order to simply relax, the agenda for this latest trip was first to learn, to meet other mission-based entrepreneurs and to be mentored at the Social Venture Institute taking place there... and then to relax in the knowledge that with help from the incredible community that Renewal Partners and The Social Venture Network brought together, I'll be able to keep this social venture of ours going in the right direction. I paid to attend this conference and can't think of money I've ever spent more wisely insuring the future of Vancouver Is Awesome. I made so many connections and the programming and the overall experience was so beyond invaluable that I can't really put it into words.
I'll get into more of what the Social Venture Institute actually is in the next post, but first I need to share with you the journey of getting there. Not metaphorically, but physically getting there by way of more than a couple ferries.
I'm going to assume that you've been to Vancouver Island and you've either driven or walked onto one of those gigantic ferries, but have you ever been on one of these smaller ones that go to the lesser-trafficked Gulf Islands? Cortes Island is a 6 hour trip from Vancouver if you travel by car and ferry, first leaving from Horseshoe Bay on one of those big guys, then once you reach Nanaimo driving a couple of hours up to Campbell River where you board the one pictured above. That one takes you to Quadra Island, which you then drive across and board another one bound for Cortes.
Here's a view from the Quadra to Cortes ferry, in a bay that is reminiscent of what False Creek used to look like when small boats were allowed to somewhat randomly moor there.
Many jellyfish await you as you stare over the edge of these smaller ferries. It's a much more intimate experience with the ocean, to be certain.
As you near the Cortes ferry terminal you're reminded of how small this island is, that there's a cable that runs electricity out to it as they don't generate their own there. Don't drop anchor along the cable line, the hot tubs at Hollyhock rely on that power source!
Finally, here's the view from my car as the ferry pulled up to the Cortes terminal (front row "seats"!). It's not as fancy as the Horseshoe Bay terminal or any of the ones on the larger routes, and that's half of it's charm.
Thanks to BC Ferries for getting me over to Cortes and back! In the next post about The Social Venture Institute at Hollyhock I'll tell you more about the conference and the magical place itself.
