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A Curious Sanctuary for Artistic Adventurers
by Nadine Brooks

   At the south end of Sansum Narrows on southern Vancouver Island sits a small harbour, once carved out of the rocky terrain millions of years ago by a huge glacier. Before the area was settled by Italian immigrants in the 1850s, it was home to a summer fishing camp for members of the Cowichan tribe, aboriginals who still live in the region. In 1858 an Italian immigrant, settler and maritime trader named Giovanni Baptiste Ordano, who was living and working in nearby Cowichan Bay, named it after his birthplace, Genoa, because it reminded him so much of the Italian landscape. Between the 1870s and 1925, Genoa Bay was home to a sawmill, which was once the largest mill in the Cowichan Valley. The small, eclectic population of about 1,800 (including Maple Bay about six kilometres away) that currently resides here depend in part on tourist dollars to sustain the community.

       And while one might be initially led to believe that Genoa Bay is one of those "best-kept secrets" by locals and lucky travellers who have stumbled upon this Vancouver Island jewel, Genoa Bay Marina owners Ben and Will Kiedaisch enthusiastically welcome boaters. Their mandate is to "provide guests a relaxed, enjoyable stay that is in harmony with the environment" and their aphorism is "harbouring contentment." Sounds like the perfect formula to me.

       Genoa Bay Marina has 1,200 feet of dock space for transient and permanent moorage for boats from 12 to 100 feet, with daily, long-term and permanent rates available. During the peak season (May to October), reservations are recommended. New wooden docks have 15-amp power and water and are well maintained by staff and the on-site caretaker. Other amenities include well-cleaned washroom, shower and laundry facilities; mechanical services; kayak and car rentals (the drive to Maple Bay, Duncan and/or Cowichan Bay should not be missed!); a very charming and delightful art gallery right on the main dock; and an "office on the go" with fax, postal and Internet services.

       The marina monitors VHF channel #68 from April to October, but sometimes cannot get calls until boats are closer to the marina because of the region's rocky and uneven landscape. The closest fuel docks and best water supply stations are in Cowichan Bay and Maple Bay (you can contact them on VHF #68 as well). The water in Genoa Bay is provided from a well and therefore staff cannot always promise quality or supply, even though the water is filtered and monitored.

       The Genoa Bay Marina Store (open from May to October) offers marine supplies (at apparently reasonable rates), souvenir merchandise and clothing, reading materials, video rentals, crafts, sundries and snacks, and fishing licenses. But perhaps the most customer-friendly provision available to moorage guests is their local grocery service. Just give the staff at the store your grocery list and the items will be delivered to your boat the very same day.

       The Grapevine Café (open from February to October) came highly recommended to me before I ever set foot in Genoa Bay, and having quite an affection for good eats, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have lunch at the restaurant. The pre-endorsement was slightly inaccurate, though. The food, the service, the view-everything about the Grapevine Café was absolutely marvelous. In fact, it was so good that I drove up from Victoria less than two weeks later for dinner! Many of the dishes served feature fresh produce, seafood, fish and poultry from nearby Cowichan Valley farms. On summer weekends the restaurant has live jazz musicians, and special events include "traditional Native salmon barbecues, open-air Hawaiian-style luaus, and Salt Spring Island lamb roasted on a spit." Don't miss a chance to dine at the café-it's an unforgettable experience.

       And yet it wasn't the remarkable food at the Grapevine Café, or the friendly and accommodating staff, or even the feeling of being in a true Shangri-la that seduced me into falling in love with Genoa Bay. No, it wasn't any of the "regular" marina amenities that would allure most "regular" boaters. For me the moment I fell for this charming seaside community was when I walked around the corner at the west end of the main dock. There the delightfully crooked and weather-worn wooden dock extends out approximately 50 feet, and curiously constructed boathouses of all shapes and sizes and eras line each side all the way to the end.
The first boathouse on the left is a newer, sturdy, simple structure, painted in a bright festive green with a beige complement around the sides, windows and the door. In front of the window sits a flowerpot happily brimming with colourful flowers and robust greens. Directly across from this sophisticated façade is one of quite a different nature, constructed of corrugated tin roof sheeting rusting at the screw joints and crumpled at the bottom on the lower left side. The old ramshackle door seems to be built of almost-rotten cedar scraps, and a faded, weathered wooden sign nailed to the door reads "McOpa / 40 11 46" in haphazardly handwritten black letters. Dilapidated, yes, and yet inherently beautiful in its unflawed and poetic authenticity.

       I leisurely strolled down the dock and marvelled at the sincerity in which the people of Genoa Bay must live. Barely afloat dinghies, rusty 1960s-era light fixtures and petrified-wood-turned-art pieces are juxtaposed with the two brightly painted and apparently hand-constructed floathomes at the end of the dock, whose recently built decks are cluttered with magnificent blooming bouquets and apple trees, old glass bottles covered with barnacles and rescued from decades at the bottom of the sea, handmade seashell wind chimes, and antique lanterns, tools and other obsolete boating curios.

      How could the creative adventurer in me not love it here? An artist at heart, I was delirious with delight upon discovering this tranquil and fragile place-a dream come true for conceptual image creators like myself.

       Okay, so maybe exploring deteriorated boathouses isn't your thing. That's okay, because there are plenty of other things to do in Genoa Bay if activity is what you're looking for. The area is well known for attracting eager travellers who are ready to "do stuff." Wine tours have become extremely popular in the Cowichan Valley, as the region's climate and soil is ideal for growing grapes. Not into becoming a wine connoisseur? There's also golfing, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, beachcombing, diving…the list goes on and on.

       One of the most interesting annual events occurs every May and is set on Mt. Tzouhalem (pronounced zoo-hay-lum) and in Cowichan, Genoa, and Maple bays. (Mt. Tzouhalem is named after a fierce chief of the Cowichan tribe of Coast Salish Natives.) The Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race will celebrate its fourth year running in 2003, and the race consists of 40 kilometres of kayaking, mountain biking, orienteering, trail running and mystery events (puzzles and such at designated spots throughout the race). The course route, order and exact distance is kept a secret from competitors until the night before the race, which, depending on ability, can take anywhere from four to eight hours to finish. I hear the dinner and after-party are "not to be missed."

      Even though this adventure race sounds like it would be a lot of fun, unfortunately I'm not as athletic and eager as those who might participate in such a challenging event are. I'll probably just hang out on the boat in Genoa Bay, chat with the locals and perhaps indulge my artistic desires in this truly beautiful and genuine place. Author Ferenc Mate called Genoa Bay a place that "sailors, wooden boaters, romantics and intelligent sentimentalists hold close to their hearts." I'm not sure exactly which category I fall in, but I do know that Genoa Bay is on my boating itinerary for next season. And spring won't come soon enough.