It's a tight-knit community of boaters in Deep Bay and they say that they help one another as well as other community members. That includes keeping the beach clean and making sure the boats are OK in a storm. It also means speaking out on the issue of fecal coliform levels in Deep Bay, which, in their opinion, is not related to the live-aboards.
Greg Smith and Maureen Dulong have the Infinity II moored in the bay. They don't currently live on the boat but are planning to be on the water in the near future. Huck Henneberry lives on the Old Lady Lou.
Smith has been living on boats in Nanaimo, Nanoose Bay, Victoria and Squamish before moving to Bowen Island 10 years ago. "Five of those years, I've been living out on the bay, the other five years I was tied up at Bowen Island Marina." Smith made the move to Deep Bay because the moorage went up to $6,000 per year at the marina. He could rent a house for that amount, he says, but living on a boat is his preferred choice. "We like living on a boat. We like the freedom and we love the water," he said.
Smith works as a marine mechanic. He says his boat is in disrepair at the moment but that is due to the fact that his income is dwindling as the number of projects he's hired to do has gone down. "It's tough to get work here," he says. "You have to set up a shore-based system. I'm more of a dock-side mechanic and don't have my own shop and such." He says that there are many boats in the marina but that there might not be a lot of money spent on upkeep.
"It's really changed in the last couple of years," he said. "I've got customers who've put up a boat for sale for $32,000 and had to drop the price to $15,000. And many are talking about wanting to get out of marinas. They just don't want to pay that kind of money any more." The steep prices are hurting a lot of boaters, according to Smith. "A 26-foot boat costs $4,000 a year for moorage and close to $3,000 a year for insurance, and then you add the price of fuel. I can see how people want to go out into the bay to save money," he said but added that the number of people who live on boats in Deep Bay has stabilized - currently there are three.
Smith also stressed that all the boaters he knows in Deep Bay have holding tanks. He believes that the fecal coliform levels have nothing to do with the live-aboards. "The people come off the boat in the morning and go back in the evening. They don't stay there all day," Smith said. "I can't see that being even a slight problem." He added that there are houses on the bay that might be contributing to the high level of fecal coliform. "When I lived on Vancouver Island, I had a kit (for water testing)," Smith says. "I learned that anywhere you see bright green algae at a bank near a house, that's a sign of a high level of fecal coliform. That's my professional opinion."
Henneberry's boat also has a holding tank and he goes to Gibsons to get it pumped. "If my tank is full, I take a special trip," he says but he doesn't know what other people living aboard do. "I know what I do but I can't vouch for anybody else." Henneberry pulls up his anchor quite a bit to tour around but Smith says his boat is more or less stationary. "We do have a motor but right now, in the shape that it's in, I don't want to take that boat out. But I have another little boat to tour," Smith said. "Some people have their boats [in Deep Bay] and they're not that mobile."
Dulong and Smith's boat is mostly a live-aboard, says Smith, adding that it's a full-fledged charter boat that he chartered for 12 years. Smith previously lived year-round on the boat and says, "That's when you know you're a boater, when you can spend a winter on it."
Henneberrry says that it's only in the winter that you know who's living on board: "In the summer, lots of people spend time in their boats." And Smith added it's the winter that presents a challenge for live-aboards because of the storms.
Henneberry came to Bowen 10 years ago. At first he lived on a sailboat, but three years ago, he switched to the powerboat he is on now. Altogether, he's lived on a boat year-round for the last 14 years.
Henneberry works as a carpenter in the film industry. When he doesn't have any film work, he does carpentry on the island. He also helps out in the community. Every year, he assists at the Friends of the Library's book sale and this year he was involved in the Steamship Days. He is also working with Bowen Heritage to look after the Davies Orchard cabins.
Henneberry, Dulong and Smith know the boats (and boaters) in Deep Bay well and recount that the owner of one of the vessels had arrived from Vancouver saying that he would fix it up. The boat had subsequently tipped in a storm, ended up on the beach and had been towed back out. Now it has floated to the other beach. "That is an abandoned boat, yes," Smith says. "And that is a problem in that area where you get storms once in the while." He added that he's sustained major damage from boats that have drifted loose. "I've been on the boat since 1980 and it's only these last few years that I've seen hurricane force winds. All the years I've been on the boat, I've never seen so many and they're happening more often."
"The winds that I've clocked on my boat are 55 mph winds coming in," Henneberry said. "You're further in," Dulong told him and Smith added, "We're sustaining 80 knot gusts where we are."
One of the vessels that has been there for many years is commonly called the 'pirate ship' and Henneberry says it looks decrepit but it's not abandoned as the owner comes to look after it. "This boat has been here maybe 20 years but [the owner] keeps it afloat and he took it on the beach to clean the bottom," he said.
"What we should be doing is to know whose boat is out there at all times so we have a phone number and get hold of them. Or the municipality can get hold of us. If there is a problem, we are always willing to help," Smith said. "Then it can be handled fast before something happens."
"Another boat is just a garden," Henneberry says. "[The owner] put a lot of work into this. He's bringing gallons of water and soil out to it. There's been a nest on his boat and the geese raised babies on his boat. That was quite awesome." Henneberry says that it must be one of the few gardens on Bowen Island where the deer can't do any damage.
It is in the best interest of the community of boaters to have the bay in good conditions, according to Smith. "We don't like to see derelict boats out there either," he says referring to the two submerged vessels. "I believe that the municipality should know who owns them and have a phone number. We try and police it a little bit ourselves." He says that the boaters help one another when there is a storm or an emergency. "We've also saved kayakers in the winter time when they tipped over, two of them probably wouldn't have made it if we hadn't been there."
Dulong says that the boaters regularly pick up refuse on the beach and Henneberry adds, "I get choked if people don't put their garbage into the garbage can."
And if something goes wrong with another boat, they are there to step in. Smith said, "If we can grab a boat before it goes to the beach, it's not going to cause us any injury." And Henneberry added, "If something goes wrong, we're always getting hold of someone. Boaters always help boaters, that's the nature of that tight-knit kind of a community."
In answer to the question whether they would leave their boats if affordable housing was made available locally, they all replied with a resounding: No. "Staying on the boat is affordable for me," Henneberry said. "It's affordable because it's already paid for and I've put a lot of work in it." He added, "No, I wouldn't want to live in a house, no way. As long as I'm not too old to do it, I'll go on like this."
