Gabriola scenery, and maybe my last trip to Haven as I’ve known it

   

I’ve been going to Gabriola Island every now and then for fifty years now. For almost all of those visits, I’ve stayed at Haven — an unusual place, a seaside counselling school/resort. It’s basically the Canadian version of California’s famed (or notorious) Esalen Institute, and they are both products of the Human Potential Movement. However, there’s also a lot less overt New Age nonsense in Haven’s course catalog.

Haven was very important to me back in the day, but I haven’t been to a workshop there in more than twenty years now. For a long time it was just less important and too pricey, and so I just didn’t go. But by the late 2000s, we had grown apart. Haven leadership, and especially workshop participants, are keen on many things I am now strongly skeptical about: the healing power of the mind, traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, alternative medicine, and just a whole lot of vitalism in general (the assumption that life is powered by a “energy,” like The Force from Star Wars).

But the vibes are nice. 🙂

So I have weird and conflicted feelings about the place, and I’ve continued going there as a resort guest, just for the atmosphere, nostalgia, and facilities — like a seaside jacuzzi! There are workshops going on in the background, which I bemusedly observe from a distance, sincerely relieved that I’m not doing that ever again.

Haven’s twilight?

Haven has also been bleeding money for years now (as publicly announced), and it seems unlikely to last much longer. This is a bit surprising to me, given the ascendency of conspirituality. Maybe Haven, for all its hippy DNA, isn’t actually ideologically radical or reckless enough to thrive in this era of Tik-Tok influencers, MAHA, and deadly antivax propaganda. Maybe it’s bit too pragmatic. A bit too Canadian, even.

Haven has always been good about not exaggerating the health benefits of their workshops, and has consistently portrayed mental health as something that takes lots of work. That’s been a tough sell throughout all of history, and maybe now more than ever.

In fact, it’s actually kinda like trying to sell science-based information about solving tough pain problems. 🙂 Maybe their business, like mine, would do better if they were willing to make bigger, emptier promises!

But enough about Haven. On with the trip! Which was mostly about Gabriola Island …

Gabriola is photogenic

C’est moi. But there will be nearly no wife here, because she’s much less interested in being online than I am. Where by “less interested” I mean “truly hates it.”
So there’s just the back of wife, sitting on the beach right in front of the cabin we rented.
The view from the little front yard of the cabin.
The somewhat famous wave-carved sandstone of Malaspina Galleries. There are probably hundreds of thousands of photos like this out there somewhere, taken by tourists over the decades. The tide is unusually high here.
Looking back the other way, I caught a big ferry emerging from the “mouth” of the galleries.
Waves on a nearby point.
In addition to the big rocky overhangs, the sandstone of Malaspina Galleries is festooned with weird erosion patterns like this, especially the “pockmarks.” Nightmare fuel for trypophobia!
More trypophobia triggers! Lots and lots of very tiny ones. So suspiciously organic. Especially when wet.
And now some medium-sized holes.
Different part of the island now: Drumbeg park.
Something harder in the sandstone making that pattern. Neat geology!
Back to Haven for a bunch of beachcombing at low, low, low tide. This is a scene-setter, just showing the view of Haven from way out on the exposed rocks.
Doomed jelly, dying prettily on the rocks.
This brainy lookin’ thing is a sea star. I forget which kind now, but a nice lady told us. Apparently Gabriola (along with much of the west coast) is in recovery from a seastar-pocalypse, the sea star wasting disease - Wikipedia. “What do affected sea stars look like?” we asked her. “Like zombies. Like they’re rotting to death.” 😬
Just a nice anenome shot. The reflections almost made it impossible, but then: “Put it in the shadow of your head, maybe?” That’s a dark hat reflection around the anenome.
One of the cooler carved rocks in the area.
This dog recruited us; he needed help moving some sticks around. He really loved his work!
We went for a really nice hike inland, in a big forested park in the middle of the island, the “707”. Very well-maintained trails! Good work, Gabriola Land & Trails Trust! We were directed there by the sea star lady.
Sunset from our cabin.
And sunset the next night… now with toes.