By Jim Sutherland Photography Kamil Bialous

The Unhotel i n Paradise They wanted to invest in a fishing lodge. What they built was a dream cabin for 16 that, for 25 years, has brought their families together

60 cottagelife.com Early Summer 2018 Early Summer 2018 cottagelife.com 61 Visitors to this Kyu- quot Sound retreat can choose between the lodge’s two boats, the Mary B and the Phoebe Gaye, It’s not quite dinner time on Sonny’s Island, whether they’re keen on sport fishing for and with wineglasses in hand, several accordingly. A few early risers jump into ones to slap their tails and fins,” specu- Just another typically atypical day in chinook or they pre- members of the extended Osburn and one of two identical 26-foot aluminum- lates Kristin Dobbin, the girlfriend of Kyuquot Sound, complete with a cabin- fer to hit one of Johnson families consider tomorrow’s hulled Lifetimer boats and, within an hour Mark Osburn’s son, Max. cum-lodge base station that puts the the nearby beaches options. Weather forecasts are notori- or so, limit out on 12 to 15 lb chinook. On the island, there’s a hike through “treat” in retreat. Want somewhere that (opposite), only a 20-minute boat ride ously sketchy up near Vancouver Island’s Later, as the soup begins to thin, the the dense salal and underbrush, up a sleeps 16? With ensuites for all? In high from the lodge. stormy northwestern tip, but the official entire multi-generational assembly of steep cliff, and by a long-abandoned style? On its own private island? In an guess is for something half-decent, 14 trundles down the steep ramp—it’s scientific outpost to an overlook above incredibly beautiful and astonishingly suggesting the possibility of a day-long low tide—to fill both boats. The amended the rookery. Meanwhile, Max has remote location? And even more incredi- expedition to the Brooks Peninsula, with excursion will be to a wave-battered brought along his wetsuit and speargun, ble and astonishing—for a respectably its never-glaciated refugia, faux-tropical barrier island, where rugged cliffs con- and he snags a rockfish to augment the affordable cost? Tall orders indeed. For- white sand beaches, and surfable breaks. ceal a seabird rookery on one shore while sausages grilling over the flames and tunately, the place enabling fun of this “Of course,” says Brian Johnson, laugh- on another there’s a sheltered lagoon. embers of a bonfire tucked in among the quantity and quality is also something ing at the probable futility of it all, “this Along the way there’s an entirely driftwood. The fire is topped with a nifty of a laboratory, where, for 25 years, Mark conversation is purely theoretical.” welcome interruption, caused by some portable grill that Mark made after Osburn, Brian Johnson, and their part- Sure enough, by morning the half- humpback whales who appear to be being inspired by the ones he spotted on ners, in both life and business, have been decency has been supplanted by a thick auditioning for an episode of The Nature a trip to Argentina and that is now mak- quietly perfecting the art and science of bank of fog, and plans must be adjusted of Things. “It’s a mom teaching the young ing its island debut. cottaging as a group. ››

62 cottagelife.com Early Summer 2018 Early Summer 2018 cottagelife.com 63 four to six days. Within minutes of a group’s departure, How they a battalion of hired share helpers who live nearby arrives to The The planning clean, change linens, In January and Feb- and restock the ruary, a booking pantry, while also calendar goes out, dealing with any the story begins waves and everyone picks In truth, maintenance issues. not 25 years ago, but more like 40, way their preferred When the next set back in the 1970s, when Mark, having dates. Then, every of guests arrives just finished architecture school, was are March, Mark, Brian, (sometimes only deckhanding on fishing boats and ulti- and the lodge’s three or four hours two other managing later), the work mately skippering one. More often than partners convene will have been com- not, he was based in Ucluelet, then a taller an annual meeting. pleted, with only rough and ready forestry town and fish- They spend the next the caretaker there ing port, from which he trolled up and couple of months to greet them. down Vancouver Island’s wild west coast. working through here A similar system “It was in the pub in Ukee that I first operational issues. ensures that the heard about this place,” says Mark. “The In late May or early boats are fuelled up guy who lived here was looking to sell it.” June, they gather and maintained. than for a partners’ Along the hundreds of kilometres weekend to check The funding of coastline stretching northwestward over the place and Everybody pays from Ucluelet and Tofino, there are fewer help open it up, an annual fee of than a dozen settlements of any size. any working alongside about $2,100, to Many are First Nations communities, the hired caretaker. cover maintenance and most others are logging towns, with and improvements. the requisite clearcuts, gravel roads, The sharing Stays cost about most and sheltered locations far up fjord-like The property is $900 a day, plus inlets. Kyuquot Village is home to the occupied virtually roughly $600 for every day from the use of the boats. Kyuquot/Checleseht First Nation, but of us beginning of June “It’s a pretty sweet lacks both roads and logging operations. till the end of Sep- deal,” says Mark. Isolated about 40 minutes by boat from tember, by up to 25 “You have to do road’s end at Fair Harbour, and more different groups on your own cooking. than 200 km by boat from Ucluelet, habi- will stays ranging from But per person it’s tations there are divided roughly equally about a quarter between the mainland and a jumble of of what a commer- islands that speckle the open sea. Jok- ever cial fishing lodge ingly, the 300 or so people who call the would charge.” area home have been known to refer to it as the Venice of the North. “In the early see 1970s, it was home to a commercial fish- ery,” says Mark. “You’d see a hundred Beachcombers boats tied up there at night.” can find a bounty almost anywhere By the end of the decade, however, the they search, then commercial fishery was dying. “After we catch a few zzzs sold our troller, I was looking for a place on the beach, like you couldn’t drive to,” Mark explains. He Mark Osburn (in bought the island he’d first heard about foreground, oppo- site, bottom right). in the bar and for the next decade or Back on Sonny’s so tried to make proper use of it, which Island (named for wasn’t easy. He was living back in Van- the former owner), couver by then, starting a family and the dining table building an architectural practice. It was seats 16 or more for big meals. bad enough that the truck, ferry, and boat trip from Vancouver took most of a day and required the schlepping along

64 cottagelife.com Early Summer 2018 Early Summer 2018 cottagelife.com 65 Max, Mark Osburn’s son, is a spearfisher- man. “I’m still an amateur, as you can tell by the size of the catch,” he says. Meanwhile, Mark’s daughter, Chessa Osburn, and her hus- band, Steve Sims, prefer to tackle the scramble up the outer barrier islands (opposite).

66 cottagelife.com Early Summer 2018 Early Summer 2018 cottagelife.com 67 The kitchen is designed for big groups, with a com- mercial oven and range (above, with Brian Johnson at the helm), labelled cabinets, and a of all provisions. Worse, the old cabin another one-time captain who had aban- only one place to build—exactly where the luxury fishing lodge the place was large industrial sink. was slowly, and then quickly, becoming doned the floundering fishing industry the old shack stood. “The most damag- originally intended to be, every bedroom “I believe it was downright uninhabitable. in favour of greener pastures, in his case, ing winds here are from the southeast,” got an ensuite, and the kitchen was sourced from an old By the turn of the 1990s, it was clear construction. Ultimately Brian would Mark explains, and the original place spec’d to commercial standards. morgue,” says Max. “Maybe that’s too that the tumbledown cabin had to be help turn the company that he co- had wisely been set on the island’s north- Mark, Brian, and their original small much information.” replaced, but it hardly seemed practical founded, called Weatherhaven, into one western tip, with the bulk of the island group of investors didn’t have the kind to build a new one when Mark and his of the world’s leading providers of tem- and its tall forest as a wind buffer. By of money it would take to complete and family could only visit for a few days a porary shelters for remote locations and placing the bedroom wing of the new then staff such a place, so they began year. Instead, how about a deluxe com- harsh climates, but back then his main lodge upwind and letting the rest of the to take potential additional investors up mercial fishing lodge? That was the business was building exactly the kind building cascade down a slope, he could to Kyuquot to have a look. This led to original plan—build a place that would of woodsy retreats that Mark himself add more wind protection to the timber- some bad news. “No one had sport fished operate like a hotel—and certainly there liked to design. frame living and eating area and its two that area, so it seemed risky,” explains was no one better to design such a thing. Mark pushed forward with plans for decks, one facing the harbour, the other Brian. “They kept saying ‘I don’t want By then his practice had developed a spe- the lodge, keeping in mind both the shin- the open sea. Inside this social area, to invest in this,’ ” Mark adds. But there cialization in remote retreats. ing attributes and the harsh demands he used a strategically located dropped was also some good news. “What they Moreover, Mark had a group of willing of the site. Although the island is more ceiling and different types of lighting to said instead was, ‘I want to stay here investors, including pal Brian Johnson, than a hectare in size, there was really create several distinct zones. Befitting myself.’ ” { Continued on page 101 }

68 cottagelife.com Early Summer 2018 Early Summer 2018 cottagelife.com 69 THE UNHOTEL IN PARADISE { Continued from page 69 } Sharingis not without chal- THE TOUGHEST lenges. A few years in, Mark learned the lodge’s number one lesson: “never BOAT LIFTS , DOCKS & ACCESSORIES mix two different groups.” Given the large number of people—Mark, Brian, two other managing partners, plus at any one time 20 or so “limited” part- ners—the high demand for prime dates, and with two boats and sufficient beds for 16 people, double-booking was an obvious temptation, but too often disas- ter ensued. “A party group together with a young family,” Mark suggests as one example among many. On the other hand, well-organized collaborations such as the Osburns and the Johnsons can be Hydraulic Lifts magical. For Mark’s wife, Bronwyn, some of the fondest memories revolve around stays with the Johnsons and other part- ners. “They didn’t know the secret places we go, and vice versa,” she says. The families typically arrive on a Roll-A-Dock Bumpers & Accessories Friday, some after catching an early ferry out of Vancouver, but most driving up from southern Vancouver Island (where Brian and his wife, Sheila Patterson, now live), and leaving on the subsequent Wednesday. Evenings revolve around Floating Docks Floating Lifts dinners assigned to a rotation of families and generations. These have to be planned in advance, given that the near- DOCK HARDWARE I SWIM RAFTS | DOCK FLOATS | STAIRCASES CANOPIES I ROOFS I ACCESSORIES est supermarket is about four hours away. Pretty much every day involves a boat expedition of some sort, often to one of the dozens of small islands, or up and Quality since 1971. down a coastline that is by 21st-century standards, impossibly pristine. They also fish, especially the guys, generally Alberta British Columbia reaching their limit of salmon, and often Plamondon: 780-798-2127 Invermere: 250-955-0019 augmenting those with rockfish of vari- Athabasca: 780-675-4010 Kamloops/South Thompson: 250-955-0019 ous sorts, as well as halibut, which Edmonton: 780-809-9283 Vancouver/Fraser Valley: 866-447-9284 require a more venturesome trip farther Westlock: 780-349-5277 Shuswap: 250-955-0019 out into the wild Pacific. Ontario Vancouver Island: 866-447-9284 A lot of the other groups make fish Bancroft: 613-332-6390 Osoyoos: 250-498-0427 even more of a focus. “They have fish L’Original: 613-675-4627 fever,” as Sheila says—a condition that the Kyuquot area is especially well-suited Thunder Bay: 807-767-8884 to. For all of its present-day isolation, Saskatchewan the area served as a secure and well- Yorkton: 866-600-4566 provisioned home for a Nuu-chah-nulth Prince Albert: 306-960-3989 www.hewittrad.com First Nation population that once num- Saskatoon: 306-290-7896 bered in the thousands. It reigned as Swift Current: 306-778-1000 something of a marine capital for three centuries, hosting a succession of lucra- tive industries, including whaling. The

Early Summer 2018 cottagelife.com 101 THE UNHOTEL IN PARADISE That was almost 22 years ago. { Continued from page 101 } Tonight, dinner duty has fallen to the WOOD-FIRED HOT TUBS second generation, comprised of a industries were long gone, though, when daughter of Brian and Sheila’s; Mark’s Mark bought this place, and the salmon son and daughter and their partners; and halibut were in serious trouble too. and the son of Mark’s wife. Outside, Call it luck, or call it effect, but on the rear, oceanview deck, there’s a around that time, things began to turn mere breeze by local standards, and the for the fish population. The reduced oldsters are enjoying their Okanagan commercial fishery and better enhance- reds and whites. “This is almost exactly ment programs were important, but the same group that was up here back another factor was the return of the sea then,” says Brian, looking around and otters. The last known Canadian sea sounding a bit startled. otter was killed near Kyuquot in 1929, Life at the lodge has been a lot less and it was Kyuquot again that became eventful since the downed Seabee inci- the site of the species’ reintroduction dent, although on a wall inside there’s a to Canada, from an isolated stock in plaque heralding the Golden Prop Award, the Aleutian Islands, beginning in 1969. a prize given annually to the original Since then, the otters have gradually partner who has damaged the boats most expanded their range along the west thoroughly. Some years the Golden Prop • Comes pre-assembled • Fully insulated coast of Vancouver Island, but Kyuquot has been “Thankfully not awarded,” remains ground zero, and the area is but Mark knows his name is much in • Very portable (requires less wood!) now home to vast kelp forests, beloved by evidence. “I think we’re winning it again • Uses fresh or salt water • Does not require scrubbing fish, but destroyed by shellfish, which this year,” he says, accompanied by a DESIGN • SUPPLY • DELIVER • SETUP • Can be left full or empty • Will never leak proliferated in the absence of sea otters. laugh that sounds like a sigh, or perhaps PHONE: 604.990.1133 | TOLL FREE: 1.888.990.AJIA On a quick tour, Mark points out one vice versa. WWW.AJIA.CA Please contact us through the information below or share your SHOWROOM | 1367 CROWN STREET experiences with us at www.facebook.com/alumitubs of the shockingly adorable creatures, Then again, it hasn’t always been NORTH VANCOUVER, BC lying on its back in the water while using Mark himself who has won the dubious MON-FRI 10-5 www.alumitubs.com • Eric/Wendy Holtz 604.885.0646 • [email protected] its forepaws and the rock it carries in distinction, but rather one of his children, a pouch to crack open a sea urchin. Cute and that’s something no one is sighing Alumtub_MAY18.indd 1 2018-03-08 10:38 AMas the otters are, the locals have mixed over. Mark and Brian may be old salts, AJIA_Spring18.indd 1 2018-02-02 2:09 PM opinions of them, he says. “We miss all but their children certainly aren’t, yet the shellfish.” many are completely comfortable piloting Simplifying cottage life since 1947 Time at the cottage should be spent relaxing and enjoying life, not Tough Septic Site? Unlike the fish and the sea otters, the 26-footers on some of the stormiest worrying about your septic system. Naturally organic Septonic has humans have not returned in any num- seas in creation, where—it would seem, been a brand trusted by cottage owners for over 65 years. ber, a reality that no one knows better at least—waves are taller and shorelines Septonic is effective in:

than Brian and Sheila. Brian is a pilot, more treacherous than 99 per cent of  Reducing residual waste, less pumping for you and on a day back in August 1996, the boaters will ever see. “I was scared at  Effective in outhouses and holding tanks couple decided to take a brief flight in first,” says Bronwyn. “We were raised  Safe for all types of plumbing  Safe for pets and children their Seabee over the Brooks Peninsula. on boats, but this place is nothing like  Environmentally friendly There, they decided to land on a small Howe Sound.”  Made in Canada lake—and promptly dunked the plane. There are few cabins on the planet as Shaken, but unbruised, they deter- hard to get to and as pricey to maintain mined the quickest route to rescue would as the place on Sonny’s Island. Mark be to hike out to the seashore in hopes thinks his experience on the island has of hailing a passing kayaker or fishing influenced his architecture: by being able boat. Meanwhile, authorities called in to observe the way the property has been after the couple failed to return carried used and sometimes abused, whether out what might still reign as the most by wind, sea, or people. More important, cursory search in Canadian history though, has been the privilege of having Authorized before spotting the wreckage on the lake such a place in the family. “Watching Representative in and declaring the couple dead. Three my kids experience this kind of environ- Western Canada days—and no boats or kayakers—passed ment,” he says. “That’s been before Brian and Sheila were finally transformational.”a CORPORATION rescued, by a coroner who decided he couldn’t comment on their deaths with- Vancouver-based Jim Sutherland wrote Available at: CANADIAN TIRE, select RONA and HOME HARDWARE stores SAVE-ON-FOODS, OVERWAITEA, IGA FOODS and other fine retailers. BWDengineering.com out checking out the scene. “Yeah,” says “Point of Entry,” about Point Roberts, Brian. “It was an adventure.” Wash., in our Spring ’18 issue. www.septonic.ca

102 cottagelife.com Early Summer 2018 Early Summer 2018 cottagelife.com 103 AHT Septonoc 1.3 Square frac CLW Summer 2015.indd 1 2015-06-15 11:19 AM