Ukulele Joy with Kimo and Friends

After two days of travel and three ferries, we arrive at Hollyhock Retreat Center on Cortes, Island, B.C.  We have signed up for a workshop called “The Joy of Ukulele” under the leadership of Kimo Hussey.  

Our first stop as we disembark the San Juan Island to Vancouver Island ferry is a sleep over with Baja beach buddies, Deb and John!  It doesn’t take us long to find the local brewery!

Steve and John head over to the beer bottle opener....one you can’t accidentally stuff in your pocket...either as an accident or a souvenir!

We found the Duncan Saturday Market and then had a lovely dinner at Deb and John’s house.  The next morning we up and at ‘em early enough to be on the road by 09:15 and headed up to Campbell River for ferry ride #2 to Quadra Island.

We arrive just in time...well, with 10 minutes to spare, to catch the boat to Quadra Island.  The boat runs every hour, but it’s only a 10 minute ride!~

Then it’s a fast drive across Quadra Island to the ferry landing on the other side for Cortes Island.  This boat runs every two hours and we are the last car on...with 3 minutes to spare!  Gee whiz!  

Arriving on Cortes we stop at the local (and only) Co-Op for soup and espresso.  Then, it’s on to find Hollyhock...our home for the next five days.  

We wait for the little cart to arrive and help us cart our stuff down to ....wow...an ocean view cabin!

It’s pretty easy to see how Hollyhock got it’s name!  

The food here is known for being sustainable, fresh, organic, vegetarian and DELICIOUS!  Oh, yes, we are here for a ukulele workshop lead by a teacher who is well known for his proficiency in playing the instrument we love so much, but also for his teaching excellence...and for spreading the JOY of Ukulele!  (Worldwide!).  We can’t wait!

Yep, just as advertised!  Excellent dinner, new friends and then off to meet Kimo and find out what we’ve gotten ourselves into for the next five days!

There are 15 students in our class.  Kimo has Aaron along as a “student teacher.”  Our class comes from as far away as the UK, and others from San Francisco, Colorado, Vancouver B.C., Brazil, !!!, and Seattle. (And Friday Harbor!).  We are varied in ukulele experience from beginner to way more than that.  It’s a BIG assignment for a teacher to be able to implement a class for so many different levels....all at once.  

Aaron, who we recognize from “Hawaii Music Supply” in Haleiwa, Ohau is a very attentive student teacher for Kimo.

We have connected with Aaron while buying ukuleles on line and also when we stopped by the shop on Ohau.  Awesome player!

Kimo challenges us with many barre chord shapes (with no names)....and reminds us that just because the mind “gets it” does not mean an immediate transfer to the fingers!  Oh, how true.

After dinner there is often a few moments of Kimo magic....

Allie has come many miles from Brazil to be a part of this workshop.  She is an amazing player!  She is also a chemist in her professional life!




Good people, good music, GOOD food!  What’s not to love?

Did I mention the incredible gardens???  Have a look through the garden gate....

OH, my....the lettuces!!!

And....the flowers!  Fresh flowers in every room, on all tables....EVERYWHERE!

Here’s a little table and bench area in the garden.  We practice ukulele songs here for our presentation night.  Ahhhh.

Did I mention the fresh garden herbs set out by the tea pots and hot water?  

We watch this 10 oar rowing boat anchored off the Hollyhock shore.  There is a sign up sheet...only spaces for 10!  A sunrise paddle...on Thursday...who’s up for it?  WE ARE!  I scramble around the corner and pen our names in for a rowing spot!  Unbelievably, it’s not hard to get up for this!

This is Charlie.  He is a guide in training and seems to really enjoy his job!  He tells us he came to Cortes Island with no firm plan, other than he wanted to be there.  He said there is a saying on the island that if “Cortes Island wants you, it finds a way to keep you here.”  And now he has a job at Hollyhock!

It’s early...but we’re UP...and ready to row!

Here we are starting to figure out how to row....with 9 other rowers!  Not as simple as doing it all yourself!  Off we go into the early morning!

Then we land at a rocky island across the water from Hollyhock and Cortes Island.  It’s an oyster catcher rookery, but the chicks have fledged.

Somehow we scramble up the rocky shore from our little craft.

Can you believe this?  Our guide, Charlie, spreads out a table cloth and places hot tea in a thermos, glass mugs AND fresh scones...for our enjoyment.  YES!

We watch oyster catchers, sea gulls, eagles and a pair of terns as they go about their daily business.  All too soon it’s time to head back to Hollyhock shores....

What an awesome morning on the water in Desolation Sound.  We have been here many times on our boat, but never just like this.

That night there is an oyster bar-b-que on the beach for appetizers....Steve enjoys his...and because I can’t eat them...mine!  

All too soon it’s time for our last lesson with Kimo.  What a group of new friends!

The Friday morning ferry from Cortes and then on to Quadra (eventually) and then on to our next stop near Victoria....is laced with reminders of how far away we have come to be a part of this experience....

We arrive at the Cortes ferry landing at 09:20 for the 09:50 boat....and miss it.  We miss it, but we are with many new friends from our class.  So, what to do for two hours?  PLAY!

Here’s the 09:50 as it pulls away.  Without us.

Here’s Aaron as he contemplates his home island of Ohau and Cortes.

Steve, Steve and K.C. (And Nan) sit down by the shore and play....because....it’s the thing to do!

And....we’re ON...the 11:50 boat to Quadra Island....where we will again wait....for the boat to Campbell River...

Kimo and Aaron...with a nod to Hawaii!

By late afternoon on Friday we are pulling into Glenna and Wayne’s driveway on Southern Vancouver Island....more time with Baja beach buddies!  

How could we be so fortunate?  We have a lovely evening on their deck overlooking Cowichan Bay and then on Saturday morning, Wayne gets us out on a beautiful trail in a local park!

Thank you Wayne for this great walk in the wild.

And of course there is time for a picnic lunch overlooking the bay at an incredible little park.  So far from Baja and our days camping together....yet...so  close in friendship...and really, our homes are not that far apart! (As the crow flies....12 miles?). 

Too soon it’s time to head for ferry #6 of this trip, the shortcut boat from Mill Bay to Brentwood Bay...which takes us right to the Sidney - Friday Harbor boat...leaving at 6:00 p.m  (ferry #7!)  We chance making this boat so we don’t have to drive through Victoria....and get there 35 minutes early.  We discover it takes only 21 cars, and we are number 13!  YAY!  We will make it!

We arrive at the Sidney, B.C. Ferry landing 90 minutes in advance, as required....and what to do?  Wait!  We know!  We pull out the ukuleles and find a shady picnic table to enjoy....while we....strum and hum....and I have to say....many seemed to enjoy it.  At least, they didn’t run away!

So ends the 8 day adventure to Cortes Island and Hollyhock Retreat Center for The Joy of  Ukulele with Kimo Hussey....and now...many new ukulele friends!  It was a grand adventure...full of brain busting information, music, great food, more music, new peeps with the same passion for this great little instrument and the JOY it seems to bring out wherever the music rings into the air from those four magical strings!