GRIFTER’S TALES
ESPERANZA · VANCOUVER ISLAND
By Colin Lee MacLeod
Crew truck. Groceries. Gold River. Then a crew boat out to the Aqua Service.
The return journey
On October 22, after the Sea-to-Sky trip, it was time to go back to work. The plan began with collecting the crew truck at 7:30, picking up the engineer, and getting the groceries. Then came the drive to Gold River and the crew boat out to Esperanza, where the Aqua Service was waiting.
That is the part that often disappears from a travel story. You get the mountains, the food, the beds, and the nights out. Then there is the morning when the next job needs doing. For me, that morning belongs in the story too.
A different kind of useful
Aboard the Aqua Service, I am the deckhand-cook. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are my responsibility, alongside the deck work and the other tasks that keep a working day moving. The groceries are not an afterthought. They are the beginning of feeding the crew.
The trip had given us plenty to work with: meals worth remembering, places I would go back to, and stories that needed to be written down. Returning to the boat did not mean throwing any of that away. It meant taking those notes into another part of my life.
The stories come along
That is what Grifter’s Tales is for. A good day in Whistler and a working day at sea can sit in the same collection. They are both part of the person telling the story. One gives you room to explore; the other gives you a list of things that need doing.
Back aboard, there is more to notice, more to learn, and usually another meal to get started. The adventure changes shape. The work carries on.
Grifter’s Takeaway
Keep the return journey in the story. Work and adventure are both part of a full life.
