My upcoming tropical vacation.

I know I've had a lot of time off work in the past two years, but I told my husband I needed a tropical vacation on an island that has nothing to do with cancer clinics and operating rooms. The solution: I get a 2-week vacation away from Tropical Pool & Spa (my employer) on Vancouver Island. Technically that's a "Tropical vacation" and it's on an island. Hey, I'll take what I can get.

Our ocean side cabin is booked in Ucluelet and our hotel in Victoria is in place as is the Washington/Schultz B&B.  Jim and Barbee will be on Salt Spring Island about the same time and they are going to join us for 4 days in the cabin.

My first thoughts were that I just wanted to lounge around in the sand, drink wine and watch the waves crash in. And I still plan for that to consume much of my time. However I decided we should also do something active. Something out of the ordinary. Something show-stopper. Something to talk about when we get home.

I did some research and found out there's a recently opened Zipline Eco Tour on the island. ZipTrekking at Whistler is on my bucket list, so this piqued my interest. However, I'm not sure I am ready to start checking items off my bucket list just yet. Besides, Barbee is recovering from surgery and there is no way she'd be up for it.

My next option was the Sea to Sky adventure. You charter a whale watching boat to take you up to the north end of the island where you hike in a kilometer or so to natural hot springs whose rock pools overlook the ocean. Ahhh! And then your private float plane comes to pick you up for the return trip. Yes! This is the adventure I was looking for.

I sent an email brochure to Alb, Jim and Barbee saying Please, please, can we do it. Huh huh, can we, can we?

Barbee's response was short with lots of exclamation marks. I can only surmise that the 3-letter answer she gave stood for Who's This For?!!! She's not all that into boats nor planes.

I figure, what's the worst that can happen? They dump us in the ocean and we drown. At least we'd be together. We'd be happy. And a little bit scared. And then we'd go to heaven. It's all good.

But if they don't dump us in the ocean, I'm sure we'll have something to talk about.