Flow Harmony

It’s 6:30 in the morning and I am having coffee in the wheel house of the Cape Flattery with the First Mate Karl Olson. He is telling me about his flow harmony. Karl has many years of cruising this coast under his belt and at first I thought I was misunderstanding some old nautical term from this salty dog. In fact, he was talking about his inner energy and state of mind. This is defiantly a West Coast boat.

First mate Karl Olsen, advocate off 'flow harmony.' Below: The Cape Flattery leaving the pier with Vancouver in the background.

Now “flow harmony” is a new term to me, but I think Karl is right. Since we started gearing up the Cape Flattery on Saturday, this trip has had good flow harmony. From loading the subs to purchasing the supplies, everything seemed to go off without a hitch. The press conference was exciting and there were over 20 journalists with TV cameras, microphones, and pen and paper, all flocking around the subs and the research team.

We left the dock as scheduled at 3:00 p.m. yesterday and began making our way through Georgia Strait under bright sunshine and with calm seas. Since then we have been gently steaming north, making it through Seymour Narrows at 2:00 a.m. Today we will stop in Mitchell Bay on Malcolm Island and do a test run loading the subs into the water to make sure the cranes are working well. If our flow harmony continues, we will be at our first dive site in Goose Trough on Thursday morning.

Whether you call it good flow harmony, positive energy, or just plain luck, things are going well. And everyone, from Marie the Cook to Jeff the Dive Supervisor to Steve the Captain, is feeling the flow harmony. Thanks for putting a name to it Karl.

~ Jennifer Lash