Brian McRae

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It might seem a bit redundant to install a dipping pool 25 meters from the ocean, but it’s something Mitch has been talking about and planning for some time. When the tide is too low or the water too rough, he wanted a little pool that he could float in and relax, letting life’s worries wash away.

The biggest challenge was finding an area that he could clear and would be flat enough to hold a 10 x 6 foot pool. During the second heat wave, Mitch could be found down at the end of the ramp, hacking away blackberry brambles, digging out roots and building a retaining wall. Slowly an 8 x 12 foot area emerged, which was just big enough for the pool he had ordered on Amazon. It was to my great relief that he was able to find a pool that didn’t look like its sole purpose was to entertain children aged three to six. I had pictured something that was covered in cartoon ducks, so this was a big step up.

He was also able to bring a hose down from the top of the bluff, through a mess of blackberries to the ramp, so filling the pool up to the 15 inch mark was surprisingly easy. The water from our well is very cold and crisp. So cold, in fact, that after two days of warm August weather, the water in the wading pool was still colder than the ocean. I’m hoping that this will be rectified once we’ve had another three days of hot sunny weather.

I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical to begin with (especially when Mitch’s initial plan was to order a much bigger and deeper pool). However, on it’s first day of operation, I was able to sit in the pool with Mitch for about 30 minutes, without any risk of hypothermia. I also took a cue from the Sea Lions that hang out off our beach. In order to keep their bodies warm, they stick their feet/flippers out of the water. This acts as a heat wick and warms their core temperature. I did the same by resting my feet on Mitch’s floatie, and surprisingly it worked like a charm.

The pool is built on a little rise about 6 feet above the beach, giving it a beautiful unencumbered view down the Salish Sea. Also, it is nestled around a curve in the beach trail that winds its way along several kilometres of shore. Anyone walking this trail will get a rather abrupt introduction to two middle-aged men sitting in what appears to be an overgrown kiddie’s pool drinking marguerites. Fortunately, the only people that walk this part of the coast are neighbours who have become familiar with the strange going-ons at Twin Eagles Bluff. Let the pool parties begin!

One of the things that quickly becomes apparent is that this part of the coast is primarily glacial till. What this means is that as you dig into the ground you find a lot of rocks. And I mean a LOT. Some small the size of basketballs, plenty that can’t be moved without the assistance of machines and some bigger than a bear (see below). The rocks seems to come from different source materials as the colours vary, some are square and jagged, others are rounded boulders. While the rocks are manipulated and put into place, they also get interesting “graffiti like” scratches and tears.

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We have been fortunate to have a builder running this project who is both technically proficient, but also has the eye of an artist. He made sure that we hired someone to run the large equipment that would level the land to his requirements, but would also have the skill to build us an eye catching wall using the endless supply of rocks that presented themselves. That’s how Eddie came into the picture.

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Mitch and Eddie hit it off immediately, since they both have an instinct for introducing fun into their environment. We had always planned a circular driveway that would encircle and contain Mitch’s train garden. However, once the land levelling started, it became apparent that the circular driveway would have to follow a path that dipped down to the house level and then rise up to the level of the entrance off Twin Eagle Road. Essentially, one half of the circle would be about seven feet lower than the other half. This made the building of a rock wall inevitable and Eddie was able to put to good use the abundance of rocks. True artist that he is, he also incorporated the really big rock and created three little gardens at different levels in what is almost a 100 foot long wall. Mitch’s train garden will go into the middle of the circle at the higher level, so anyone walking by on the lower level will be right at train level. I’m excited to see how the plants and train garden evolves.

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