Many of you are probably aware that Cortes Island’s best known schooner has changed hands. After twenty-one years of showing tourists around our area, Mike Moore and Samantha Statton are retiring. I recently met with the Misty Isles new owners, Amy Bockner and Jonas Fineman, outside the Co-op in Mansons Landing. 

Who Are They?

“My early childhood [was spent] on the water – on a float house that my parents dragged off the land .. I think we spent four years living off that in Gorge Harbour … I loved it. We would row out to our house … Going fishing with my dad for our diner and all that stuff . My earliest memories were all there …” – Amy Bockner

“I grew up on the Central Oregon Coast, literally right on the Pacific Ocean … I wasn’t really good at football or wrestling, which is what you had to be to be good at anything growing up on that part of the coast, but the ocean gave me a safe haven and and a lot of lessons that were mine and really beneficial. It became my solace mostly manifested through surfing, swimming and gradually propelling me towards earning a living on the water.” – Jonas Fineman

In The Podcast Above: 

• What is Amy Bockner’s connection to Cortes Island?
• Why did Jonas Fineman become first a fisherman and then captain of a tourist vessel? 
• What does Amy bring to the partnership?
• How did they become owners of the schooner? 
• When will Jonas come home to be the Misty Isles captain?
• What are Jonas and Amy’s plans for the future?

The 2019 Season

“At the moment we’re focusing on Mitlenatch Island, which has a lot to do with the seasonal outburst of wildflowers … Any sort of pooling point on a big chunk of granite will have a kaleidoscope of colours appear at this time of year. The seabirds are really getting into their nesting period … We’re kicking our season off with a celebration of that at Mitlenatch island and as the season progresses we’ll start doing our traditional routes through Desolation Sound. We are going to be looking at more places on the West side of Cortes Island .. We are looking at places farther afield, but not overlooking the beauty that is in our backyard.” – Jonas Fineman

To find out more, go to the Misty Isles website