Captain's Log
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2022 Big Steps on a Small Footprint
Introduction to the Captain's Log
I wrote this history to recognize and give thanks to the many people who've been part of the journey and to capture memories so when I'm too old to work outdoors I can look back and reminisce.
Definitely let me know if you see mistakes, want to correct or improve the record. If you want to add photos, please send to me with the date taken and location to: gaogeiger@gmail.com. Photos without credits in The Captain's Log are likely mine. If you want to write your own story for the Hull Island Blog that would be great. Send me the narrative and photos.
My History
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1958 and grew up in the small town of Wayland about 16 miles outside the city. Growing up in a family of 5 children surrounded by fields, woods and ponds, no cell phones, no computers, and almost no TV, we spent most of our time outdoors. I remember building forts above and below ground and in trees, rafts for the Mill Pond, go-carts, and dirt tracks for bikes.
In high school, the final project of my architectural drafting class was to design a house. That got me completely hooked - I have been designing and building ever since. In college, my high school friend Bill Krueger and I considered dropping out to build houses. A piece of farmland in upstate New York sounded ideal! In the 1980's Heidi and I got married, bought our first home in Federal Way, Washington and on September 30th, 1987 had our first child Phillip Charles Geiger.
At Boeing I worked with a few guys who loved sailing and they got me hooked. Syd Roll and I bought a 23' sailboat, the Spray. We spent hundreds of hours sailing Puget Sound. Eventually Syd bought a larger sailboat and we sailed on his Gypsy Dancer for many more years. I crewed on J. Peterson's Last Tango a J-105 that we raced in a matched race series for about 5 years. As sailing became a passion I added it to my dreams; Owning a piece of property where I could moor a boat and sail anytime my heart and the winds desired.
As Federal Way got more crowded, we started looking for land to build a home. It was time to realize my dream of designing and building. After looking for almost two years we found a great piece of land in Woodinville so we sold our house in Federal Way and moved into an apartment in Redmond.
Soon after settling into our new apartment Heidi and I had the thrill of our lives to learn she was pregnant with twins! On November 19th, 1990 Audrey Sylvia Geiger and Catherine Anne Geiger were born in Seattle Washington. Over the next 30 years we built our family, and with some professional help and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears by me and many friends and relatives we built our home. I'm super proud of the strong family and home we all created together. I feel entirely blessed to share life's journey with such delightful children.
Over a lifetime I've developed a strong passion for getting away from it all in remote natural settings. I like to reconnect with the earth, to sail with the wind, relax in the sun, and explore. I wanted to build a lasting paradise to enjoy with family and friends for the rest of my life and on into the next generations.
Around 2005, I started looking for large pieces of remote saltwater front property. Saltwater would give me access to anywhere in the world, should the need arise, and it fulfilled my requirement for sailing. Seeing the movie Waterworld in 1995 added to my conviction. I searched mostly on-line for islands on the east and west coast of US and Canada. We visited Alaska. I spent hours on Ed Handja's BC Coastal Properties website. I found 340 acres on Butte Inlet, boat access only with a freshwater lake and year-round stream. Unfortunately, I was too late. Around 2010, I noticed Hull Island on Ed's site and it looked good enough to make an inquiry. Was it still for sale? Can I go visit? Is the seller willing to take less? My sister Liz may have tipped the balance in favor of buying Hull when around this time she sent me the Sean Connery rendition of Ithaca, by C.P. Cavafy. It's on the blog home page - very inspirational.
On January 7th, 2015 the sale was closed. We paid ~$409,000 CAD, or ~$360,000 USD and took the title!
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