I took a chance 16 years ago, packed my bags, bought a house in Squirrel Cove and moved with a job serving at the Floathouse to this island.
Life was good , Cortes was beautiful , the people were welcoming beyond my imagination . I got lucky I thought , only visiting Cortes one time before in 89 , moving here felt right .
After a couple of years of working at the Floathouse I was offered the opportunity to run the resort . A major renovation was being done and though I thought of the job as daunting , after much deliberation I took it.

Luck would raise its head again . Casually throwing a profile up on an internet dating site resulted in a message from a women in Salmon Arm. I thought she was rather far away why would she message me. After a few conversations and her wanting to know exactly where I lived the reason became evident. Tammys family had purchased the Marina from the original owner, Doug Morton, and the store and lodge was their old house , the docks Richard and Michelle were removing were the ones her dad put in, the staff bathroom in the store was where they all took their family baths as kids , Tammys parents bedroom would become her office. It wasn't surprising when one day staff found Tammys name crayoned into an old cupboard that was located in what was once her bedroom. There was simply no way, looking back that the resort would have been successful in the same way without her arrival. The struggles the first few years were immense but a strong core of staff , committed and hard working were simply going to power through. The little business started to become a bigger business and then a bigger business became huge !

We started employing 5 people, up to 18 in the summer, by the end there were 60 jobs and more if we could fill them.
The staff that we have had over the years have been incredible I will never remember everyone who came through the doors of Gorge Harbour Marina but they were all a little bit responsible for the success , one thing we have been blessed with is great people to work with .

Richard and Michelle had a really simple goal when it came to what they wanted to see Gorge Harbour Marina become. They wanted a place where families could come and enjoy themselves, we knew the big boats would come regardless ,but they also wanted a place that was " used" and enjoyed by the local community. The live music became the draw. Thinking back on how lucky we have been to be able to spend anywhere from $ 30 - $40 000 a season on live music. Tammy organized the bands, arranged their housing, Scotty was the best MC we could have ever wanted, there are many incredible memories, many amazing acts, some stinkers for sure, like the accordion player that we had to pull the plug on .

After sixteen years the time to move on has arrived .
I cant imagine a better community, Cortes has been nothing but welcoming to us, we have made an incredible amount of friends who have visited us year after year. We have seen young kids grow up and bring kids of their own to the resort, we truly feel blessed. Our biggest thank you though goes out to our staff past and present , there is simply no way we could have done any of this without them . they have become good friends , and the most fun we had came out of the privilege of working side by side with all of these people. Their camaraderie will be missed the most.

We are lucky enough that we don't have to move, we still get to spend time on this marvellous island . We are looking forward to being able to enjoy our summer, spend some quality time with old friends and new ones.

Thanks for the great memories Cortes!

Tammy Allwork and Bill Dougan