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This page last updated July 5, 2004

© Michael Kluckner

Nothing like a bunch of fish boats in the setting sun, sketched in 2002, to bring out the artist in one.

Lund is the end of the road – the northernmost point of the highway that begins at Cabo San Lucas at the tip of Baja California. Founded in 1889 by two Swedish brothers, Lund has evolved into a transportation hub for boaters exploring Desolation Sound and cottagers and visitors to Savary Island. I thought I would be interested in painting its hotel, which dates from the 19th century, but found it much-modified and surrounded by parking lots--still an attractive building, yet not a great tableau for the sketchbook. Indeed, Lund in the summertime is little more than a giant parking lot: every roadside is jammed with the parked cars of Savary Islanders – the main attraction, which keeps the watertaxis running constantly to and from the dock in front of the hotel. The little dock above is not far away, stretching out into the calm water of an exquisite summer evening, with Hernando Island silhouetted in the distance.

The Malaspina Hotel, altered since this photograph was taken probably in the 1940s, still dominates the Lund waterfront (postcard photographer unknown).

Note from Gary Sim: I attach a cropped image of a clam / oyster shucking shed in the harbour at Lund, that I took in September. The building is clearly on its last legs - the water wheel has rotted apart and sagged yet still barely holds its shape. The boardwalk at right is quite new and only "flies by" the shed, which was originally accessed from the shore behind. The shed is right on the tide line. I have no idea when it was built, but given the harsh coastal climate probably only in the 40s or 50s maybe?



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Artwork and text ©Michael Kluckner, 2002