Bob Denver - Aka Gilligan looking at fishing floats - Finn Slough, Lulu Island, Richmond, BC - November 06, 2008

A nautical related sandwich of floating objects that can be found within the imagination and Finn Slough along the southern edge of Lulu Island along Dyke Road at No 4 Road.

A little bit of Finn Slough History: Originally established in the 1880's by immigrant fishers from Finland, Finn Slough has been a fishing village for over a hundred years. Families have continuously occupied Finn Slough since then. The Community swelled to 70 households in the 1940's and 1950's but by the 1970's the original settlers were dispersing.
Non Finnish fishers and people who appreciated the Slough's unspoiled historic setting began to take their place. The Finns eventually stopped living at the waters edge and moved to more permanent homes within a few miles of the Slough.
Today, Finn Slough holds special status as it is the last working commercial fishing village on the Fraser River. Approximately 50 people live and work at the Slough with 18 households remaining. Here you can see Gillnet fish boats, net-mending floats and sheds belonging to fifth generation fishers.

A Bit of history on the Bob Denver Photo: I Photographed Bob Denver at BC Place Stadium Press Conference for the annual Boatshow - February 07, 1990.

Bob Denver worked as a mailman and school teacher prior to landing his first professional acting job, as Maynard G. Krebs on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis with Dwayne Hickman and Warren Beatty. Many of Krebs' "beatnik" mannerisms were improvised by Denver, since neither the show's straight-laced writing staff nor Denver himself knew much about the beatnik movement. Four episodes into the run of Dobie Gillis, Denver was drafted. His Krebs character was replaced by his fictional cousin, Michael Pollard, but only for two episodes, until Denver successfully flunked his physical.

Dobie Gillis ended in 1963, and the next year Denver was back as the dopey but lovable first mate of the marooned Minnow on Gilligan's Island, the "little buddy" serving under Alan Hale, Jr. and accidentally preventing countless rescues for the castaways. It was reportedly Denver who suggested reworking the theme song so the actors playing "the Professor and Mary Ann" wouldn't feel left out. Gilligan's Island ran only three seasons, but in reruns it became a staple. Denver reprised his Gilligan character in two cartoon series, one a recreation of Gilligan's Island and the other Gilligan's Planet, a science fiction reworking of the same silly concept.

Since Gilligan's Island, Denver has played the lead in Woody Allen's Play It Again Sam on Broadway, done years of touring theater and dinner theater, occasional Gilligan and Dobie reunion shows, and reprised Gilligan on an episode of Baywatch.

In 1998, Denver was arrested when he signed for a FedEx delivery of 30 grams of marijuana. Police spent more than two hours making a mess of his house, and reportedly confiscated two marijuana pipes and several more grams of pot. Reports at the time suggested that Denver's Gilligan co-star Dawn Wells had arranged the shipment, that his checkbook included several suspicious payments to Wells, and that prosecutors were pressuring him to name Wells as his supplier. Instead, Denver testified that "some crazy fan must have sent it." His punishment was six months probation.

After retirement Denver lived in a remote part of West Virginia, where he hosted a syndicated radio show with his wife, Weekend with Denver and Denver. Fellow castaway Wells was the show's "castaway correspondent", and phoned in weekly reports. Denver passed away September 02, 2005 at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.