Gabriola Island Lifestyle Blog

Archive for the ‘At the Sea’ Category

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Beach Visit

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

This beach access and swim raft is located in Clark Bay. It is a bit too cold for swimming in the waters off of Gabriola now, although the hardy still do, but there are stairs down to this very pretty sandstone beach which offers pleasant walking and the view of the Strait is spectacular!

Posted in At the Sea, Beaches, Gabriola Living | No Comments »

Flowers for Sale

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Earl’s Dahlia Garden, where you can buy a bunch of Dahlias for $3, is located right next to the little boat launch in Descanso Bay. Sitting on the bench in this picturesque setting you have a good view of the ferry coming into the Dock on Gabriola.

Posted in At the Sea, Gabriola Living, Gardening on Gabriola, Shopping on Gabriola | No Comments »

Dolphin Sighting

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Dolphin sightings have been increasingly common in the Strait of Georgia, particularly at this time of year and a group of around 200 Pacific white sided Dolphins have been spotted frolicking near Entrance Island off the shores of Gabriola. Photo credit “NOAA”.

Posted in At the Sea, Flora and Fauna, West Coast Living | No Comments »

A Princess

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

This Princess Cruise ship is anchored just outside the Nanaimo Harbour off of Protection Island in sight of Gabriola. The passengers are shuttled by boat into Nanaimo to enjoy the downtown sights, shops and restaurants. A new $22 million cruise ship terminal is in the works which will allow the vessels to berth directly in the Nanaimo Assembly Wharf area next to the Gabriola Ferry dock.

Posted in At the Sea, Daytripping on Vancouver Island, West Coast Living | No Comments »

The end of an era

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

The Entrance Island Lighthouse located off the tip of Gabriola Island, may lose its keeper for the first time since 1876. The fully automated lighthouse is one of four along B.C.’s coast that the federal government is looking to destaff in the near future, with more expected in a second phase. The others are on Trial Island near Victoria, Dryad Point near Bella Bella and Cape Mudge on Quadra Island.

Posted in At the Sea, History of Gabriola, West Coast Living | No Comments »

Silva Bay

Monday, September 7th, 2009

On a stormy Sunday afternoon boats huddle in the protected waters of Silva Bay. Boaters can come ashore and find a shipyard, seaplane terminal, coffee shack, restaurant, laundromat, showers, fresh water, liquor store, groceries, bookstore, dive center and a rustic log church. There are several docks to chose from at Silva Bay Marina, Pages Resort and Marina, and the Silva Bay Inn.

Posted in At the Sea, Gabriola Living, Shopping on Gabriola, West Coast Living | No Comments »

Salt Marsh

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

We swam in the mid afternoon at the far end of Lock Bay and walked back to the road on the high path. We passed the salt marsh edged with the beach logs that wash in with some of the high tides that bring salt to the marsh.

Posted in At the Sea, Beaches, West Coast Living | No Comments »

Sandwell Park

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Sandwell Park is on the edge of Lock Bay. There is a short and beautiful hike through cool forest and massive rocks which opens onto a sandy beach with a spectacular view of Entrance Island and the coastal mountains. We have been swimming there every evening during this heat wave. The water is very clear and warm with a sandy bottom and there is a little swimming platform made of beach logs anchored not far from shore to dive off of.

Posted in At the Sea, Beaches, Gabriola Living, Healthy Living | No Comments »

An Evening Picnic

Monday, July 27th, 2009

The weather has been fantastic, perfect for an evening picnic. We headed out around 4 pm, ten minutes from the boat launch we were climbing out on Oak Island. We spread our blanket in the shade of a Garry Oak, had a swim, supper and another swim. As the sun dipped in the west we motored back and were home before dark. A beautiful end to a perfect summer day!

Posted in At the Sea, Gabriola Living, Gulf Island Lifestyle | No Comments »

Relaxing on Hornby Island

Monday, July 27th, 2009



We had the luxury of getting a week off this summer and we went to Hornby Island. Many people looked at us rather oddly when we said we were going to another Gulf Island for a holiday but we so wanted to spend some time in a quiet place where we were totally anonymous. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and headed to the lovely cottage we had arranged to rent for a week. The property was beautiful and equipped with a zipline in the backyard much to our 4 year old daughter’s delight. Hornby is a beautiful island which you can reach by taking a ferry from Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island to Denman Island and then driving across Denman to the Hornby Island ferry. The ferry ride to both islands are a short ten minute jump and the connections are quite good.

Hornby has a wonderful shopping area called the Ringside Market where there are 2 clothing stores, a coffee/ice cream stand with the best americanos, cafe, restaurant, book store, pottery store and of course the Hornby Co-op Grocery/Everything you need Store. While there we made trips to many of the local artist studios, beautiful beaches, farms, and of course the Cardboard House Bakery which has the best almond buns and cream puffs. It is also the home of Pizza Galore which beats any pizza place I have ever been to, fantastic!!!

Hornby is also home to two wineries and a meadery which we managed to visit without our kids thanks to our wonderful friends/travel companions. Middle Mountain Mead is an artisan honey winery combining the best of ancient and modern techniques to create small lots of premium handcrafted mead. We left with 3 bottles of Mead which we are eagerly awaiting to try. Visit their website at middlemountainmead.com.

We had such a fantastic and relaxing vacation that we will definitely be back next year anxiously awaiting anonymity and almond buns:)

Posted in At the Sea, Beaches, Daytripping on Vancouver Island, Gulf Island Lifestyle, Healthy Living, Holidays and Special Events, On the Road Again, west coast, West Coast Living | No Comments »

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