Gabriola Island weekend, Part 2: Beaches

After our kayaking expedition finished unexpectedly early on the Saturday we spent on Gabriola Island, the ten of us squeezed into John and Helene's 7-seater SUV and drove to Drumbeg Provincial Park on the south end of the island. This was a very pretty, deserted, rocky beach with purple starfish galore (and a few pink ones). I thought it was funny that Drumbeg Park was named after "the Scottish home of the land's former owner, Neil Stalker" - yep, definitely a wise marketing decision to NOT name it Stalker Park!!!

L-R below: Ben, me, Connie, Ruth, Heidi, Helene, John (seated), Stuart, Rosanne, Juanita...

L-R: Ruth, Connie, Heidi, me...

After a coffee break, we squeezed our group of 10 back into the available 7 seats and headed to another beach to watch the sun set. The view out to a little rocky island with a lighthouse and red and white buildings was simply adorable, but the wind was pretty nippy by that time so we were happy to head back to the B&B and whip up a feast for supper (Canadian meaning - i.e. tea/dinner) - lasagna, salads, and garlic bread!















And that was our introduction to Gabriola Island!

**To see lots more photos from our Gabriola Island weekend, please click here or on the link under "Our photo albums" (above right).**

Gabriola Island weekend, Part 1: Kayaking

On the last weekend in September, ten of us spent two nights on Gabriola Island - one of the picturesque Gulf Islands off of Vancouver Island. We stayed in an awesome beach house B&B right on the water, and the attendees were: us, Stuart and Rosanne (now living in London for a few months!), John and Helene, Connie (the weekend's organiser), Juanita, Heidi and Ruth. Ben and I car pooled with Ruth for the four ferry rides involved in getting to Gabriola and back - here are some pics Ben took from the first ferry, going from the mainland across to Vancouver Island on Friday evening...

After a lazy Saturday morning, we launched our five double kayaks (hired from the B&B) into the water just down the beach from the B&B. And then we set off on what we had planned would be about 7 hours of kayaking! During the first hour, we paddled along the shore, past some low cliffs formed by interesting honeycomb-like rocks. We even saw a seal - for a split second before it ducked back underwater as a seagull swooped it (no pics I'm afraid)!









About an hour into our journey, it was time to find a spot to enjoy our pre-packed picnic lunches, so we paddled into a harbour where a lot of boats were moored. Getting across to the harbour involved a difficult paddle across an open patch of sea, while the wind tried mightily to push us onto the wrong island! During our lunch break we found out that the wind was forecast to increase, and since we had planned to paddle much further that day but our return paddle would be against the wind, we decided to wrap it up early. First, however, we enjoyed our hard-earned lunch on the shore of Gabriola Island, not far from the very awesomely-named boat in the second photo below!













After lunch, having called the B&B owner and arranged a pick-up spot for the kayaks, we just had to paddle to the other side of the harbour. On the way, Ben found the remains of a rusting catamaran for us to kayak through!! Back on solid ground, while our kayaks were being loaded we witnessed a very interesting method of four-wheeler transportation being carried out by two guys setting off on a hunting trip by boat...









Then, we had the rest of the day to explore the island by foot/car. I'll tell you about that next time!

**To see lots more photos from our Gabriola Island weekend, please click here or on the link under "Our photo albums" (above right).**

Salt Spring Island

The Saturday after we returned from Alberta, 25th July, we went to Salt Spring Island with Myla and Rosanne, and there met up with Rosanne's old roommate Lynnea and her 2-year-old daughter Lysia. We hadn't even heard of Salt Spring Island until we were invited to go there!! It's one of the little islands nestled on the mainland side of Vancouver Island, and we reached it via a couple of ferry rides.

Views on/from the ferry...


Sights after disembarking the ferry...


Our destination was Salt Spring Island's Saturday Market in Ganges. The market has a rule that vendors must "make it, bake it, or grow it" themselves. The island is also very obviously home to many creative artsy types, and/or those who enjoy an alternative lifestyle, so it was some of the best people watching we have yet seen here - and that's saying something. It was a great day!!

Out and about at the markets...