Gulf Islands Roundup

Disclaimer: BC Ferries and Camping and RV in BC sponsored our travels.

I love to travel in British Columbia. It’s just up the road from my home in Seattle, but it’s still a whole different country. It’s easy to travel there — there’s no language barrier — but the slight shifts in cultural norms make for some good thinking about what makes up American DNA.

And it’s beautiful, BC is beautiful. Our last trip went to the Gulf Islands, rugged little rock piles covered in huge trees, surrounded by pretty little coves, sparsely populated but still offering excellent bakeries. Vancouver Island is in its own category, it’s big enough to have a city and the suburbs — Victoria — but there’s still plenty of natural beauty.

Early fall is a great time to travel. The weather can be a little unpredictable, you have to be prepared for rain, but there’s still some very good days to be had. With school back in session, the touristy sites are uncrowded, though some of the services might be dialed back — we found some places on Pender and Galianno Islands had gone to off season hours.

As much as I am not a fan of boats, I loved taking the ferries between the islands. Be prepared, it’s not cheap — especially if, like us, you’re driving a 32 foot rig. My favorite trip was the two hour sailing between Nanaimo and Tsawassen — we sat on the immaculate, nearly empty deck watching the mountains come closer across the flat blue green water in the bright fall sunshine. I’ve also taken the Swartz Bay to Tsawassen sailing in an intense fog and there was something magical about watching the islands appear and disappear.

The BC Provincial Parks campgrounds were we stayed were quiet and pretty places, Montague Harbor on Galiano Island is an especially nice spot with starfish covered rocks and excellent bird watching. Facilities were minimal but being good campers (in a 32 foot RV) we were prepared.

There are more commercial campsites on Vancouver Island — we stayed at the sprawling Fort Victoria RV Park outside Victoria and at Living Forest Oceanside RV and Campground outside Nanaimo. Living Forest was kind of fun, we spent some time talking to a couple of long term occupants, the location was pretty, there was a supermarket within walking distance, but Fort Victoria was a bit like camping in the airport parking lot.

There’s a sparkling quality to the air and the light in the islands in early fall. Late afternoons are an absurd gold from the low sun, the shadows are long and sharp. There’s salt in the air, and that mushroomy smell from wet mulchy soil. The rain makes everything shiny, as does the water, it’s easy to imagine all the gray dots on the backs of the purple starfish as tiny silver beads.

There were some frustrations to this last trip, some rainy hours, a difficulty in finding bacon for breakfast, less mobility than we’d have liked. But a month later I’m thinking about the tall trees dripping water on the roof in the morning, about sitting on a giant log worn soft by the water, about pulling tiny bits of sea glass out of the smooth pebbles on the empty beach on Pender, about the seals swimming just off shore, turning their black eyes towards the beach. I’m thinking about the smell of the water and that feeling of coming into focus over coffee in a brightly lit island bakery. I won’t do this trip in a 32 foot RV again, but I will go back to the Gulf Islands. Soon, I hope.