Secret Beaches of the Salish Sea: The Southern Gulf Islands

Introduction

North Pender: Bridges Road

There is nothing like an island to stir the imagination. Bounded by a shore, separated from the rest of the world by the equally imagination-stirring sea, an island weaves its own kind of spell. An island contains the ultimate in possibilities—a beginning, a world where anything can emerge, even a utopia.

It is on an island where the adventure stories of our youth are played out—the castaways Robinson Crusoe and Swiss Family Robinson, the mutineers from the Bounty. It is on an island where the larger-than-life outcasts of society awaited changes in the tides of opinion—Napoleon on Elba, the Count of Monte Cristo at Château d’If—even Nelson Mandela on Robben Island.

We need islands to resonate with the central myths of our imagination. The burying of treasure could be done only on Nova Scotia’s Oak Island. Mad scientists and arch villains require islands on which to plot against the likes of James Bond. Islands also push our understanding of reality. The voodoo witch doctors, or other more benign purveyors of magic like Shakespeare’s Prospero, depend completely on their sea-struck magic realms. Perhaps most important, islands can be paradise. Gauguin escaped to Tahiti; each winter, thousands escape to the Canaries, Hawaii and Majorca.

Much nearer home, the islands of the Salish Sea are, for many of us, close to paradise. Indeed, is it these islands that have earned West Coasters the nickname Lotus-Eaters—partakers of the pleasures of Lotusland—by the rest of Canada?

Thanks to BC Ferries, those of us from mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island can easily experience the magic of these islands. This book, intended as a guide for drivers (like the previous three volumes in the Secret Beaches series), can be used equally by those who live on the islands and by those who visit.

For those who plan a visit, the Gulf Islands name requires explanation. The Gulf refers to their location in the Gulf of Georgia, a term originally given by Captain Vancouver to the area encompassing today’s Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound. More recently, the name Salish Sea, first used in 1988 by marine biologist Bert Webber, became official in the United States in 2009 and in Canada in 2010. A generalized term, the Salish Sea includes the Juan de Fuca Strait, Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia and all connecting waters. The Southern Gulf Islands are normally considered to include not just those identified in this book, but also those adjoining without ferry service, like Valdes, Ruxton, Portland, Wallace, Prevost and so on. Gabriola Island, the northernmost of this group, is, for practical reasons, grouped with the Northern Gulf Islands in the companion book in this series.

From the earliest inhabitants, whose settlements are still evident in the dozens of middens (banks of clamshell fragments), through to the first European explorers who, without much inspiration, named the islands after themselves or their ships, the Gulf Islands have been rich with possibility. For the colonies of escaped slaves and immigrant groups, working at their farms, quarries and fisheries, expanding in spite of shipwrecks and calamities, these little-touched islands must have seemed full of opportunity. Sometimes they experienced exploitation; at other times they found security and a new life. The comparative isolation of these islands has also appealed to lovable eccentrics. Probably most infamous of the island denizens is Brother Twelve and his Aquarian cult, on De Courcy Island.

A lot has changed over the years, but not everything. Now we need think only of the writers, artists, musicians, neo-hippies, retirees and luxury-summer-house owners, or of the wineries, resorts, summer camps and alternative retreats, and we sense the power these islands have to stir the hopes and dreams—or money-making schemes—of those who have sought them out.

The geography of the Gulf Islands is probably more important than the history for the average beach-lover. Anyone who takes the ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay wonders at the complexity and richness of the islands through which the ferry winds. Anyone who takes the flight between Vancouver and Victoria International Airport is struck by the islands’ wildly indented and bizarrely configured forms.

We need only glance at a map of this maze of islands, islets and reefs to be intrigued by the geological pattern they form: long parallel bands inset with equally parallel inlets, bays and passages. The geology of that macro scale is even more noticeable to beachgoers at the micro scale. On many a beach at the northwest or southeast end of the islands, the shore is clearly made up of tilted strata, like layers of a fantastical torte leading down the shore to the water’s edge. Tidal pools are thus often long and narrow, and the crevices between them filled with patches of sand, pebbles or crushed shell. In addition, the comparatively straight, northeast sides of the islands often slope more gradually than the southwest sides. On all sides, island topography makes for some dramatically tortuous morsels of scenery, especially on Galiano, Saturna, Mayne and Salt Spring Islands. And all of the islands at various points are pushed upward into long, steep-sided ridges. Ask any red-faced cyclist.

Another feature of the islands’ geology, sandstone, contributes significantly to their distinctive charm. Without this fundamental building stuff, the Gulf Islands wouldn’t be anything like themselves. Although you will come across areas of black, jagged basalt or lumpy, cliffy conglomerate, you will frequently find yourself admiring the sandstone shore. Those who haven’t visited a sandstone shoreline before should prepare themselves for a walk into the surreal. Sometimes merely vaguely pleasant in a sandpapery sort of way, sandstone can, at other times, erode into astounding curves, hollows, protuberances and honeycombed lattices. Kayakers who have paddled by the cliffs of Protection, Ruxton, Valdes, Gabriola and Galiano Islands are particularly lucky, but anyone who has wandered many shores on these islands has had a good chance of being thoroughly amazed.

Other beachy consequences follow from the geological forces at play here. Immediately obvious to anyone looking at a map of these islands is that several of them are within spitting distance of each other. Indeed, from Cedar on Vancouver Island, near Nanaimo, to the southern tip of Saturna Island in the south, the major tides of the Strait of Georgia squeeze through narrow gaps. Lovers of swirling currents, standing waves and whirlpools may be thrilled, but kayakers who value their lives are less enthused than onshore visitors by these potentially dangerous passages. At present, because of restrictions on land access, the strongest currents in the southern islands are visible only at Active Pass and Boat Passage. Swimmers who dare to dip a toe into the water in high-current areas understand too well the consequences of fast-moving currents pulling up icy water from the depths. Still, currents don’t sweep by all shores in the southern islands. Water lovers can enjoy a good deal of pleasant swimming, particularly around Thetis and Salt Spring Islands and in protected bays throughout the other islands.

A final consequence of the geological derrings-do of the Gulf Islands is that somehow or other you have to get to them. This means ferries. This also means, for this book, directing eager beachers only to those islands that they can reach by ferries.

The bad news is that ferry schedules often don’t quite match our own timetables and inclinations. Those Vancouver Islanders from up-Island are conveniently linked only to Thetis Island via Chemainus and Salt Spring Island via Crofton. Unlike some of the more southern ferries, those to Thetis and Salt Spring run frequently and regularly. From Salt Spring Island, up-Islanders (residents of upper Vancouver Island) can then hop over to the more southerly islands—but the schedules can be awkward. For the best-scheduled service to these other islands, up-Islanders are probably best off driving to Swartz Bay, possibly via the Brentwood Bay ferry.

From both Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen, all of the southern islands except Thetis can be reached directly—more or less. In fact, reading the ferry schedules to plan a route to several different islands can require the logistical complexity of a royal wedding. Pay particular attention to the evil little asterisk that signals dangerous cargo sailing—and excludes normal passengers. Like you. Also pay particular attention to the dates covered by the schedule you are using, since the schedules change every few months. Above all, don’t assume that the ferries travel continually back and forth. If you turn up at a terminal expecting a ferry to pop by any minute, you may be in for a wait. A long wait.

The good news is that you would be hard-pressed to find a way of spending a more scenic hour or two than plying the waterways amid the islands by ferry. Indeed, one of the curiosities of ferry travel among these islands is that you always feel as if the number and complexity of the islands, inlets and islets are even greater than they actually are. Come supplied with a copy of What’s That Island? (Bruce Whittington) and have your visual treats spiced with fascinating info-bytes about the islands’ natural and human history. If you plan to make several trips, you can save considerably by buying a BC Ferries Experience Card, a magnetic card that you preload with as much cash value as you like.

Those who visit the beaches around Vancouver Island have a lively sense of the creatures that fly, leap, waddle, splash, gorge and squawk around these shores. A visit to many a beach can easily involve sidling up to surf scoters and harlequins, great blue herons and bald eagles, otters, harbour seals and sea lions. Everyone wants most to see the large ocean mammals—the Dall’s porpoises, Pacific white-sided dolphins and orcas—and visitors might see them if they spend enough time exploring the islands’ shores. Resident orcas (known as the J, K and L pods) make the Gulf Islands a part of their front yard during the summers, so visitors to the islands, especially to Pender and Saturna, stand a good chance of some eye-popping wonderment. In fact, if our animal lovers are really, really lucky, they just might spot a humpback or grey whale from the northern shores of Galiano, Mayne or Saturna Islands. And, during the spring, a good viewing spot near Active Pass will reveal skies and waters filled with migrating Bonaparte gulls, Pacific loons and Brandt’s cormorants.

Many—realtors prominent among them—claim that the Gulf Islands have the mildest climate of any spot in Canada. More particularly, some claim that their island is drier and warmer than its neighbours. Some classify the islands’ climate as Mediterranean, others as oceanic. Many point to the rain shadow in which the islands lie.

It is true that the south-facing shores of the islands can feel hotter and drier than most areas of Vancouver Island or the Lower Mainland. It is also true that some plants, virtually unknown off the islands, evoke a warmer and drier climate. What could be more suggestive of such a climate than the brittle prickly pear cactus occasionally found here? Indeed, those coming from the north shore of Vancouver may well leave a drizzly morning and arrive for a sunny afternoon among the islands.

The fact is, however, that those coming from Victoria or even farther north on Vancouver Island are unlikely to notice a huge difference in temperature or hours of sunlight. Still, since it is alluring to think that a trip to the islands-in-the-stream is likely to be balmy, we all might as well continue to believe so. Who wouldn’t want to set sail for a Mediterranean climate?

It isn’t just warm weather that makes visitors feel welcome, though. You are also likely to feel something akin to a welcome as you drive along a forested roadway dotted with fresh signs directing you to various beaches and shorelines. The islands have changed considerably. There was a time when a visitor to the islands might wonder whether the trip was worthwhile. Many visitors in the past experienced more frustration than delight, finding no way to see the shoreline, let alone know whether it was physically or legally possible to find a way to a bit of beach.

Even now, each island has its own system of signs and its own level of enthusiasm for making beach-going easy for visitors. Thetis Island is by far the least welcoming to visitors. You will find almost no signs, let alone benches or picnic tables. Galiano and the Pender Islands go to the opposite extreme. On these latter islands, in fact, you will find it impossible to drive far without seeing a sign saying Ocean Access (on the Pender Islands) or Beach Access (on Galiano Island). While you will have no idea whether the shore is 30 seconds away or 30 minutes away, or what kind of shore you will find when you get there, with your copy of this book firmly in hand, you will soon find out.

THE GULF ISLAND BEACH

The word beach is used here in the way that most people who live in coastal British Columbia would use the word—loosely. For us, a beach is simply a shorefront. It can be covered with sand, pebbles, boulders or even slabs of rock. We all know that some people, usually from southern climes, become (politely) superior when they consider our use of the word beach. To them, unless it is an unbroken expanse of golden sand bashed by surf, it is not a beach at all. Let such people take themselves elsewhere. The rest of us know what a beach is, and we love our beaches!

MAPS AND DIRECTIONS

Finding these beaches is not always easy, but that is part of their charm. Maps can be a real problem, and even more in the Gulf Islands than on north-central Vancouver Island (Secret Beaches of Central Vancouver Island: Campbell River to Qualicum). Those planning to use a GPS or Google Maps will often come a cropper, either because those associated databases contain many mistakes, or because they simply don’t contain information about many of the tiny roads on the islands. Try finding your way with Google Maps to Monkwood Place on Salt Spring Island, for example. You can’t. Official maps issued by the regional districts often pose the opposite kind of problem. They show literally dozens of little roads leading to the coast where, as yet, no such roads exist. At some such places, you will find a track or a path through woods. At most, however, you will encounter nothing but a wall of dense vegetation—that is, if you can even find where the access strip is supposed to be when in front of you stretches a long, forested road with no landmarks.

Other maps are available for these islands, though. Bless realtors and chambers of commerce! A real variety of colourful maps, complete with symbols for beach accesses (and businesses), are available both on the ferries and online. For the latter, you will probably find it easiest to go to Google Images and search for X island map. The fly in the ointment, unfortunately, is that among all of these maps you will find glorious disarray. Not only are many smaller roads unlabelled, but also the names themselves vary. In addition, one map showing beach accesses cheerfully dotting the coastline bears scant resemblance to another for the same coast. You are probably best off buying a commercially printed road map of the sort available in gas stations and using it in conjunction with this book.

The maps and directions in this book are intended to simplify your getting to your dream beach, not to provide the logistical precision of a moon landing. Nearly all of the directions begin at the ferry terminal, because most people using the book will be visitors to the islands. In the case of Salt Spring Island, which has no fewer than three terminals, each terminal is a starting point for directions to the beaches closest to that terminal. For a few beaches equidistant from two terminals, the directions start at major roads between these terminals. The other exception is South Pender Island. In this case, because the point of entry is not a ferry terminal but the bridge from North Pender Island, the directions start there.

Second, most beach descriptions are self-contained. Almost all beach entries are accompanied by all of the directions you need. The rare exceptions are those cases where two or three beaches close to each other require elaborate directions.

Third, distances between turning points are intended only to give drivers a rough idea whether they should be scanning road signs for an immediate turn or whether they can sit back and enjoy the scenery for several kilometres before eagle-eyeing road signs. Thus distances under a kilometre are usually rounded off to the nearest 100 m and those over a kilometre usually to the closest kilometre. Even then, however, they are intended as little more than a loose guide. Ultimately, signs and only signs will get you to your destination.

Finally, the maps in this book, like the distances, are simplified. If the maps had been drawn to scale and included all roads, they would be difficult to read as a car bumps along. Use these maps to complement proper road maps, not to replace them.

PUBLIC ACCESS—AND PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY

Two key principles underlie the writing of the guidebooks in this series:

The kind of person who will make a point of seeking out a little- known beach will be the kind of person who values quiet beauty and undamaged natural settings.

In keeping with the ideals of the community of which we are all a part, we should all be able to enjoy waterfront that is, after all, public property.

Even though public property is available for everyone to find, it is important to keep in mind the status of this public property. Most of the public access routes leading to beaches are on land zoned for public use lying between private waterfront lots. (Thetis Island has, curiously, some paths, not on private land, that are nevertheless for residential use only.) These routes lead to publicly owned foreshore, the area between high and low tides. Even when the land above the foreshore is private, the public generally has the privilege of using the foreshore and the water below it, though not the right to do so. When this area is used for a special purpose such as an oyster farm, the public may not be permitted, depending on the nature of the tenure. Usually signs are posted if visitors are restricted from using the foreshore. Search for Coastal Shore Jurisdiction in British Columbia at www.greenshores.ca for more information.

BEACH ACCESS WARNING

Quite understandably, many waterfront property owners and other locals want to keep their secret beaches—secret. Who, after all, doesn’t enjoy seclusion by the waterfront (other than, perhaps, those who have been working hard at the gym to build the perfect Beach Body)? More important, what property owners welcome cars blocking driveways and high-decibel midnight parties, not to mention rotting litter, malodorous dog excrement, gutted berry patches, depleted clam and oyster beds or ugly firepits? No one finds such abuse acceptable, neither waterfront owner nor visitor. On the other hand, we need not despair that with increased use will come increased abuse. We can all hope that the more people who visit the shorefront, the more beachgoers there will be to encourage its preservation. Everyone who loves our shores finds in the pleasures and peace of the secret beach the inspiration to act on behalf of it and all other areas of natural beauty. In addition, we can hope that with more people using the developed access routes, those access routes currently overgrown and impossible to find will be likewise developed.

BEACHES IN THIS BOOK

Fewer than a quarter of the zoned access spots around the Gulf Islands appear in this book. Why? Many access routes, as already mentioned, don’t live up to their names: they don’t provide access! Many, many are tangles of bush or lead down plunging banks. Others are excluded because they are simply too unappealing, or are near similar but more appealing spots. The preferable spots may offer better parking, for example, or an easier path. In fact, some of the more pleasant beaches, like Pebble Beach on Galiano Island’s north coast, are mentioned only briefly because of the considerable hike required to reach them. In fact, you will find nearby paths summarized at the end of many full entries, beginning with the words While you are here. Do consider following up some of these spots. Some will give you a picturesque view, others the beginning of a good shore walk, yet others an alternative access to a more popular route.

In contrast, a few places have been included whose choice may seem surprising. Prominent among these are those roadside spots (on Salt Spring and Saturna Islands) included simply because it would be criminal not to draw attention to their features. Others appear here, even though they are parks, because they are so far off the beaten path that few visitors from off the islands seem to know of their existence. Some beaches are those that, by many people’s standards, are not very attractive or, at least, not proper beaches. A path may provide the only access to an entire section of coast, or it may be more remarkable for its view or its function as a launching spot than its beach. In two cases, as well, paths are described that are not entirely on public land. They are used by locals to gain quick access to an otherwise inaccessible section of the shore, though, and have no negative impact on the land through which they run. In neither case will you find a recommendation that you use these paths. Both are described, however, because you are likely to stumble across them in an exploration of the island and should understand what using them entails.

THE RIGHT BEACH FOR YOU

Let us imagine you suddenly decide that what you need most in the world is an afternoon at the beach. Let us also imagine that what you want most out of your afternoon is complete solitude as you bask in soft sand behind beach logs while finishing off your novel. Or you may want a place to launch your eager kayak. Or photograph an overwrought sunset. Where should you go?

A quick look at the last section of this book, called Best Bets, will help you on your way to exactly the best bit of the water’s edge for what you want. The categories in this section cover many interests—including playing in the sand, walking along the shore, looking for orcas or car picnicking in a shorefront parking spot. You might be looking for a convenient picnic spot for a visiting aunt with walking difficulties. You might want a place where you and your soulmates can find lots of space for parking and spread-eagling in the afternoon sun. You might want to hone your Frisbee skills or watch waves batter complicated headlands. Find the category and narrow in on just the right beach for you.

Thetis: Clam Bay Road

THE GREAT BEACH EXPERIENCE

Armed with this book, then, and