Mothership Meanderings:
Our Home Island-Gabriola
August-September 2000
This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
by Alan Wilson
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When our mothership can't meander, it's wheels to the rescue for the short trek to our beach-but we wouldn't recommend this double decking experiment for the 'long haul'. Photo Laurie MacBride |
Lately our Mothership has been stuck at the dock, undergoing renovations. Fortunately, our home island, Gabriola, is great for paddling, and our kayaks are always ready for a jaunt to the beach. Gabriola is an accessible getaway for paddlers and boaters-a beautiful coastline, good anchorages and services. So for this issue of Mothership Meanderings, we'll 'meander' no further than our own backyard.
We were drawn to Gabriola twenty years ago, looking for an escape from the West End of Vancouver-one of the most densely inhabited urban areas in the world. We built our house among the trees and settled down to raise our young daughter. In the 80s I became involved in writing and publishing, and ultimately, ten years ago, WaveLength was born with the help of friends Howard Stiff and Peter Marcus.
That WaveLength developed on Gabriola is no coincidence. The island is home to Gabriola Cycle & Kayak, one of the busiest kayak outfitters on the west coast. Owners Peter Marcus and wife Ana Lopez-Uriarte run a year round operation, offering tours around British Columbia in the summers and to Mexico in the winters. Peter helped us start the magazine as well as the Ocean Kayak Festival, and his company has gone on to play a significant role in the development of sea kayaking on the coast.
As WaveLength has grown over the years, it has come to involve a wide network of writers, advertisers, distributors, and other friends. Working from Gabriola, we are in daily contact with people from around the globe via the internet. But we enjoy nothing better than to get away from it all on a lovely afternoon for a quiet paddle.
Paddling Around Gabriola
Gabriola is a great jumping off point-or end point-for tours of the Gulf Islands, since it's at the top of the Gulf Island chain and near two main ferry routes to the mainland. It's also an ideal place to live if you're into day paddling, given the abundance of reefs and beaches, islets and passageways. Home to many species of sea birds and marine mammals, the waters around Gabriola offers something to paddlers of all skill levels, from placid bays to turbulent rushing currents.
But be sure to pay close attention to the Tide and Current Tables if paddling near False Narrows and Gabriola Pass where currents can run up to 8 knots with very turbulent waters.
For local advice, rentals, lessons, and trips we recommend calling Gabriola Cycle & Kayak 250-247-8277 or Casa Blanca 250-247-9824.
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Our favourite day paddles include:
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Getting to Gabe
Most visitors arrive by the Quinsam passenger and car ferry across scenic Northumberland Strait, but it's also possible to come by float plane (Baxter Air, Harbour Air) to Nanaimo in 20 minutes from downtown Vancouver. Or you can fly direct to Gabriola with Pacific Spirit Air from Vancouver airport's south terminal.
Boaters regularly cross the Strait from Vancouver to reach Silva Bay at the south end of the island. There they find fuel, water, a pub, restaurant, laundry, showers, etc. Pages Marina and Silva Bay Marina both provide good moorage and a variety of services. The Silva Bay pub has good pub fare and their restaurant offers fine dining. The nearby Boatel has groceries and "The Vegie Boat" offers fresh, Gabriolan grown veggies, baking and crafts to those anchored out in the Bay (Wednesday through Saturday evening in the summer). You don't have to leave your boat to shop!
Silva Bay has long been popular with yachters for its good anchorage and it hosts an out-station of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Good anchorage can also be found at nearby Degnen Bay on the other side of Gabriola Pass, which has a government dock, power and phone, but no other services.
Pages Marina in Silva Bay, run by Ted and Phyllis Reeve, is where the WaveLength mothership is tied up most of the year. The Reeves have gas, diesel and water for boats, as well as nice new cabins to rent, and a beautiful grassy campground with fruit trees, plus showers, laundry and washrooms. A dive shop is available on site. There's also a great selection of books for sale-not surprising with Phyllis' university librarian background. Phyllis and Ted, a retired physician, have brought a lot of spirit to the island, holding frequent art, music and literary evenings in their oceanside home.
Just off Pages Marina are the Flat Top Islands which offer great paddling, with views of snow-capped mountains across the Strait, seal haulouts and seabird colonies.
Boaters may be interested in the wooden boat building school at Silva Bay where students learn traditional construction, or the marine ways there just in case a haulout is needed.
Not far from Silva Bay is Pirates Cove Marine Park, on De Courcy Island, with two bays suitable for anchoring, and hiking trails through the forest. Paddlers can also find good camping there.
There is a range of accommodations on Gabriola, but for campers, the best spots are at Pages at the south end of the island or at Gabriola Campground, close to the ferry at the north end. The Gabriola Campground is where we held the first two Kayak Festivals. You could even wheel your boat onto the Horseshoe Bay ferry and then, in under an hour, paddle over to the Campground from Nanaimo.
It's a bit of a hike uphill from the Gabriola Campground and ferry to the village centre of the island, which is clustered around the old fashioned, heavy-beamed Folklife Village, but full services can be found there (groceries, gas, restaurants, library, doctor, dentist, credit union, etc).
Paddlers camping at the north end of Gabriola might like to visit the Saturday morning market at the Agi Hall for fresh veggies and baking.
All mariners will enjoy cruising the waters around Gabriola, enjoying the cliffs, especially those on Valdez Island, which have been shaped by nature into many beautiful and amazing patterns.
We hope to see you on the water!
About Gabriola IslandGabriola is a small island (roughly 20 square miles) located at the top of the chain of contiguous Gulf Islands, in the sheltered waters of Georgia Strait. Gabriola has a gentle climate with mild wet winters and dry summers, protected from the Pacific Ocean by the vast bulk of Vancouver Island. It's a lovely setting for year round paddling. 'Discovered' by the Spanish in the late 1700s, Gabriola has been home to First Nations peoples for millennia for its productive surrounding waters. Characterized by uniquely weathered sandstone shoreline and twisted, red-bodied arbutus trees, the island is part of the San Juan/Gulf Island chain, an ecosystem stretching from Puget Sound in Washington up through Georgia Strait, British Columbia. The island was settled by Europeans in the late 1800s and is now populated by some 5000 people who have sought it out for a quieter lifestyle. Access is good, just 20 minutes by ferry from Nanaimo (city of 70,000) which has two of the three main ferry terminals from the BC mainland. This proximity affords relatively easy access to city services when needed, but the ferry ride also buffers islanders against the increasingly urban world. On Gabriola you can settle back into the trees, rocks and sea-which some do in retirement. Some telecommute from home offices, connected to the world through internet, fax, cable, etc. Others make their living through arts and crafts, while yet others make the daily 20-minute commute to jobs in Nanaimo via the hourly ferry. |
Pages Marina: 250-247-8931, tpreeve@island.net |
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