Day Trips - Gulf Islands

Outdoor adventures aren’t necessarily the main reason to visit the Gulf Islands. It’s quite legitimate to spend five days shacking up in a B & B that serves organic espresso, buying pottery from an artist who lives “in one of those Bucky Fuller domes” and reading last year’s magazines by a bay window overlooking the strait. (And to stay up until midnight soaking in a hot tub and drinking tawny port.)

If such comforts on their own sound like an invitation to a coma, adventures are readily available. Seasonal activities include fishing, swimming, beach walking, scuba diving, bike tours, sailing and, most not-to-bemissed of them all, kayaking. The Gulf Islands, like the San Juans to the south, are renowned as some of the best kayaking in the world for the gorgeous scenery and frequent sightings of orcas and other marine mammals. Kayaking at night in bioluminescent waters is also, as the locals might say, a trip. But be sure to get expert advice or a guide: the strong currents and treacherous tidal phenomena are equally legendary.

Once you’ve satisfied your outdoorsy cravings, you can head in for a pint or three at an island pub like the Hummingbird Inn on Galiano. This is where you’ll find the occasional adventurous Vancouverite, playing darts and recuperating after a one-kilometre bike ride from a rented cottage.

THE SIGHT: A seal’s head bobbing only 20 feet from your kayak. No wait, it’s a log. No, it’s a seal. I think it’s a seal.

THE SOUND: Ferry horns echoing from Active Pass.

THE SOUVENIR: Sheila Norgate’s expressionistic birds (Sheila Norgate Gallery, 2531 Tyee Dr., Gabriola Island, 250- 247-0085) or Frank Ducote’s Fauvist landscapes, below (Blood Star Gallery, 9909 Jennens Rd., South Pender Island, 250-629- 6661).

GETTING THERE:

For ferry information, call BC Ferries at 888-223-3779. Contact Tourism Vancouver Island, 250-754-3500, for Gulf Islands travel info.

Kayaking and biking: Batstar, 877-449-1230.
Tours: Great White Charters, 250-818-6050.
Hummingbird Inn, 47 Sturdies Bay Rd., 250-539-5472.