Gulf Islands
Canada's Gulf Islands National Park Reserve was established in 2003 by Parks Canada to protect the area's unique ecosystem. The islands and surrounding ocean are rich with ecologically diverse plants and sea life including gnarled Garry oaks, delicate wild lilies, thick kelp beds and magnificent Orcas.
The Mediterranean climate of the islands is ideal for Garry oak ecosystems, which are home to more plant species, such as the camas, than any other terrestrial ecosystem in coastal B.C. Garry oak meadows exist in the shallow and exposed soil of valleys, rocky foothills and southern slopes - areas that the settlers of the past 150 years have found unsuitable for agriculture or development.
A History
The southern Gulf Islands include hundreds of islands and islets, and form part of an archipelago that includes the San Juan Islands in the United States.
While Captain George Vancouver made his first Gulf Islands sightings in 1792, the area was already home to several First Nations people, who lived a semi-nomadic existence living of the bounty provided by the sea and lands. In the same year, Spanish and British cartographic expeditions also explored the area intent on finding a passage to the northwest Atlantic.
More and more, the Gulf Islands region is referred to as the "Salish Sea", in recognition of its original inhabitants.
Salt Spring Island
Saltspring Island is the largest and most populated of the 225 Gulf Islands. Eighteen miles (29 km) long and 9 miles (14 km) wide, the island has 83 miles (133 km) of shoreline and 182.27 km_ (70.37 sq mi) of land area. The island attracts visitors and prospective residents with its mild climate and annual sunshine in excess of 2,000 hours. The population of the island was 9,279 as of the 2001 census. It was named by Hudson's Bay Company officers for the briny saltwater springs on the north end of the island.
Salt Spring has been a seasonal home of the Coast Salish people since the time of European settlement, and possibly permanent settlements existed for centuries before that, on the south coast of the island where the Tsawout Band Reserve is located today. Historically, First Nations people from the Saanich Peninsula and the Cowichan Valley frequented the island's shores to harvested its resources.
The island was explored by the Spanish and British in the 1700s, and settled in the 1850s by early pioneers who had abandoned their Fraser River gold rush hopes. A group of 9 African-American slaves, who had purchased their liberty in the United States, arrived at Vesuvius in 1857.
Additional black settlers, mainly from California, were followed by European immigrants from Portugal and Scandinavia, as well as British and Hawaiian (Kanakas) settlers originally recruited by the Hudson's Bay Company. As well, many Japanese settlers came to the island for its fishing.
In the 60's and 70's, many young people moved to the island attracted by the artisan lifestyle and mild climate. During the Vietnam War, many draftdodgers and those opposed to the U.S-led war settled on the island.
In 2001, Salt Spring began a new initiative to promote the island as a tourist destination. Saltspring Island is the most densely populated of the Gulf Islands, home to diverse groups, including retirees who seek the quiet life and temperate winters, and artisans who enjoy the creative environment on the island.
The island's shoreline is varied and beautiful, offering rocky shores, tidal pools to explore, shell beaches for beachcombing, and a wide variety of sandy beaches. Of the 22 ocean beaches, 4 are designated for swimming.
BC Ferries links Fulford Harbour with Swartz Bay (near Sidney), and also links Vesuvius to Crofton on Vancouver Island. There is a BC Ferries dock in nearby Long Harbour with a link to Tsawwassen, on the BC mainland. Floatplanes also link the village of Ganges to Vancouver and Seattle.
Each Saturday the harbourside paths of Salt Spring Island’s Centennial Park come alive with 150 local vendors, and the hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors who come to buy locally produced foods, crafts and art. Saturday Art and Farmer's Market limits vendor permits to Gulf Islands residents who must "Make it, Bake it, or Grow it."
Mayne Island
Mayne Island is 21-square-kilometre island, with a population of around 900. One well-known resident is the children's entertainer Raffi. In 1794 Captain George Vancouver camped on Georgina Point where his crew left a coin and a knife found over a century later by early settlers.
During the Cariboo and Fraser River Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, Vancouver Island miners gathered on Mayne Island before rowing across Georgia Strait to the mainland of BC in search of their fortunes. The earliest homesteaders registered land claims in the Miners Bay area in 1859.
During the late 1800s Mayne Island was both the commercial and social centre of the Gulf Islands. The port at Miners Bay was always busy due to the steady stream of marine traffic traveling through Active Pass. Many of these prospectors rowed boats across the strait, and Miners Bay on Mayne Island became an important and busy transit point. The historic village at Miners Bay is still the commercial centre of the island, with the annual Fall Fair still being held at the old Agricultural Hall like so many years before. Nearby Active Pass still throbs with a steady stream of marine traffic, a bustling contrast to the island's quiet interior byways. Village Bay, with its BC Ferries terminal, has several late 1800s to 1930s buildings.
BC Ferries operates a vehicle and passenger scheduled ferry service from Tsawwassen (Vancouver) on the mainland and Swartz Bay (Victoria) on Vancouver Island.
Pender Island
Pender Island is approximately 34 square kilometers in area, and is home to about 2,200 permanent residents, as well as a large seasonal population. Pender Island enjoys a balmy sub-Mediterranean climate and features open farmland, rolling forested hills, several lakes and small mountains, and many coves and beaches.
Pender Island actually consists of two islands, North Pender Island and South Pender Island, which are separated by a narrow canal originally dredged in 1903 and later connected by a one lane bridge in 1955. Most of the population and services reside on North Pender Island; South Pender Island is generally more rural, but features the popular Poet's Cove marina development (formerly known as Bedwell Harbour).
Pender Island can be accessed by regular ferry service provided by BC Ferries from Swartz Bay (near Victoria), Tsawwassen (near Vancouver), and other southern Gulf Islands, as well as by scheduled seaplane and water taxi service. Pender Island also has one public grass landing strip and a helicopter pad located near the main shopping mall, the Driftwood Center. No taxi service operates on this island since mid-September, 2006.
Saturna Island
Mountainous Saturna Island, about 31 square kilometers in size, is the most easterly of the Gulf Islands. It is surrounded on three sides by the Canada/USA border. To the north is Point Roberts, Washington State, and to the east and south are the San Juan Islands. Saturna has a permanent population of around 350, although that number increases significantly during the summer season. Approximately half of the island is in the new Gulf Islands National Park Reserve that was formed in 2003 from 2 provincial parks, an Ecological Reserve, and other Crown land.
The name Saturna comes from the ship Saturnina captained by José Narvaez, the 18th century Spanish explorer. The first European settlers came in the 1800's, but the island was slower to develop than the neighbouring Gulf Islands due to its relative isolation and rugged topography.
Six different artists' galleries are located on Saturna island, and during the first week of August there is the Saturna Artists' Studio Tour. Other annual events range from January's Robbie Burns Night Dinner to the Canada Day Lamb Barbecue, to September's Vineyard Harvest Festival. The Saturna Island Winery houses a bistro and a gift shop. Many beaches grace Saturna Island. Near the Winery, sandy Thomson Park provides a perfect place to swim and relax. Russell Reef, off East Point Road, showcases a natural swimming hole. And at East Point Regional Park, the shoreline ranges from flat and shelly to sloping and rocky.
The uninhabited smaller islets support very sensitive ecosystems, and extreme care is needed to ensure no damage occurs. Some areas may be closed to public use at any time of the year.