This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
If Vancouver Island alone constitutes a fabulous playground, the islands of the Gulf are as many corners of paradise that deserve to be explored.
Larger than Belgium, Vancouver Island is a trip in itself. The best thing is to cross it slowly, stopping as you wish, but reserving accommodation in the most popular places. In Victoria, the floating houses, shops and restaurants of Fishermen’s Wharf make you want to stroll for long hours. As for restaurants, The Courtney Room, which is located in the Magnolia Hotel & Spa, beautifully showcases local products and local wines.
Much less known than the Okanagan Valley, the Cowichan Valley, between Victoria and Nanaimo, is also home to the province’s largest Aboriginal population, the Quw’utsun, one of the Coast Salish peoples. If you only have one gourmet stopover to make, the Unsworth Vineyards is a safe bet, as much for its restaurant as for its wines (you should not leave without having tasted the seafood chowder, under any circumstances! ).
On the road to Tofino, MacMillan Provincial Park allows you to stretch your legs while admiring the impressive Douglas fir trees of Cathedral Grove, some of which are over 800 years old. Once at the end of the road, the essential beaches of Chesterman, Cox Bay Beach – especially at sunset – and Long Beach delight both walkers and surfers, who don wetsuits to catch the waves, summer and winter. To avoid the rush, Tonquin Beach is perfect in the early morning.
Gulf Islands
The Gulf Islands, between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia, lie in the Strait of Georgia. Their coasts are studded with caves sculpted by the elements. Less than an hour by ferry from Tsawwassen, south of the city of Vancouver, Galiano has retained its hippie vibes. The commitment of its inhabitants can be seen during a conversation or on the road, where orange t-shirts and Ukrainian flags follow one another.
The friendly Flying Black Dog canteen opens at lunchtime a few days a week and closes when all the dishes have found takers since it opened, long before the labor shortage was the order of the day.
At the Oxeye cafe, we remember the names of visitors. Characters that look like they have come out of a film scene from the 1960s or 1970s seem completely in place in this lush setting: an old man with a shaggy beard on a bicycle on a deserted road, another cyclist with a few decades of less, sunglasses screwed to his face despite the torrential rain, a weather-beaten hippie chaining cigarette after cigarette while chatting with the waitress of a restaurant…
Madly in love with his island and an activist at heart, Ben Miltner founded Gulf Island Kayaking in 1985. The talkative septuagenarian remains one of Galiano’s best ambassadors. He recommends taking part in guided excursions of at least three hours so you can admire the cliffs while paddling. “Sedimentary rock is soft and weathers over time, creating beautiful organic patterns,” he says. Every 100 meters there is a new pattern. »
Both on Galiano and on Gabriola, a thirty-minute ferry ride from Nanaimo, the hiking trails generate many exclamation marks. That of Sandwell Provincial Park gives the impression of entering an enchanted forest. At low tide, petroglyphs carved into the sandstone are visible from the beach.
Enough to make you want to continue the trip from island to island. Knowing that the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve has about fifteen, not to mention the many islets, we have enough to keep busy for a while.
Our journalist was the guest of Destination Canada and Destination British Columbia.