Our Trip to Galiano

Well, it was a lovely trip.

We left on Saturday morning, bright and early to catch the 8:40am ferry.

We arrived in Galiano by about 10am.

Once on the ferry, we sat outside, the best place to sit in my opinion.

The boys examined belly buttons for some reason, lol.

Early morning sails are the best. Rising sun in the east, sparkling on the water. Very nice.

The first day we just lounged about, explored round the property a bit. The kids LOVED the big deck and the great outdoors. We had beer in the evening and watched some DVDs. 

The next day we went to Morning Beach for a few hours. Not only was the beach easily accessible through a beautiful trail, but it was wonderfully sandy and a great place to lounge.  My only complaint is with whomever resides in the cabin right along the beach to the left of the stairwell when one emerges from the trees. They had numerous dogs, and one particularly irritating Jack Russel terrier that barked at everyone, took other dog's sticks and balls when they were thrown and was just generally a bossy, ill-mannered dog. The owner was on the property, within ear shot of it all, and not once came out to do anything. At once point, there were 4 or 5 dogs, all seemingly from the same dwelling, barking, peeing and crapping on the beach. NOT COOL. 

Anyhow, for the most part, the dogs harassed only other dog owners and left us alone, so we were free to just enjoy the beauty. Arbutus and Garry Oak, cleavers and mullein, everything is really just too beautiful.

After resting up at the house for awhile, we headed back out. This time over to a beach near Bellhouse. A cool overgrown (very) path was easy to manouver down to the beach. The tide was coming in though, so we went over to Bellhouse look-out area. Light golden coloured grass, long and blowing in the wind, smooth stone and old trees. Very nice views.

The next day we ventured to Dionisio. Our intent was to get a campsite there. We knew it would be an adventure of the physical sort because its a rather long walk in if you have small children, especially if you have a large tent and camping gear to carry. Needless to say, it was a failed attempt, and even though we managed to obtain a nice site, we realized that the effort of taking it all in, as well as having to take it all back out again the next morning, was just not to be. So we spent a bit of time at the beach there, then walked back through the trail. Ferns, moss covered grounds, tall trees and silence. Description for Galiano woodlands? Majestic silence.

Tuesday I woke up feeling crabby. I think there was a sense of disappointment in not being able to follow through with our camping plans. I had a nap, and that helped. The boys slept great sharing a room, but they were awake before 7 and even as early as 6, and THAT is something I'm not used to. Being up until 2am made that early morning start even harder. We went to Montague later that day, and it was quite nice. Many little pools with tiny crabs, smooth sandstone, pebbled with barnacles, an amazing grassy marshy area on the other side of the trail that ran along the beach. We checked out camp sites there for next time we go. We will reserve WAY in advance, as it's a gorgeous area.  I was able to get quite a few great shots of many things, and used my retro camera app for Droid a lot. Something about retro pics of long blowing grass and almost-white toppled wood and stumps that really touches me.

Wednesday we went to Pender Island for a few hours and it was quite nice. A different feel from Galiano. On Galiano, its like a long winding road through a tall treed magical abode. One just keeps driving and driving , a canopy of ancient trees causing dappled blasts of sun to fall on you. When you exit into the area with the few stores, I feel like a forest creature coming out of a thicket. Pender is quite a bit more open, mostly due to the rounded shape of it (them actually - Pender is two islands, connected by a single lane bridge) it has forests also, but rolling hills and farmland and twice the population - Pender Islands have 2500 app and Galiano 1100 -  We could not stay long, but in the few hours we stayed there spoke with a few people, including a real estate agent and got a really great feel from the people.

Last day there, we went to Morning Beach again after being sure to leave the cabin even cleaner than it was when we arrived. All in all it was fantastic. The silence is amazing.

When the ravens fly overhead, the sound of their wings beating the air is loud. whoop, whoop, whoop... sounds like what I imagine baby pteradactyls sounded like, back in the age unravaged by humans.

Sitting on the deck at night, it was so silent that my ears rang. From time to time you would hear leaves falling from the insanely tall trees, and maybe deer or other creatures wandering through the woods. No predatory animals on the Islands, so there is a HUGE number of deer, one must drive very slow and very carefully to avoid hitting Bambi. It was great for the kids to be out in such a naturally beautiful place every day. 

One day, we really hope to get our dream home (yurt) and move to the Gulf Islands with the kids.

That's all for now!