I’ve wanted to go to Lasqueti Island ever since I saw a documentary about it a couple years ago.
According to www.lasqueti.ca, Lasqueti Island is about 74 km squared and has only 425 permanent residents. It can only be accessed via a foot passenger ferry from French Creek on Vancouver Island or by private boat or float plane. The island is not serviced by B.C. Hydro and residents either live without electricity or use alternative sources of power such as solar or micro-hydro.
We sailed from Jedediah Island to False Bay and anchored in the North end of the bay. We arrived just before lunch, so in the afternoon we headed ashore to check things out. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon when we motored over to the dock in our dinghy.
Just as we walked off the ramp, I saw a cafe to our left with a beautiful view of False Bay and across the Strait of Georgia. Finding a local cafe is the perfect start to any shoreside outing for several reasons. First, another hot coffee in hand can ease any lingering stress weather it be child or weather related. Second the person serving you that coffee is often a wealth of local knowledge about what to do and where to go for example where is the nearest (kids park, grocery store, pub, etc…). Third, there is always a posting board nearby which Ellery always finds interesting to see what people are buying/selling, events happening or other local island info.
We did find a community kids park nearby. It was right across from the small post office and art centre.
Before heading back we stopped at the pub and had beer and nachos on the outside deck overlooking False bay and across the Strait of Georgia. Chari remarked that it was “the best view from any restaurant I have ever been to.” It certainly was magical there and well worth a stop for anyone passing through. It had a certain element of eclectic island life with a friendly vibe of longtime locals enjoying the company of friends. Just the sort of place where you can step off a boat without having showered for a week and still fit right in!
Our leg across to Hornby island was uneventful with a perfect SE wind and a glorious spinnaker run to Ford Cove. We wanted to stop in Tribune Bay with its long fine white sand beach but it is open to the south east and would make for in uncomfortable night at anchor. Ford Cove had a small government wharf and was a nice all weather spot to wait for better winds. It also had a small store that was in a state of slow renovation but actually well stocked.
We passed Chrome Island, a lighthouse at the southern end of Denman Island.
The following day we made an attempt at Tribune Bay again but the weather would not cooperate and we went into Deep Bay on Vancouver Island. It was challenging anchoring in Deep Bay as there was not much room to swing and we ended up moving to reset the anchor once. At 2200 I still wasn’t happy with our position so I put out a stern anchor as quietly as possible so as not to wake the kids. We left early the next morning and went all the way to Comox for some much needed showers and provisions.