Rain and Suffering

On a visit this week to Galiano Island, we picked up a great little guide book to life on the gulf islands. Entitled Rain and Suffering - the Real Gulf Islands Guide, it starts to answer some of those questions we hadn't dare ask. Questions like "why do people choose to live here?"

The guide claims to be the antidote to travel guides, stating that "an overzealous travel industry with neither shame nor morals has created the myth that the Gulf Islands are a paradise waiting to be discovered - a myth perpetuated by lying tourists who stayed here and are now too proud to admit their mistake."  Instead, the book focuses on 'the true perils of visiting the Gulf Islands, and the wretchedness that comes with Gulf Islands living' - extending a sympathetic thought or two for those who now realise that island life has its downs as well as the occasional up.

Of Gabriola, the guide says we are a 14.5 km by 4.2 km sausage shaped retirement community - rumoured to rise six to eight feet every week when its senior citizens catch the 9am ferry for their weekly shopping in Nanaimo - and to really get a Gabriola resident going, start talking about how easy it would be to create a bridge across to Mudge Island and on to Vancouver Island. Depending on the company, you might just be returning to Nanaimo duct taped to the last ferry of the night.  Hhmmm - there could be some truth in that.

Of BC Ferries, the author concludes that the management have stripped and sold off anything worth buying on the ferries - including most of the life saving equipment and much of the mechanics of the ships, so spend your trip across the Gulf itemising all items in your car that could be used as flotation gear.  Maybe a little extreme, but after experiencing the best and worst of BC Ferries this week, I can see where he's coming from.

A closer inspection of this picture of the Queen of Burnaby reveals what can best be described as a rotting hulk, still plying the waters between Powell River and Comox. Rust everywhere, bulging decks, sealed off lounges oozing asbestos from every crevice. 

 Not everything is bad about BC Ferries of course - and this week we've enjoyed many pleasant "mini-cruises" aboard that reviled fleet - top among which must be the 50 minute journey aboard the Island Sky between Earls Cove and Saltery Bay - and 40 minutes each way aboard the Bowen Queen (remember the Bowen Queen?) through Active Pass en route from Salt Spring to a relaxed dinner at the Galiano Inn one evening. Active Pass is so much more impressive on a smaller vessel like the Bowen Queen, on which you can actually feel the swirling currents.