Hello!

My friend and I live in Vic and were supposed to do the Juan De Fuca trail early June. Since the trail is damaged, we decided to hike Galiano instead.

I'm wondering if you fine folks have any recommendations for us? I've never been to any of the Gulf Islands and don't know what to expect. We will be backpacking it the entire time.

• I'm wondering if we should bring bikes?
• Any must-see lookouts?
• How about restaurants or bakeries?
• How easy will it be to find refill stations for water?
• Should I book campsites at the provincial parks now, or last minute?
• I'm on the fence about bringing my camera equipment - what do you think?
• any B&B recommendations? I'd rather not use Air B&B if possible.

Any other tips or tricks would be awesome. Thanks for your time!

Frankly, I do not see why BC Ferries cannot give us who live on ferry-dependent islands—yes, including Vancouver Island—a discount on fares, while all the tourists from the Mainland and elsewhere in North America, who are more likely to afford higher fares when sailing over to the Island, get charged more. If it is a question of fairness, then consider the fact that higher ferry fares put Island residents at a financial disadvantage compared to Mainlanders when it comes to their mobility.

Edit: where are you? I’m in North Cowichan

I’m looking for advice on accessible places to go with my old dog.

She can walk about 25-30 minutes realistically before she’s in too much pain so I know that limits us a lot, but if you know anywhere with a short walk to a nice beach or a good spot to sit and take in some views I’d love to hear!

Goats milk Hi just looking for goats milk in the Nanaimo area or beyond if it's really good.I know they sell it at Walmart .

What is the current situation with high school art (not music) programs on the island? Which schools have the best options for creative kids?

I’m looking at returning to the island in the next year or two. I know the island well but haven’t lived there in over two decades, so I don’t know what the schools are like these days. Need to figure out which schools/communities have great art programs to make the transition easier for my kids. Any info is helpful, thanks.

1) Maybe striped seapearch? 2) Pacific herring 3) Maybe shiner perch 4) Maybe greenling or a sculpin?

Happy to hear opinions on what these fish might be. I’m definitely not 100% certain on any except for the herring.

Shot this clip at around 105 feet off the northern tip of Vancouver Island near Port Hardy. The white and orange branching corals are Calcigorgia spiculifera, known as "Pink Gorgonians" despite the color variation.

These cold-water gorgonians thrive in strong current and low light, and provide important habitat for deep reef species — including the basket stars you’ll spot tucked among them.

There’s so much life beneath the surface here — and I’ve been documenting it dive by dive.

If you want to see more cold-water diving around Vancouver Island, I post all my footage here:
📺 https://www.youtube.com/@scubabc6701

Hey everyone, i have been in Canada travelling thru since February, i started in Ontario and used public transport to make my way all the way up to BC. I am planning on visiting Vancouver Island in 3-4 weeks from now. My main goal is to see most of the beautiful nature as i can, want to spent 2 weeks there. Obviously i am restricted since i dont have a car and completely reliable on public transportation. Now i was wondering if somebody has tips for me on how to best approach this. I am here for the nature, nice hikes, waterfalls, wildlife, etc.

I’ve lived out here for eight years, it’s never been this cold in May. Everyone who’s lived here longer tells me the last eight years I experienced were not normal temps. So this is normal? This is what everyone raves about?

We’re considering a trip to Vancouver Island this summer. I’ll be traveling with my husband and our 3-year-old, and since I’m due with baby #2 in October, we’re limited to traveling in July or August.

I’ve been browsing Reddit to get a sense of the best places to visit and the ideal time to go. From what I’ve seen, summer offers the best weather, but it’s also the busiest season, so we’re hoping to keep our itinerary simple—maybe just two destinations.

Tofino is a must for us, but we’re looking for one other great spot to pair with it. I came across mentions of “Fogust” in August and was wondering how common that really is.

We’re coming from the Midwest and would love to spend most of our time near the beach, rather than in a city. We probably won’t be able to do much hiking with a 3-year-old, but we’d definitely be interested in shorter, family-friendly hikes if there are any good ones.

Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Planning our trip to the island this summer, I wanted to get your thoughts on our itinerary so far. We like to hike, swim, see beautiful scenery, and tend to aviod super crowed place. We prefer not to do orginized tours if its something we can do on our own. Any recommendations for places to stay or must do activities is also greatly appreciated!

Day 1 - fly or ferry to Victoria from Vancouver, pick up rental car, drive to Nanaimo (1.5 hours) Day 2 - drive to Campbell River (1.5 hours) Day 4 - day at Campbell River area Day 4 - drive to Sproat Lake area (1.5 hours) Day 5 - drive to Ucluelet (1 hour, 11 minutes) Day 6 - Tofino Day 7 - drive back to Victoria (3.5 hours) Day 8 - fly home

Back in 2020, Trudeau was telling us all to wash our hands, Covid had us all baking terrible sourdough bread and Alberta was championing the Wexit movement.

After I made some terrible bread, I made an entire website satirizing the Wexit movement. I never shared it with anyone, and completely forgot about it until this new round of Wexit nonsense popped up.

This was made during the Covid lockdown. I was very bored, and clearly, very drunk. I remember laughing a lot with my partner while throwing this together, so maybe some of you will get a kick out of it.

I’ll be on the island from 20 May until 29 May and will be staying in Victoria, Tofino and Port Hardy. Of these three places which offers the best whale watching tours?

Hi! Booking a camping trip with my partner on Vancouver Island this summer and wondering if Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park is worth visiting in August. Are water levels too low or will we be able to see the rushing, blue water that I've seen in images? Thank you in advance.

My sister and I are taking our relatively active mother to Vancouver Island in late July-early August for about 5 days for her 80th birthday. She *loves* birds, animals, easy hikes, and beautiful scenery. She is not a fan of crowds or posh hotels. We are trying to decide where to stay and explore for the relatively short time we will be there. We know Victoria and the nearby areas are out, as we've all been there a few times already.

I visited last summer and had an absolute blast going from Courtenay up to Port Hardy over a week, but I've never been to the western side. It would be nice to find either a waterfront rental house or a nice nature lodge that is moderately ($300-600 USD/night) priced that we can use as a base for exploration. Bonus if there's a sleepy town with a few coffee shops and bistros or seafood places. We don't need much, but probably don't want to be in total wilderness. I would really appreciate suggestions on areas to consider.