Sunday, July 24, 2011

Launching a sailboat on Gabriola

It took us almost a month for my husband and I find a few hours together during the day to launch our little sailboat. On Friday that timed up perfectly with slack tide. We had heard that False Narrows would be the right place to launch our Nordica sail boat, so we thought we'd give it a try. The boat launch for False Narrows is located just off of El Verano on Gabriola. The launch couldn't have gone any better, the sandy bottom and the slack made it really easy for us. When we got to the dock we worked on rigging up the mast and the shrouds, not a bad job for our first time, but we'll have our neighbour come and have a look before we set sail. There are a few options for launching a boat on Gabriola, there is a place at the end of Gray Road (Degnen Bay), a small boat launch at Twin Beaches (Gabriola Sands), and you can also arrange it at Silva Bay for a small fee. With all the outer islands in such close proximity, Gabriola is the perfect place to begin your explorations at sea.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Gabriola Families go camping in Lake Cowichan

On Monday 12 families from Gabriola loaded up their coolers, tents, boats and kids and headed down to the group campsite at the Gordon Bay Provincial Park in Lake Cowichan. With 21 kids with us, we had a lot of activity on the beach and at the campsite. This was our third annual group camping trip. On the first night we usually do a pot-luck dinner, a great feast after the work of setting up camp. The group campsite is perfect, it has a large clearing, a covered area, electricity, hot and cold running water, outhouses and even a wood stove. We managed to get in lots of beach time, a few campfires, visiting with our friends, a bit of kayaking and some windsurfing. I left to come back to work on Gabriola Wednesday morning, and the commute was great. I had packed up and hit the road by 7:15, caught the 8:15 ferry from Nanaimo to Gabriola and was in my door by 9am. Submitted by: Tina Lynch

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Changes on Gabriola: Folklife Village

We've just brought a new service to the Folklife Village, Coast Realty is now supplying Free WIFI @ Folklife Village Mall on Gabriola Island.So now you can shop, sip and surf courtesy of Coast Realty (Gabriola Village) Ltd.
Another new change in the Folklife Village is the Gabriola Theatre Festival has just finished setting up next door to our office and are there to give you information about the upcoming festival :
http://www.gabriolatheatrefestival.ca/