Gabriola - exploring the waters.

It was a bit windy on the Island on Saturday, so we decided to take the opportunity and go for our first sail aboard our 16 footer. We loaded up the cooler, tent, propane stove and kids and left Degnen Bay and headed towards Blackberry Pt on Valdez. It was a great late afternoon sail, we found a compromise that worked for our family, my husband fished, I sailed and the kids tattooed each other with their special markers. We set up our tent about 15 feet from the sandy beach, started a small camp fire and watched this amazing sunset. It did rain during the night, but our tent didn't let in a drop of rain, and we woke up to another sunny day. Submitted by: Tina Lynch

Sailing the seas around Gabriola Island

As someone that spent their time growing up on the Island, I've always had a strong connection to the ocean. Although, I've mainly enjoyed it from the shorelines, we would often use dinghy's, kayaks and boats to go "exploring". With a husband that is a fisherman, we then got into power boating and have done lots of fishing and prawning in the local waters.

My dad recently bought a 16 foot Nordica sailboat from a friend, which I thought would be great in the summer, the only problem is that I didn't have the slightest knowledge about "sailing". 4 girlfriends and myself decided we should find out more, so we hired a sailing instructor from Gabriola. We’re busy working our way through the reading material (Basic Cruising Skills) and set out for a day at sea this past Sunday. We left Degnen Bay at about 12 and sailed into the Nanaimo Harbour at about 4:30, under the direction of our patient instructor Oliver. Tonight it's a bit of theory work, then we have another 4 days of afloat sailing instruction.