A view of the Island.

If you'd like to keep an eye on Gabriola, the Island has a few web cams that you may want to check out. One of the web cams has views of the Straight of Georgia, with Entrance Island as the focal point, it gives you a good indication of the current weather, on the website you'll also find videos of community events, Gabriola Georgia Strait Cam. The other website that is very useful when you are trying to determine what the ferry traffic conditions leaving the Island are like is the ferry cam website which has three different vantage points of the line up. Take a minute and enjoy the view from here.

Gabriola Campground- Descanso Bay

Located just a short distance from the Gabriola ferry terminal, Descanso Bay Regional Park offers 32 camping sites on a beautiful 40-acre oceanfront property. There are three bays, one of which is a designated shellfish-harvesting beach (check for closures). There is also a great picnic/day use area with gorgeous sandstone beaches. Just off the shore is this small "island" that makes the perfect destination for those that would like to do a quick little paddle. To make reservations at the campground located at 595 Taylor Bay Road call 1 250 247-8255.

Cistern rebate on Gabriola Island.

The Regional District of Nanaimo is currently offering a rebate of $500 for those that install a cistern (minimum of 1,000 gallons) on Gabriola if you meet the criteria. The "Rainwater Harvesting Incentive Program" is in response to the growing population in the area and the increasing demand on water resources. As the population of the Regional District of Nanaimo continues to grow, reducing demand on water resources and water systems will become increasingly important. I think this is a great initiative and one worth looking into quickly as they have a limited number of rebates available, if you go to the RDN website you can get the application form, details and a list of suppliers.

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

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.

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

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/