gabriola car camping | FindPenguins

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Trip start
June 16, 2022
gabriola car camping Traveler
ferry
June 16, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
very early morning start we were in the 615 ferry. a wet crossing but we were allowed up on the top deck with the dog. I guess at that time if the morning no one is going to complain. the ferry from naniamo to gabriola was first come first serve but runs frequently so we got to the campsite by 9 am. they allowed us to check in early so we got to work setting up camp. tarps first as it was raining!Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
descano bay campsite 25
June 16, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
pwalked out at low tide was far as we could go. couldn't walk in the middle as it was very muddy. I sank up to my ankle. some beautiful sandstone rock formations. the sun was out and it was nice to sit in the warmth of sun...but we could see a storm brewing over naniamo so we thought we should head back. sure enough it started to pour for about 30 minutes. then the sun came back...Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
malaspina galleries
June 16, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
we walked on a trail out of decasno regional park up to the road then another trail out to the end of the point until we hit a fence. great views of where we were sitting earlier in the day. we went back up on the road and again went as far as we could and we found a little yellow cinder block that said "public access"....and a rope to assist you down to the beach. because it had rained earlier and the tide was coming in we did not go down....but what a view across the narrow bay! the malaspina galleries......now how to get to then???? without driving....Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
malaspina galleries
June 16, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
we found a community trail called James way....not st James way....and that took us to malaspina drive and then down to the gallery. it was windy. a local told us there was a westerly blowing and there were actual waves for a change. the galleries were very cool. a great ledge to walk on and this overlying rock Crest shaped like a wave that protected you. its caused by a different rate of erosion of the sandstone and also the salts that accumulate in the sandstone. partly due to ocean spray and partly due to water percolation in the soil. some of the sandstone has iron in it so makes it more resistant to erosion and forms the cap like structure. apparently Malaspina wrote about them in his journals in 1792 and the artist on board his ship did a sketch.....which is now in the naval museum in Madrid!Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
decasno regional park
June 16, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
wander back to campground. saw an old water pump. and the sun came out in time for dinner
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gabriola car camping Traveler
campsite
June 17, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
it's been a while since we car camped....2011 cross canada train trip for kendras high school grad when we camped in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and hostetled in the Gaspe. our old equpment worked!.
..although we did have to replace the stove and we could not get the old white gas style had to get a propane one. the tent held and the tarp over it worked well when it rained ......but when the sun shone what a beautiful spot!!Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
walk joyce lockwood park to elder cedar
June 17, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
we explored the whalebone area on the north east side of the island . at the end of the road was joyce lockwood park and a trail along the bluffs to the elder cedar reserve where there are some old grown Cedar, doug fir and big leaf maple trees. a very pretty treed walk. the ferns were almost as high as us!Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
beach at joyce lockwood
June 17, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
the tide had come in while we walked the bluff trail. lots of rocks and an interesting layer of ?Shale? that crumbled easily.
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gabriola car camping Traveler
sunset
June 17, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
sunset
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gabriola car camping Traveler
morning coffee
June 18, 2022 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 11 °C
view from the sunset bench first thing in the morning.
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gabriola car camping Traveler
silva bay
June 18, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Silva bay on the east side of Gabriola. There was another of the yellow public access cinder blocks and a trail between two properties. The one property was for sale only 7.2 my. Moonshine cove.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlfVBdDSHoE
Our first attempt to find the path took us to Pages Marina, an old Japanese Fish camp in the mid 1930's that after WWII, when the Canadian govt forcibly removed the Koyamas and Haminakas families it was then bought by the Page brothers. They in turn sold it to The Reeve's -a librarian and transplant physician from Vancouver- in 1987. They made it an arts centre and Marina. Today their kids are still operating it, it had a nice campground too.
There was also a shipyard, Witheys Silva Bay Shipyard. He moved there in 1945 just after wwII and built wooden boats. They didn't have electricity till 1955 when Gabriola finally got electrical power.
The entrance to Silva Bay is quite tricky. There is the Gabriola reef that extends out and 2 miles east of Silva bay in 1880 a sailing ship, the Thrasher, loaded with Dunsmuir coal from Naniamo was headed to San Francisco. It struck a sunken rock and they were unable to get her off the rock.
our visit was not as eventful, tide was out, there were some iron rings in the rocks we were sitting on and a couple of float planes took off down the narrow Chanel but just a beautiful spot to sit in the sun. It did look much windier out towards the open ocean where the sailboats were sailing, but nice and calm where we were sitting.Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
drumberg provincial park
June 18, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
We drove to Drumberg provincial park. It is a garry oak /arbutus meadow zone!!! one of my favorite plant zones in the province, along with the Ponderosa pine/bunchgrass zone. Garry oak meadows are dry with lots of spring bulbs, camass which were finished blooming., onion, fritalarias. This park's southern tip is very close to Valdes island, and the narrow channel between these two island the current is flowing very fast. You can hear the water rushing. We saw one boat that didn't look like it was going to make it through the current was so strong.
Drumberg is named for the former Scottish home of one of the original owners Neil Stalker. There are lots of shell middens in the area. The province purchased the property in 1971.Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
last day, morning coffee
June 19, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
It had rained overnight.......again.....but the clouds were slowly clearing and it was fairly dry when we went out to the sunset bench for morning coffee.
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gabriola car camping Traveler
sandwell provincial park
June 19, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
after packing up camp....and leaving a tad late, we drove to this beach. there were a lot of big trees along the slope and some beautiful rocks. I couldn't find any petroglyphs but it looked like a spot where there could be some. the path along the beach was an elevated berm with a marsh on the one side...some birdies in there and on the other side a clump of wildflowers grasses and Roses that were in bloom. it was nice and protected behind the Roses and a beautiful smell. we ate lunch tucked in behind the rocks to stay out of the wind. on the walk back the sun came out and we watched an immature eagle eat something on the beach. a very nice quiet spot on this day.Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
gabriola sands
June 19, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
checked out this beach. it is actually twin beaches where you can walk around the point. we went from Pilot bay to Taylor bay around Decourcy point. the beaches were beautiful fine sand and the point had that sandstone shelf. easy to walk on. terrific views of the summer sun sets from here.
Pilot bay was where the 2 Spanish schooners Sutil and the Mexicana dropped anchor in 1792. Dionisio Alcala Galioano named the spot Cala del Descano....cove of rest. they traded with the first nations settlement x'c'umi:l'ucun a snuneymucxw first nations settlement that was in Taylor bay. they traded iron and Monterey abalone shells for smoked fish and cloaks woven from the hair of the white dog that the first nations kept. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/artic…
we saw a great exhibit at moa a few years back where they had some of these very old blankets on display. they were very warm and had beautiful patterns woven into them.
we also saw and heard oystercatchers playing and searching for food in the seaweed. they have a beautiful long orange bill. and a very distinctive call.
It was hot enough to actually put on the bathing suit and lie in the sun!!Read more
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gabriola car camping Traveler
dinner in naniamo
June 19, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
we left gabriola on the 540 ferry thinking that we would have at least a 2 ferry wait. turns out there is no wait because they now have 2 new ferries that started up in April. we met an islander on the ferry who was heading to the queen tribute concert in naniamo...its just a short walk to the theater from the ferry. she said there is a population cap on the island. I hope she is right as too many people will ruin a beautiful tranquil piece of paradise.
we wandered around naniamo. joce sea wall walk and we found the water taxi access to new castle which we must have taken years ago when the kids and us and snoutzy walked on the ferry to camp on Newcastle.
had a lovely father's day /birthday dinner at a dockside Mexican restaurant where we were allowed to keep the dog with us on the patio....very progressive! and the food was yummy!! snapper fish tacos and I had enchilada rancheros
https://www.pennyspalapa.com/Read more
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Trip end
June 19, 2022