Sidney Island: Another World

Bus, SkyTrain, bus, ferry, bus, ferry. That bewildering series of six transportation modes was how we got to Sidney Island from Vancouver using public transportation. It took only five hours… Since we knew it would be a bit of an ordeal, we decided to go for two days. It helped to adopt a mindset that the journey is worthwhile, not just the destination. Still it was a bit tiring. Neil fell asleep on the bus to Sidney, and after we got off continued sleeping on the sidewalk, to the amusement of passerby. With difficulty we finally managed to wake him, with promises of a visit to the Sidney Bakery.

One quirk we had noted in advance was that there was no reliable source of freshwater on Sidney Island (at least when we went). This meant we had to bring a lot of water with us. (Dis)-organized as we are, we arrived to the pier with our empty containers, just to find no convenient place to fill up. The restaurant owners next door begrudgingly allowed us to fill up at the restaurant, pointing out that they are often full (they were empty…) and that next time we should bring our own water with us. Point taken.

Once we got off the tiny ferry on to Sidney Island, it felt like we were in another world. Gone was the modest hustle and bustle of Sidney, and there was just… quiet. We walked our heavy packs, due to carrying over 20 liters of water, to the campground and found our camp site. It was at the edge of a weird prairie-like area with no shade, and the sun was pounding away. I could almost imagine we were in the Savannah in Africa… Later our friends Pascale and Ignacio arrived with their kids, and we had a nice dinner together.

The next morning we cooked up some mango pancakes with maple syrup, yum! Pancakes are our usual luxury for trips when we are able to carry a bit more weight. Then we set out to explore Sidney Spit – a long sand bar, about 1.5kms long that one can walk along during low tide. Once the tide comes in, most of the sand bar is covered with water, with just the end protruding. So, it’s all about getting the timing right. After some playing in the sand and with the many dead crabs we found, we headed back to camp. On the way back, we discovered that one of the kids had thrown her sandals, and only footwear for this trip, into the high grass next to the trail, during a tantrum. Over the next day we all took turns looking for them, to no avail. Luckily we had brought both shoes and sandals for Neil, and he was happy to share.

When we got back to the campground, we moved camp to a site closer to the water with a lot more shade. It had a totally different atmosphere from the African Savannah site of the night before, complete with the remains of the previous campers’ watermelon. The improved beach access at the new site allowed the kids more time there. Neil engaged with his creative side and made some nice drawings in the wet sand. Kai tried to crawl into the sea, appropriately for his name, which means “sea” in Hawaiian. The beach was covered in red bricks, an unusual sight. The bricks are the remains from a brick factory that operated there at the beginning of the 20th century and supplied Vancouver.

The next day we decided we had time for a short hike. We walked south, past Eagle Island, presumably named for the many eagles we saw in the area. At the end of the bay we reached a beach where we had a snack, and headed back. After packing up quickly, and a last look for the lost sandals, we reversed our arduous-sounding route, which was actually quite pleasant and easy. This time we sat on the second floor of the double-decker bus from Sidney to Swartz Bay – what a lovely view one gets from the front window. Everyone was a bit disappointed that we got to ride on the only ferry (on this route) that doesn’t have the famous “unlimited” self serve ice cream. The mothers took a quick nap on the ferry, in the sun, and later the older kids fell asleep on the bus back to Richmond. In the rush to get off the bus we must have lost Neil’s sun glasses, so we made a quick emergency stop at MEC to get new ones – his eyes are very sensitive. We had some decent bowls of ramen  at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, in what is becoming a new Little Japan corner (Cambie and Broadway). A tasty end to yet another weekend spent on a new (to us) island, away from it all, another world.