Saturna Island: A Hilly Little Island
The weather over the spring wasn’t ideal to say the least… We got more rainy days than sun and it just felt like the seasons forgot to change. So we were all surprised that for the weekend we had planned to go to Saturna the forecast showed nothing but sun. That was more like it.
We met another friend and his two boys in Tsawwassen and we all rode together a few kilometers till the ferry terminal. Although we were there with plenty of time, the ferry crew decided to let us wait till they boarded all the cars and only then let us on. Not cool. In Victoria we had some time to kill so it meant an ice cream for everyone.
The ferry to Saturna was smaller and the crew was a lot friendlier. At one point we found all the boys eating popsicles. It turned out that the captain handed them out to our group of kids. Energized with sugar from eating both ice creams and popsicles within half an hour they ran shirtless all around the upper deck, but luckily no one seemed to mind. Two boys that live on Saturna joined them for the fun. On the ferry we also met up with our friends who invited us on this trip.
Once on Saturna we remembered how hilly it is. The hills were steep but luckily not too long and all the kids did really well while riding, even the little ones. Our other friends were driving so they arrived at the campsite way before us. All we had was a way point and we weren’t exactly sure where we were going. But Saturna isn’t a big island and finally we arrived at the spot. It wasn’t the official campground on Saturna but rather a shared property of a friend of our friends. It was a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean, with a covered area and a fireplace and lots of room for the tents and for the kids to run around.
In the morning we woke up and headed to the beach just in time to see a group of orcas passing by in the far distance. There was also a group of bald eagles eating some raccoon leftovers. One of the families woke up very early because of their kids and headed to the beach where they witnessed the eagles killing that raccoon. It sounded like a National Geographic movie.
The weekend included a lot of play time, exploration of different beaches and a few rides on the island. We checked out the lighthouse and then the kids’ beach. There we bumped into the same boys from the ferry that were happy to have some company to hang out with. It’s a small island and there aren’t many kids around, so with our group of kids it felt like a party. We also met people we know from Vancouver, small world.
It was also two of the girls’ third birthday which was actually the reason for the trip so a lot of cake was consumed and we had a little dance party. Most of the time everyone just wanted to hang out on the beach – soaking in the sun and views.
When it was time to head back to the ferry we were thinking we’d have to go through Victoria again since we didn’t have a reservation. But surprisingly there were spots on the shorter ferry and we just needed to make a quick change on Mayne Island.
Back in Tsawwassen we rode back to our cars and said goodbye to our friends. During the trip someone mentioned Ethiopian food for some reason, so we decided to head to Fassil for dinner. It is our favourite Ethiopian place in town and we hadn’t been there in a long time. The kids enjoyed eating with their hands and it was a great ending to a terrific sunny weekend.
