April 5, 2019 - The Gulf Islands are the islands in the Strait of Georgia (also known as the Salish Sea or the Gulf of Georgia) between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia. The division of the Gulf Islands into two groups, the Southern and Northern Gulf Islands, is relatively common.

The first trip was made to Salt Spring Island in March, followed by a camping trip to Galiano Island in June. Hooked, my partner, Gilles Rousseau, and I continued the adventures and explored Saturna and Mayne in September and finished off our bucket list by visiting Pender Island in October. No matter what time of year, the scenery was similar – and similarly breathtaking – every time we rode to the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal early in the morning. The sun was coming up and the clouds were slowly lifting on the meadows by the Lochside Trail on the way to Sidney. Our first destination was Salt Spring Island. Looking back, we were “e-bike touring rookies” at best: underestimating the range of our bikes, overrating the safety of a fully charged battery and so much more. We travelled fairly light – one set of panniers holding both of our clothes and a backpack each with a charger and snacks.

#1 – Salt Spring Island

We left in the early morning to catch the 9 a.m. ferry from Swartz Bay. However, we didn’t make the ferry. But that didn’t bother us too much as it actually gave us more time to recharge our batteries at the terminal. The 42-kilometre ride from home to the ferry didn’t drain the battery entirely – and yet, not really knowing what was ahead of us, we felt safer.

Being renowned as a very hilly island and without any previous (e-)bike touring experience on our side, we played it safe and had reserved a hotel room for the night. We took the road less travelled to Ganges, hanging a right after getting off the ferry at Fulford Harbour. A little side tour to Ruckle Provincial Park (what a nice campsite) and the Salt Spring Island Cheese Company (where I bought way too much goat cheese to eat in one day) took us up and down the mountains of the southern island. We joyfully kept repeating ourselves how much of a breeze the ride was and that we wouldn’t want to do it any other way.

At that point, being quite the “e-bike-rookies,” upon arrival in Ganges we called it a cycling-day. Apart from not wanting to sit on a bicycle seat anymore, we weren’t sure how much farther our batteries would take us. Our hotel in Ganges didn’t have designated bike, or e-bike, parking, but was generous enough to let us store our e-bikes in the staff room. All locked up and the batteries plugged in inside our hotel room, we explored Ganges on foot.

The next morning, we loaded up the bikes – we didn’t really have much: two panniers and a backpack each – and headed north. The bigger loop, the bigger expectation when it comes to beaches and sights. Unfortunately, those expectations were not met as it was mostly private land with rarely any beach access once you are on the northwestern side of the island. But the ride was nice, and we decided to stop at Salt Spring Island Ales before catching the ferry back to the “big island.”

We figured with e-bike touring it’s all about timing and logistics, especially when it comes to recharging the battery. Arriving at Fulford Harbour a bit earlier than necessary gave us some time to recharge our batteries, as we knew we had a 42-kilometre ride home ahead of us, which included headwind and some hills.

#2 – Galiano

Needless to say, we were hooked. Travelling by e-bike not only extends the length of your trip, it also removes the strenuous part of cycling (uphill) from the equation and allows you to carry a couple of things (such as camping gear) and not feel much of a difference. As they say, e-bikes flatten the hills – and yes, it’s true.

Our next island adventure took us camping on Galiano Island in June. Two nights, three days – without the guaranteed comfort of charging our batteries overnight. This time, we had a set of panniers each, a tent and the good old milk crate for more camping-cooking needs – a very different experience compared to the trip to Salt Spring Island in so many ways.

We booked two nights at the Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park campsite in advance – this feature is available in the summer, and we were happy we had done so as the campsite was full when we arrived. We had a nice spot by the water with views over the harbour, and after dinner (with some of the best fried potato ever), we explored the surroundings and watched a beautiful sunset.

We didn’t think much of it when we saw the first raccoon roaming around the campground – or the second one just sneaking out of a tent. But once we returned to our tent, we realized how smart they are: they had opened our tent’s zipper and got Gilles’ jacket. If it hadn’t been for them fighting over the dog-treat crumbs in one of the pockets, we would not have noticed that those rascals had actually dragged it out of our tent and into the bushes. And even though we stored everything in the cache, they kept coming back, regularly checking our tent for more treats. The campsite has now issued a “raccoon bulletin.”

Camping requires a little flexibility, especially when you don’t know if the campsite provides somewhere to plug in the battery. Since we didn’t have a chance to charge the batteries overnight, plus we gone a couple of kilometres the day before with camping gear in tow (just getting to the ferry from home is 42 kilometres), we decided to take it easy and stick around the southern part of Galiano and explore the Bluffs. Maybe not the most suitable bikes for the terrain, however the e-bike’s assist (thanks, Bosch Performance CX motor) worked just fine. We made it all the way up and around, taking in the view over the Active Pass and soaking up the sun on the rounded rocks of Bellhouse Provincial Park.

Once back at the campsite in the afternoon with almost entirely drained batteries, we found the Park Operators – and a power outlet. The good thing about the Bosch system is that you don’t need any special adapters – just like a toaster, you plug it in wherever there is a wall socket. We charged our batteries right next to the ice machine and even had them delivered, together with some firewood, to our campsite later in the evening.

The next day, it was time to break down the tent and load up the bikes for the ride home. Our batteries were fully charged, so we didn’t have to hang out at the ferry terminal too long before departure time. Nonetheless, we charged the batteries one last time on the ferry, just for our peace of mind. With 42 kilometres and a steady headwind on the way home, you don’t want to run out of battery, especially with all the gear.

#3 – Saturna, #4 – Mayne

When we started planning our next island adventure for September, consulting ferry schedules and such, we figured that we might as well knock two islands off of our bucket list in one trip. We wanted to go camping again, preferably provincial or national parks’ campsites, but weren’t too sure about distances and elevation should we not have the opportunity to charge our batteries fully over night. Even though the battery charges halfway in only two hours (or fully in four hours), we didn’t want to spend that time in a cafe or sitting around – we wanted to ride our bicycles.

Since the ferry stopped at Lyall Harbour on Saturna first before arriving at Village Bay on Mayne, we decided to hop off on Saturna and take the coastal route to the East Point Lighthouse. Our batteries were almost fully charged thanks to the ferry ride and we were not afraid of hills anymore even with all our luggage. We took our time and made it a day, exploring some hidden beaches and cruising along the coast. We pretty much had the roads to ourselves – a few cars and cyclists happily greeted us when passing. So far, Saturna had the friendliest vibe of all.

We returned to Lyall Harbour with a bit of time on our hands to charge up the batteries before heading on to Mayne, where we had booked a campsite at Mayne Island Camping for the night. The final ferry ride of the day was rather short, and we didn’t bother to charge the batteries. Once landed on Mayne Island, we made our way straight to the campsite to get settled. We should have gone to “town” for our shopping needs before doing so, since everything closed at 6 p.m. Still, we made the most of it and treated ourselves to a really nice dinner and even found a loophole in B.C.’s liquor law on how to get a bottle of wine after liquor-store hours.

Contrary to what we had assumed when booking the campsite – it being somewhat serviced – we didn’t have the possibility to charge our batteries overnight, so it was a good thing we had charged them up at the ferry terminal on Saturna. That juice easily got us to the Georgina Point Lighthouse and around the northern loop of Mayne Island, and that’s all we really wanted. And even though we had looked into distances and ride duration, we still had quite a bit of time on our hands before catching the mid-day ferry back home so we took a lovely side trip to the Japanese Garden.

On the ferry, we took the batteries off one last time to fully charge them for the ride home – more for our peace of mind than out of necessity. For a change, the 42-kilometre ride to the Westshore was smooth and we didn’t have to pedal against the wind that usually freshens up in the afternoon – cruising times!

#5 – Pender Island(s)

Our last island adventure of the season took us to the Pender Islands for two nights in early October. We knew camping was out and always wanted to try a tiny home. We found the Orca Cove Tiny House on Airbnb – conveniently located smack in the middle of the two islands, a stone’s throw from the canal.

After experiencing early store-closing hours on Mayne, this time we were prepared – we played it safe and brought our own food for the first night. No camping gear freed up two panniers – dessert included. We got on the bikes as soon as the sun was up and stopped at our usual “breakfast spot” in Sidney for some sweet treats with a view. We were fast, perhaps due to appropriately inflated tires (the right tire pressure does make a difference, especially with e-bikes!), less luggage, a supportive tailwind, or just having found our rhythm.

The ferry was 35 minutes late, apparently too much traffic on a weekday. That didn’t bother us much as we were in vacation mode. And not being “e-bike rookies” anymore, we didn’t even bother to charge the batteries while waiting for the ferry. We knew we had approximately a one-and-half-hour ferry ride ahead of us, which is plenty of time to recharge. Due to the heavy vehicle traffic on Mayne, there was even more time, so we ended up with fully charged batteries. Good thing, as Pender was hillier than expected.

When we rolled off the ferry at the Otter Bay ferry terminal on North Pender, it started raining. Once all the cars had unloaded, the drizzle turned into heavy raindrops. Not too stoked about that, we got on the bikes. We had another 10 kilometres ahead of us, approximately a half-hour ride. After approximately 20 minutes, the sky cleared and the sun came out. So we did a little side trip to the Mortimer Spit before checking into our tiny house.

It wasn’t too late and it was just so nice out that we decided to explore the south of North Pender – Pirates Road (*Aarrr) took us almost all the way to the tip and to the Oaks Bluff on our way back. If it wasn’t for a cyclist coming out of the viewpoint’s parking lot, we would have not known of such a beautiful view over the islands, well worth the short (and somewhat steep) hike.

The next day, we went all the way to the southern tip of South Pender (catching a good glimpse of Mount Baker) to Brooks Point – riding Canal Road is so much fun! The road is in excellent condition with almost no traffic and those rolling hills – it was one of the few moments when I wished I had my human-only-powered road bike. On the way back, we had to do a little detour (short but steep – happy to have the assist here) to the grocery store. It was a Wednesday, so the Tourist Information office was open. Keep in mind that travelling during the off-season can be challenging for store-opening hours.

On our last day, we took the long way back to the ferry terminal via Hope Bay and Port Washington, and some of the views along the way were just breathtaking. And if it weren’t for the e-bikes, we never would have travelled Bridges Road and found this little gem of a beach.

As usual, we arrived a little early at the terminal, which allowed us to charge up the batteries for our ride home from Swartz Bay. The ferry from Pender to Vancouver Island was short so we didn’t bother to take the batteries off the bikes. And since the weather was so nice and we were in no rush, we decided to take the Lochside Trail and the Galloping Goose Trail all the way to downtown Victoria and extend the ride home via the E&N Trail along the docks and through View Royal back on the Goose out to the Westshore. Our amazing new adventures by e-bike delivered memories of a lifetime.