Ganges Harbour, British Columbia, CanadaSalt Spring Island - Part II
Good morning sunshine
when you hear the horns of the ferry then you know it is time
to get up. With the coffee we went again to the bluffs – because this is the
best spot to be in the morning. After Gine checked out another bluff with more
benches and a view around the corner we packed up our RV – because we decided
why should we have breakfast in the shaded forest when we can have it in the
sunshine. By the way did I mention, for being such an environmental island:
there are not garbage bins in this provincial park!!! (at least we couldn’t find any) Yesterday we
dropped them off in town and today we took it with us again.
Drummond Park
this little park is around Fulford Harbour and with grassy
areas and nice benches in the sun: the perfect spot for breakfast. And right at
the parking lot they built a supercool fence which is perfect for doing dishes
on... we then started to walk along the shoreline – Gine a bit further than
Paul: Paul decided it looks nice right where he can sit.
St Pauls Church & Cemetery
We also discovered a super cute little stone church named
after Paul with an old cemetery overlooking the harbour, and what I thougth was
interesting when they had a plague because 67 graves were not marked anymore.
And when we crossed the bridge we discovered another piano:
this time someone was playing. (Did I mention we saw yesterday one in Ganges
and Gine played!!!)
Fulford Harbour
Gine read about this cute little village – I would not call
it a village, it’s more like 5 stores around the ferry terminal. Lucky for us,
one car left the parking spot and it was enough for us to park in... after a
quick check in the store as well as the organic bakery we decided enough seen.
And so we drove to the Otter Bay Terminal – thinking we could
spend the rest of the afternoon at this park: when we got told that we are way
to early and we should come back 15 Min before the ferry leaves: that was after
we said that we want to go to Pender Island the lady told us this is the ferry
to Tsawwassen – when Gine asked “where is then the ferry to Pender” she looked
up on a piece of paper and said: also here but this afternoon.
Ganges town Part 2
And so we went back to Ganges – trying to find a parking
spot... after driving around we found one in front of a bike store and see
there they have Electra bikes – one looking actually super cute and they had
Paul’s one too. A quick stop at the
Heiwa Park or Peace park which we were done within 5 Minutes:
- the Japanese came here early already in 1901 from 558 residents on Saltspring with 59 being Japanese
- in 1927 it was discussed to limit Asian immigration. Then in 1941 with the attack on Pearl Harbour war was declared and in 1942 22.000 Japanese Canadian men, women and children were removed from a 100-mile wide zone along the BC coast. In 1946 Japanese Canadians denied option to resettle in BC many moved to Eastern Canada and over 4000 were send back to war-Japan. It was only in 1949 that the Japanese Canadian were allowed to move freely in Canada.
- Haiwe is Japanese and it means peace – the park was made for the Canada’s 125th anniversary
and back through the
little back roads, checking out the bakeries , walking along the harbour for
some nice views and we discovered that the gate to the Marina is open: that is
when Gine found her perfect boat – which was a different one from Pauls idea of
a perfect boat. By the way we had to take a picture of the coast guard cleaning
a boat!!! I wonder how many people do that.
Long Harbour Ferry Terminal
time to head back to the ferry – and the cars for the
previous ferry (which should have left 20 Minutes ago) are still standing and waiting...
so finally we got our spot and the lady measured the length of our RV!! 25 Ft
and no Seniors discount because it is Friday. Time for coffee and with some
cute picnic tables overlooking Long harbour we have a perfect spot – Gine even
ventured down to the water.
Welburry Park
there is a little park right at the ferry station: the wait
line for the ferry is the best parking spot for it. With a 275 m long trail it
is perfect for a little walk with bay view and lots of Arbutus trees – a little
enchanted inukchuck stone village... and we end up at a little bench. Time to
go back and onto the ferry to the next of the Southern Gulf Islands.
2025-05-22