Mom and Dad came out west for a visit and of course wanted to see our “new” place on Galiano. We spent a full weekend, heading over Friday morning and coming back Sunday afternoon. As we have with all of our visitors, we put them to work a little bit, but it was mostly a fun trip with lost of exploring.

The property was in full bloom for Mom and Dad’s visit.

We were on the morning ferry out to Galiano on Friday morning. Mom and Dad had been out in Manning Park for a few days after their arrival, so we picked them up at the car rental in Richmond before heading down to the ferry terminal. We arrived there in good time, and were able to have some breakfast while we waited to board. We were on our favorite ferry, the Salish Orca.

On arrival, we made our usual stop at the bakery for some supplies for the day, then made our way up to the property to show them around. Since our last visit, both power and water had been hooked up, which was very exciting. The place was almost livable! With the tent platform, we were pretty much set to camp. We toured them around and showed the full property, then we sat and had some lunch, enjoying the amazing afternoon. Eventually it was time to head back down to the south end, and get checked into our cabin for the weekend. As this trip was Mom and Dad’s Christmas gift, we had booked a pretty nice place, up on the cliff overlooking Active Pass.

We made good use of the deck and it’s view over Active Pass.

There were lots of furry visitors…

After getting settled in and exploring the cabin, we walked down to one of the water access points to look for whales or whatever else we might find. We didn’t see much, but it was a nice afternoon and we did see some new birds, and there was lots of boat and plane traffic through Active Pass.

Another view of the cabin for the weekend.

The foxgloves were in full bloom while we were there.

Dad exploring on the sandstone at the water access.

A float plane came in to land at Mayne Island while we were there.

There were lots of bald eagles soaring about over the weekend.

And the turkey vultures were quite plentiful as well.

And then the plane took off again.

On returning to the cabin, there were a few deer out and about.

As we were sitting on the deck Friday evening, we saw a Western Tanager - another new species!

We made dinner at the cabin, taking advantage of the excellent facilities. We were able to sit out on the deck until after it got dark, then moved inside and played cards until it was time for bed. It was a fun first day!

Saturday morning we got up and started with a quick walk down to the beach below us on Active Pass. This was one of the breaches we went to with Shawn and Mackenzie - just easier to reach from where we were staying. Earlier that morning the deer had been out, browsing in the trees around the bottom of the property. The walk down was nice - just the last part was the steep trail that you need to be careful with. On the trail down we passed a bald eagle sitting on tree branches that were pretty much at eye level for us from the trail. That’s not something you see regularly.

The beach is quite nice nice, a mixture of sand and pebbles and lots of shells. We spent a bunch of time wandering and checking things out. As the tide was fairly high, there wasn’t as much to see, but we did have a few seals poking about.

One of the little fawns we saw frequently over the weekend.

Heading down to the beach.

Mom and Dad exploring at the beach.

Dad off to check something out.

One of the seals that kept popping up.

After coming back from the beach we headed into “town” and went to the Saturday morning market that runs each Saturday through the summer. Our friends Alex and Fergus were camping on the island with their kids this weekend, and were at the market as well. We caught up for a bit while Mom and Dad had a look around. I’ll be honest - it’s not much of a market, so it’s easy to see it all pretty quickly. After that we stopped at the bakery again and grabbed some food for lunch then headed back up to the property.

It was a bit overcast with some high clouds, but the view is still pretty good.

For the afternoon, everyone chipped in and did some work. Mom and Justine worked at clearing broom and thistle, while Dad and I installed eavestrough on the utility shed. There were breaks to enjoy the view, have a beer or two and generally have a nice afternoon. Eventually we headed back to the cabin, BBQ’d for dinner and had a nice night.

Sunday we had a mid-afternoon ferry, so we only had part of the day to explore. Before heading up to the property, we made a quick stop at Bellhouse Park. It’s always good for some interesting things to see, and this time was no exception.

“The Birdwatchers” - My favourite picture from the weekend - the birds don’t stand a chance!

Dad out exploring on the sandstone.

The young bald eagle is starting to get big.

Our unique find this time was a pileated woodpecker.

Look at the size of the hole!

As we were leaving, a pacific wren started chirping - so much noise from such a small bird!

We went back up to the property but didn’t spend a lot of time there. On the way up, we took Mom and Dad to the sand caves near out place, which are quite cool.

Down at the dock before walking over to the sand caves, we noticed a kingfisher that stuck around for a while.

Dad hanging out.

We had a little white-crowned sparrow come check out what was going on.

Mom was exploring too.

We’ve seen this old cabin everytime we’ve gone up to the property. This time we stopped to have a look.

And managed to see some red-breasted sapsuckers! This one is a male…

…and this is a juvenile

One of the other lots on the road have done a great job encouraging the wildflowers.

We spent a little more time on the property, but soon it was time to head out. After heading back south, we made a quick stop at another beach access, to show Mom and Dad the seal colony.

Seals hanging out on the rocks in Active Pass.

From there it was off to a very busy ferry, and the short trip home.