The first of a couple of posts covering off the fun times we had with (most) of the family coming to visit us and spend some time on Galiano. We missed having Lisa and Ethan there, but had a nice visit and did lots of exploring. The weather cooperated (for the most part), providing us with what we needed to spend most of our time outdoors.

The week was split up into two parts - Shwan, Leanne, Mackenzie and Lane were with us for the first couple of days, and then they had to fly back home. Mom and Dad were then staying with us for the rest of the week, before starting their long drive home.

Mom and Dad had been staying at a trailer park closer to the ferry terminal, so we met them in the ferry line up on Wednesday morning. Mom and Dad were there before us, be we were both quite early. Shawn and co. were on the afternoon ferry, and would join us later in the day. Which worked out well as it gave us time to get organized.

You can see Mom and Dad’s trailer up at the front of the lanes.

Eventually, we got boarded, but it seemed we were running late, and it took a long time to get things sorted.

Boarded - finally on board and ready to depart!

It seems like almost a tight fit for the trailer. Which is odd considering the size of some of the vehicles they get on board.

Our new truck at the front of the ferry. Pulling into Sturdies Bay.

Thanks to COVID, we typically stay in the truck for the whole trip over. This time it paid off really well. We ended up standing by one of the open windows on the starboard side of the ship. Almost as soon as we pulled away from the ferry terminal, we were seeing wildlife! First it was porpoises, then eventually we saw a pod of orcas! Now that’s something we rarely see, so it was amazing to see them with Mom and Dad. They actually stayed in sight for quite a long time - but too far away to take any photos, as I just had my phone with me. What a great way to start the trip.

Eventually we got to Sturdies Bay, and made the short drive up to the cottage - the first time Mom and Dad had seen it, other than over FaceTime.

The trailer all set-up in place on the property.

We had to fix the alignment of the Starlink dish - seems I didn’t get it set-up correctly the first time.

Shawn had thought that we were going to have a hard time getting the trailer onto the property, as the entrance is a bit tight, and the turning space is limited. But Dad made it work easily, and we had the trailer set-up in no time.

We puttered around for the morning and early afternoon, and then Shawn, Leanne, Mackenzie and Lane arrived. It was too bad they only had a couple of days to spend with us, so we made sure to pack lots in. We found out that they had also see the pod of orcas on the way over, which was amazing. We didn’t have tp prove that the whales exist any more!

After getting everyone settled, we drove down to what we call our “low tide” beach. We call it that, because at low tide there’s always lots of very interesting things to see. That, and there’s almost always seals out on the rock out in Active Pass. And Shawn has a thing for seals that we discovered on the last trip.

This time, surprisingly, there were almost so seals. Which is strange. The tide wasn’t at its lowest, so we didn’t see as much as we might have liked. Still, it was a beautiful day, and there was lots to explore.

Out on the rocks, looking for whales. No such luck.

At one point a seal did swim over to check us all out.

After spending some time on the water, we headed further up the island to Bluffs Park. Bluffs Park, as the name suggests, sits high up on a bluff overlooking Active Pass. The views are amazing, and you see all the ferry traffic and other boats going through the pass. With the weather being so nice, it was the perfect day to sit up there and enjoy the sunshine.

There are some big trees up in Bluffs Park, including this big fir that’s just primed for climbing!

It was all good until Lane got stuck and needed rescuing!

Thursday was our last day all together. In the morning we went down to the new beach access near the bottom of the property. It gave us a chance to show everyone the full extent of the property, and then to check out a new beach access that none of them had seen before.

As the tide was out, we were able to scramble along the shore line for quite a distance. There was lots to check out.

Lane didn’t want to risk getting wet to get out to where Shawn and Mackenzie had vantured.

Mackenzie and Shawn were pushing their luck a little bit, risking being stranded as the tide came in.

In the afternoon we headed down to Montague Harbour to explore the beach and do the fun walk out on the little peninsula. Sadly, it wasn’t warm enough to go for a swim, and so we did not get into the water.

There was lots to explore on the beach at Montague.

A purple star in the rocks at the water’s edge.

After spending a little bit of time on the beach, we headed over to the short trail that works its way along the water, around the small peninsula. It’s one of my favourite walks (not really a hike), as we’ve seen lots of cool things here over the years.

There are a lot of really big arbutus trees along the walk, as well as great views of the straight and the harbour at Montague.

Dad goofing around - would you expect anything less?

Such a cute picture!

Shawn and Dad walking on the beach.

The arbutus trees were all peeling their back, and with the weather, the greens and oranges really shone through. This is the best time of year for these trees.

Towards the end of the hik, there’s a set of rocks, some small caves in the sandstone, and it looks back over the marina. We spent a little bit of time exploring this area before wrapping up the walk and heading back.

There were many game sf washers played over the week!

Sadly, our time together came to an end. Shawn and his part of the family headed back to Vancouver on Friday for their flight home on Saturday, while MOm and Dad stayed on the island for a couple of more days. I’ll do that update shortly.