So You Want to Live on Gabriola Island? Read This First!

A view of the lighthouse on Entrance Island, from Orlebar Point on Gabriola.

By Gary Symons

So, you're thinking of moving to Gabriola Island?

First of all, you're obviously very intelligent, so congratulations for that.

But secondly, before you take the plunge, take a bit of time to read our guide to Gabriola Island living. While it's true the island offers a fantastic quality of life for the people who live here, it's equally valid that life on a small island isn't for everyone.

On the plus side, you get to enjoy a friendly and tight-knit community, the stunning beauty of the Gulf Islands and the Salish Sea, an immense variety of natural attractions, and a surprisingly rich and varied cultural life.

Canada's Best Small Island?

Having visited and thoroughly investigated all of the larger islands among the Southern Gulf Island archipelago, I feel Gabriola Island is for most people the best of the smaller islands to live on anywhere in Canada. And when I say small, it's not actually that small. The land mass is roughly the same as the Bahamas, and two-thirds the size of Manhattan ... but with a slightly smaller population.

It enjoys a unique combination of factors that make it not only enjoyable, but more convenient than the other nearby islands in the southern Gulf Island archipelago. In that sense, it's a great choice for anyone who truly wants to experience the joys of island life, but also wants the convenience of access to city amenities and airports.

The best things about Gabriola, in my mind, is the combination of a rich cultural and artistic environment, filled with musicians, writers and artists, added to the stunning natural beauty. Gabriola is blessed to have groups like GALTT, which has worked hard to ensure people have easy access to pretty much the entire shoreline, as well as a massive network of hiking trails.

Island Living, City Amenities

One great thing about Gabriola is that BC Ferries runs two ferries an hour during the day to Nanaimo, which is only 25 minutes away. The ferry leaves roughly every 35 minutes to and from Gabriola, and lands right in the heart of downtown, across the street from a shopping centre called Port Place. You'll find a large Thrifty's grocery store, a London Drugs store, and a wide variety of retail shops, restaurants, pubs, and nightclubs within easy walking distance. While there's a good grocery store on Gabriola, the Nesters market, many islanders also take advantage of bulk buying at the Costco in Nanaimo, just 15 minutes drive from the ferry terminal.

One of the greatest bonuses of living on Gabriola is that the ferry runs more often than on other Gulf Islands, and many people here work at full-time jobs on Vancouver Island, and high school students also attend school in the Nanaimo area.

Access to Vancouver and the mainland is also fairly simple. The Hullo Ferry is within walking distance of the Gabriola ferry, (although I'd recommend taking their free shuttle) and whisks you from Nanaimo to Vancouver harbour in just 70 minutes. If you need more speed, there's a seaplane dock at the Silva Bay marina on Gabriola, where Gulf Island Air will land you at the Vancouver Convention Centre in only 20 minutes.

Gabriola Amenities

It's nice to know you have access to a lot of extra shops and services, but in reality, Gabriola is well equipped for people who never want to leave the island. In fact, I know many people who haven't left Gabriola in years!

As the second most populated of the Gulf Islands, Gabriola has enough people to support a bustling little village with lots of shops, a grocery store, hardware store, lumber yard, drug store, restaurants, pubs, and a variety of shops. As I often say to my city-living friends and family, Gabriola Village may not have everything you want, but it does have everything you need!

Entertainment

Moving from a bigger city to a tiny island community, I did wonder if there would be enough to do on Gabriola Island, but in fact, I go out to events more now than I ever did, even in Vancouver or Toronto.

The reason is that Gabriola is a haven for artists, writers, actors, directors, and musicians, so there are always a lot of events to attend. The island is also very friendly, so it's easy to get to know people.

In addition to the concerts, theatre performances, art shows and so on, there are also roughly four different Open Mic events at any given time, so musicians have a lot of options to go out and play.

The Skol Pub, which hosted a lot of the concerts, open mics, karaoke nights and DJ events, has recently closed, but other venues have picked up the slack. There are two Open Mic nights at the Surf Lodge, which also hosts frequent concerts on weekends. The Gabriola Golf Club also hosts two Open Mic nights and weekly concerts. It's expected the Skol will reopen in the near future, and will again offer more events.

The Gabriola Arts Council has helped make the island a hub for the artists who work here, creating a handy map and guide to all the artist's studios around the island. There are around five dozen different art studios that are open to the public, identified by signage that identifies each studio by number. The art available paintings, sculpture, metal work, blown glass, pottery and pretty much anything else you can think of. One of our recent prizes is a beautiful scallop shell that was hand painted by a local artist, for example.

Is Island Life For You?

Gabriola really is a dream come true for people who love its natural beauty and friendly atmosphere, but on the other side of the coin, life on a small island where you are dependent on the ferry is not for everyone, and we have also found in our time on the island that you do have to be more self reliant than in a larger community.

A good example is water supply. There is no municipal water, so most people have their own well, or a combination of a well and a rainwater collection system. Some people, including me, rely only on collecting rainwater from our roof collection system for all of our water, including our drinking water.

That required us to learn how to manage our own water system, including replacing the filters and UV lights, and maintaining a clean roof and gutters to facilitate water collection. As well, because the gutters on our new home weren't installed as evenly as they should have been, we were losing precious water during heavy rains, and had to remove and then reinstall most of our gutters so they would flow properly.

I've also taken down dead trees with a chainsaw, bucked it up into firewood, dug out a jammed up creek, and many other tasks that wouldn't ever have occurred to me before moving to Gabriola from a big city.

While you can hire people to do all these things for you, some of the things you'll have to learn how to live with wouldn't even occur to you unless you've lived in a remote rural areal in the past.

What Happens When the Lights Go Out?

One of the challenges you'll face as a transplant from the city is the dark, and another is the power outages we experience, which are both more frequent and longer lasting.

There are no street lights across most of the island, so when it's a stormy or moonless night, it's pretty much impossible to get around without a flashlight. People here commonly wear reflective clothing and head lamps if they plan to walk at night, and cars drive extremely slowly, both to avoid pedestrians, but also to avoid the many deer who live on the island and often come out at dusk.

All of that is exacerbated when the power goes out. As an island, Gabriola is last on the list for repair crews, so when there is a major outage, it may take days to get your power back.

However, if you're properly prepared, it's not that big a deal. We essentially put together an emergency kit so that when the power goes out, we still have heat, light, and the ability to cook. If you really are moving here, I'd recommend picking up the following as a basic list.

• First, a generator, preferably of 9,000 or more watts to power your entire house.

• Secondly, good flashlights with large batteries, such as the type you get in power tool sets. I have two Dewalt flashlights, with 5 amp batteries that will last a very long time.

• Keep a few large jugs of water handy in the event you can't run or purify your own water during an emergency.

• Keep some additional water in covered barrels outside. You won't drink it, but you can wash or flush toilets with it.

• A solar panel and solar battery is a great addition. Often for shorter outages we just run the basics with our solar battery. The one we use is made by EcoFlow, a Canadian company with very high quality products.

• A gas fireplace is an ideal addition. During outages, we typically plug ours into the solar generator. It doesn't take much power, and keeps the entire house warm in a pinch. Alternatively, you can use a wood fireplace, but a gas version is cleaner and easier.

• An emergency crank radio is also handy so you can stay in touch when all else fails.

• When the power goes out, the cell coverage may also fail, and in some cases the entire island has lost access to the internet, which in some ways is actually worse than losing power. Buying a cellular range extender for your car and also for your house will help keep you connected to the outside world, and it's a must for the remote worker.

And What About That Ferry?

The ferry is definitely an issue for some people. While it runs frequently, it gets very busy in the summer and there can be two or even occasionally three sailing waits. In fact, a band on the island goes by the name 'Two Sailing Wait'!

I don't generally find the ferry to be much of an issue, but I work on the island. The ferry generally departs every 35 minutes, other than the lunch break and in the evening when one of the two ferries goes out of service. That makes it easy to walk on, land downtown, shop or go to dinner, and then walk back.

It's a bigger deal for those who commute to Vancouver Island, so before moving to Gabriola, it's definitely worth checking further into the ferry service to see whether it will meet your particular needs.

As well, there will occasionally be times when the ferry is cancelled altogether due to storms, damage to the ferry itself, or even a shortage of crew members. For example, when something damaged the radar on the ferry, we were stuck in Nanaimo with a storm approaching, and waited for hours before BC Ferries was able to supply a water taxi that took all of us, 11 people at a time, across to Gabriola. We then had to walk back home in the pitch dark at around 1 a.m. in a rain and windstorm, so it was not our favorite night on the island!

Despite that, I personally find the ferry service to be pretty reliable, and in fact, I far prefer the ferry to the buses and subways I took when I lived in large cities. The route is covered by BC Ferries' Discovery Card, which gives you a major discount on the fares, so you can cross over on foot for less than $8 return, or less than $4 one way; about the same as most city buses.

However, how many times have you seen a pod of whales pass by while you're taking the bus? On the Gabriola ferry, you get to enjoy an ocean cruise every time, with the very real possibility of seeing whales, sea lions, seals and other marine life. It's pretty awesome.

but there are many people who find it very frustrating. If you have to get across the water to work on a regular basis, it's probably worth renting on Gabe first to see if you can make it work!

The Overview

So, is it worth moving to Gabriola? Obviously, I would answer with an emphatic yes!

Living here has been literally life-changing. We enjoy daily hiking at our doorstep, fantastic beaches and views, world-class kayaking and boating, easy access to city amenities, and a friendly, relaxed and welcoming community. I honestly can't think of anywhere I'd rather be.

But again, that depends on circumstances. I would say for married people who are either retired or can work from the island, it's a no brainer. For those who need to commute, it really depends on whether a ferry closure could cost you your job, in which case you'd probably be better living in or around Nanaimo. As well, if you're someone who wants to go out clubbing into the wee hours, you might find your lifestyle a bit constrained, as the last ferry leaves to Gabriola before midnight!

But for people who love nature, who enjoy being self sufficient, who enjoy the arts and music, who want to live in a friendly community where you know half the town, there are few better places to be on Planet Earth than Gabriola Island.