Easter Treat

A few weeks ago, over Easter long weekend, James and I grabbed some friends and made the trek to South Winchelsea Island (SWI). The island is owned by The Land Conservancy (TLC), a nonprofit British Columbia Land Trust. Some of the friends who joined us on the island work for TLC, and so were able to get us a great deal at what is usually a rather expensive eco-tourist destination.

SWI is a 25-acre island north of Nanaimo, just off the east coast of Vancouver Island. To get there, we drove from Victoria to Nanaimo, then hopped in a fishing boat at Schooner's Cove Marina and took the 15-minute boat ride out to the island. On the island is a dock, a small research cottage, a few outbuildings, and one small trail. In short: there's not a lot to do. Except admire the endangered Garry-Oak ecosystem, watch eagles catch and eat their breakfast, fall asleep and wake up to the incessant bays of sea lions sunning on neighboring islands, explore countless tidepools, and spend lots of quality time with your closest friends. It was a huge bonus to have our very own TLC biologist (and friend) with us to teach us all about the interesting plant and animal species on the island.


We had packed tons of food and what we thought was more than enough wine, but by the end of our second day on the island we had nearly exhausted our supply of libations. We put in an "emergency" call to our boat captain and asked him to please pick us up some more wine in Nanoose Bay and deliver it when he brought over extra firewood on Easter Sunday. What we didn't realize, however, is that all of the stores in this small town would be closed for Easter, including of course the liquor store. Imagine our surprise when he showed up with firewood and an eclectic supply of bottles (beer and wine) donated by the townspeople, lest we be stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere dead sober all weekend. We were overcome by the outpouring of generostiy, but the captain refused to take money back with him to repay our debts, accepting only some Easter chocolates (from our Easter egg hunt) as a token of our appreciation.

After a restful, fun weekend, we boarded the fishing boat back to Schooner's Cove for a quick return trip. Unexpectedly, however, we came across a pod of transient killer whales, and watched a mother and two calves hunt and kill seals. It was at once disturbing and fascinating, and it felt a lot like being inside a Discovery Channel show. Several more curious whales came to say hello, and eventually we had to say goodbye to them and head back to Nanoose Bay to start our journey home. We were all so enthralled by the marine wildlife that no one thought to take photos of our surprise whale watching expedition, but you can click HERE to see some more pictures of our weekend on SWI.