Pender Island, BC; June 10-15, 2025
First stop is Pender Island. Donna and I were here back in 2013, but ended up settling on Salt Spring Island as our go to location in the southern Canadian Gulf Islands, because we ended up renting the “Boathouse” from Harold and Sabine on SSI and fell in love with the location right on the ocean on a private 6 acres and became friends with Harold and Sabine. Anyway, I really like Pender though and decided to come here again on the way to Comox, where Donna will fly to and joi8n me for the rest of the summer.
A really nice accomodation…a walkout basement apartment with ocean view and a wonderful hostess, who has provided me with butter, honey, two freshly baked loaves of bread she bought from a local baker, juice, etc. She has two golden retrievers, and is a widow…her doctor husband died within a year of coming to Pender from Thunder Bay Ontario.
First evening I drove to the southern tip of the island for a walk at a small park with great views.
On Wednesday, I did an 8 mile paddle in Port Harding and Bedwell Harbor.
On Thursday, I got in 20,000 steps hiking up the steep trail to Roe Lake, dropping back down the other side to a small campground on the ocean and to the end of Irene Road at another shore access before returning. That evening I did a 2.5 mile neighborhood walk after dinner as well.
On Friday, I did a circumnavigation of South Pender Island, putting in at Mortimer Spit. It was 10.25 miles RT. A really nice day for a paddle. Didn’t see any other kayakers, and only a few other boats. Saw a mother seal and pup, and several bald eagles, but didn’t have the right camera for photos.
On Friday, I drove to the end of Pirates Road and hiked to the top of Oaks Bluff viewpoint and stopped at several shore accesses before heading over to the hike to the top of Mt. Norman and more spectacular views across the southern Canadian Gulf Islands.
Beautiful pictures with some good paddles. Especially love the Fathers Day Greeting!
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