10/21/2026
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🌊 ⛴️
Part 2 of our fall island hop had us boarding BC Ferries for a short (20 minute) sail from Nanaimo to Gabriola Island (BC 🇨🇦 ♥️).
We rolled off at Descanso Bay and settled into our sites at the regional park of the same name, just around the corner from the ferry terminal.
What an amazing campground. It’s small, nicely forested, lightly used, and features protected bays and shoreline from where it’s easy to rock hop or launch a kayak.
We did both! For several days. Gabriola has an extensive network of beautifully developed trails throughout the island. With as small an island as it is, an ambitious person (and dawg 😍) could handily travel anywhere they’d like in the community.
The highlight of our hikes was Malaspina Galleries, an amazing geological feature inside which you can wander at low tide. It’s a partially enclosed tunnel of sandstone right over the water (no claustrophobia!). We sat for a while on a bench made out of rock and watched wildlife from a distance.
Taking a little break for some rig maintenance, rest, and catching up on correspondence, our next outings all take place in October on the Oregon Coast.