Canada gulf islands day 1 - Salt Spring Island day 1

Salt Spring Island Day 1

We been wanting to visit Bob and Meg again in Galiano and always been curious on campervan camping. So off we go to the gulf islands for 10 days with a campervan! 

View on top of Mt Erskine 

Karma Campervan # 129 for our trip!

I'll write my thoughts on camperrvan experience in the last day blog as we learned a lot in this trip. 

Planning is a little tedious. We depend on the ferry to move around the islands

All the BC campsites park campsites are full in August weekends. They only free up in September but BC ferries schedule is also changing at the shoulder season. To complicate things, the last weekend in August where we departed is a long weekend with Labor day holiday. 

Our flight with Westjet was a good deal so we booked it first landing on August 28th 4pm. But we were not able to get ferry on Friday August 29th in the day time. So we had to bite the bullet and book the 8pm ferry to Salt spring on Thursday. 

This meant we had to land on time, collect our baggage, get a cab to the van office, collect and inspect the van including notes on any issues to them, plus going to Walmart to buy groceries for a couple of days and then head to the ferry terminal. And the ferry is delayed for 30 min after we rushed to get there!

Getting the van in Karma office

We are both nervous driving the big van around for the first day especially at night and boarding the big ferry but it all worked out. Having a ferry reservations from Vancouver to the islands is essential with a vehicle, not to mention an oversize one. This is partially why I can't get the ferry on Friday as oversize space are sold out with the big camping weekend due to Labor day. 

Ferry terminal and loading into the ferry with the car

Salt Spring Island is our first destination.

Ganges Harbor at Salt Spring Island

We managed to get into Garden Faire campground which is $50 Canadian a night (compared to $15 Canadian in the other BC parks). But we get water right on the site and an umbrella and chairs in the camp ground. Not to mention they have gravel which is great. The only thing to note is the campground is not completely flat which is more important for campervan camping than tent camping. 

Site 31 in Garden Faire Campground

The campground can also offer electrical and water hookup for normal RV but with solar panel and a water tank, we didn't need those and that made it cheaper. We are also able to use the sun shower to heat up water and tie the bag in the shower room as the campground is in sun all day. That way we didn't have to pay for the heater in the shower room and they are totally cool with it. 

My only issue is all the bathrooms are pit toilets in all the campgrounds that we visited. That is a bigger problem for me than for Bill. So that is a major learning. 

Anyway, we drove into the campground and got settled in for the night! 

Woke up bright and early to go to Barb's Bakery. It's a local place and we got a couple of great quiches and a ham and potatoes pastry. We also got a loaf of sourdough bread to make sandwiches for our hike. 

Barb's Bakery & Bistro breakfast

Hike at Mt Erskine

Hiking is the best way to see the views of the islands. So we decide to hike Mt Erskine. 

View on top of Mt Erskine

View on top of Mt Erskine

Hiking at Mt Erskine with the fairy door!

Saw the most cars at the trailhead parking. Even then we didn't really see anyone on our hike till we got to the top

Salt spring wild cider is our next stop after the hike. 

Salt spring wild cider resturant

Apparently the cider makes in salt spring are quite out-there in their fermentations. 

We took the traditional flight and the cidermaker's flight. The one that Bill like is the scrumpy and we both really like the pear and I like the red grapefruit. The wild fermentation that they do at this cidery makes very interesting ciders. 

Our tasting of the ciders and they allowed us to eat our sandwich as we are drinking

This cider tasting set the tone for us for this trip as we realized the islands have a lot of fun flavors for cider and we decide to try and taste as many ciders as we could! 

After the tasting, we came back to the campground and did a quick dinner of salad and grilled chicken with sourdough bread. 

Bill grilling for the first dinner with the campervan!

Truly how we felt with the campervan