Island Hopping
, hop a ferry to Galiano Island and check in to the Galiano Inn. Drop your bags in your villa and soak up the sunset views from your patio Jacuzzi. The next morning, strap on the hiking boots to take on Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park, where the white-shell beaches date back more than 3,000 years, and work up an appetite for dinner at hyper-local, hyper-whimsical Pilgrimme. The gourmet restaurant in the woods is a foodie destination (a pilgrimage, if you will), so make a reservation to guarantee a taste of chef Jesse Mccleery’s wildly inventive fare: think fermented barley grits with duck egg and beef heart tartare on sea lettuce. Post dessert, catch the late ferry to Pender Island, where Woods on Pender awaits to fulll those West Coast glamping dreams with its roster of kitted-out Airstream trailers. Come Sunday morning, snag jam-slathered sourdough from the resort’s Co ee Kitchen Restaurant to fuel your Kayak Pender Island outing, which follows the island’s shorelines through kelp beds and gentle waves and practically guarantees wildlife sightings (hello, seal pups!). Toast your adventurous spirit at Twin Island Cider’s quaint orchardside tasting shed, where heirloom apples are naturally fermented into something delightfully funky and zzy. Then it’s back to the ferry terminal for your sunset ride over to Salt Spring Island. Settle in for the night at laidback-luxe Stonehouse B&B— after a nightcap or two on the heated patio at Moby’s Pub— and, come Monday, hit the farm-tour circuit with stops that include everything from the chèvre paradise that is Salt Spring Island Cheese to the purple elds of Sacred Mountain Lavender. If you’ve got time, catch a show at the Fritz Movie Theatre (where $10 gets you both your ticket and a bucket of real-buttered popcorn) before heading out and leaving island life behind…at least until the weekend rolls around again.— S.M.
To Do:
Three Gulf
Islands,
one long
weekend:
you can
do this.