Hornby Island is a very small British Columbia Gulf island of artists and people wanting a simpler life. There are 200 Gulf islands between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island. How I even ended up there is so serendipitous.
Portia and I spent about a week in Vancouver City exploring. A regular stop was Kits Beach which has a dog beach, so naturally, that became a favorite place to visit in the morning. One morning, while chatting with a fellow dog lover, she mentioned Hornby Island when I told her I was trying to get to Tofino but needed Highway 4 to reopen. Highway 4 is the only way to Tofino, and it was closed due to wildfires in the area. She said, "You know, you should go to Hornby Island while waiting for the road to open." The following Friday, Drive BC, were announcing the potential reopening of the road, so I thought I'd stick around, hoping it would open.
We left Vancouver City a couple of days later and drove north to Horseshoe Bay to catch the ferry to Nanaimo Departure Bay on Vancouver Island. That was exciting! Our first ferry ride with the Airstream. Seeing the variety of vehicles and people on this massive ship is amazing. If it wasn't for these transports the islands would probably have very few residents. After about a two-hour ride, we drove off the ferry and headed north to Buckley Bay to catch a ferry to Denman Island, and then another ferry to Hornby Island. Each trip was much shorter - 10 minutes and the boat considerably smaller.
We were on Hornby for five days and camped at www.bradsdadsland.com, which has an excellent story. No connections such as power, sewer, and water, but they did have water to fill my freshwater tank. My solar setup worked great again, and we had a very peaceful time there.
