Here's a BC Ferries route map to show its location, compared to the other Southern Gulf Islands. You can see it is much closer to Vancouver than the others (only 3 nautical miles). Many people, even those from Vancouver, assume that Bowen Island is tucked somewhere among the other islands, such as the more well-known Saltspring Island, which can take hours on a ferry, after a 35km drive to Tsawassen.
I had dreamed about living on Bowen Island for nearly twenty years, but it had never seemed feasible before. Over the years, we had looked at properties on and off, and I had taught a number of workshops and retreats on the island.
Now, we searched in earnest, looking at a range of properties and neighborhoods. It was actually a little bit difficult to get both of our diverse "wish lists" met at the same time, while staying within our budget: I wanted nature and privacy, fruit trees, and water; Colin wanted a "nice" house within walking distance of the town/ferry. Each house we toured seemed to have only one of our dreams at a time. We joked that it was like we were on House Hunters...
However, luck was with us this time, and within one month, we owned our dream house on a treed acreage on Bowen Island. Within a week, our condo was sold. We were really doing it!!!
We packed up our stuff, and loaded it into a moving van. We were actually pretty happy with our movers: they were courteous, efficient, and careful.
As the movers packed in the last few items, we took our last "dog walk" in the park, then drove to Horseshoe Bay and hopped onto the ferry. By using the BC Ferries Experience Card, we saved a lot of money on both vehicles.
Arriving in Snug Cove ferry terminal on Bowen Island, we grinned at each other: we were almost home!
The 50 square-km Bowen Island currently has a population of about 3500 people, mostly in the age group of 40-65 and under 15... It's very popular with both commuters and retirees, but the extremely elderly or frail tend to move off-island, to be closer to more comprehensive medical services, like hospitals. There are a couple of schools: a public elementary school with grades K-7, and a private middle school grades 6-9, but no high school.
Due to its proximity to the mainland, many people commute to Vancouver (including West and North Vancouver) for work and school. Popular occupations for residents include science & tech, construction, and education. Most of the people I knew here before moving were instructors and professors at the post-graduate level.
The island also has a strong artist presence. Painters, weavers, writers, musicians, and artisans have long made claim to the island.
Tourists and approximately 1500 seasonal residents flock to the island in the summer, nearly doubling the population. However, this being a wet and rainy November, not many tourists are eager to hike and kayak this West Coast rainforest at the moment. ;)
Upon moving in, one of the first things Colin did was check the internet speed. Internet service varies wildly across the island. Fortunately for Colin, who planned to telecommute at least once a week, we were in a good zone: 25 Mbps down / 3 Mbps up. Very close to what we were getting in Vancouver. Some other neighborhoods had complained of download speeds as low as 1 Mbps in the evenings. (For those of you who are not tech-savvy: watching a standard definition movie on Netflix takes about 3 Mbps.)
Our wonderful realtor, Frazer Elliott, had left us a lovely gift basket, filled with local goodies. What a great way to introduce us to the local shops! We became immediately hooked on the Cocoa West "Cedar" chocolate.
After a 12-hour move, we didn't get a chance to unpack everything right away. But we did make time to unwrap half of our couch and do a classic "moving day" freeze-frame, just like in the movies.
We turned on the fireplace and sat looking out into the (real, not chocolate) cedars which blanketed the back of our property.
The Island is still highly forested, despite a booming logging business that took out many of the old growth trees in the last century. Vestiges of these old giants are still around on the trails, now mostly as nurse-stumps, but almost all of the big trees alive today are second-growth forest.
Some details we replicated perhaps a little TOO accurately, e.g. the steep hill to the closest town, the must-be-memorized and seemingly-random array of open (closed) hours of the local shops, and the need to occasionally go to bigger nearby cities to get certain items (we have already dubbed West Van's Park Royal as "Villefranche," lol-- Vancouver is "Lyon").
Despite the few "inconveniences" that come with living the rural island life, the chance to live our dream far outweighs them all. The quiet, the privacy, the nature, and particularly the hiking, are spot on our target. :)
Bowen Island has many famous trails, such as the Dorman Point lookout, Mount Gardner (719m/2500 feet), and the Killarney Lake Loop. I was eager to visit and revisit these.
However, when purchasing our home, I also realized how many "hidden" trails also existed, known only to locals, and not found on any public map. In fact, some ran through our property!!
This was very much like our France experience. I remember arriving there and worrying that I didn't see any obvious trails, and would have to walk on the narrow country roads. But, like France, I soon had a trail map (like what I did there, with the photo below? Ya catch that? heehee), and had met the neighborhood cat (this one was also curious, but not quite as overtly friendly as the French one-- haven't managed to get a photo of it yet). Also, like France, I soon learned that walking on the roads is pretty much par for the course. At least on Bowen, they don't drive 70km/h!
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