Gambier Island is an island located in Howe Sound near Vancouver, British Columbia. It is about 17,049 acres (6,899 hectares) in size and is located about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) north of the Horseshoe Bay community and ferry terminal in westernmost West Vancouver.
A rugged and sparsely populated island, it is far quieter than its neighbour Bowen Island, which is popular with day-trippers and summer vacationers. Gambier Island is accessible only by B.C. Ferries passenger service, water taxi or other boats. There is no central road network.
The island elects two trustees to the Islands Trust, an organization that unites small island communities in British Columbia to oversee development and land use. Other islands in Howe Sound include Keats Island and Anvil Island. The island is part of West Howe Sound, Electoral Area F within the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada.
There are around 150 long-term residents on Gambier, but the population swells to more than 800 in the summertime due to the island's recreational properties. [1] The island's scenic setting and solitude make it popular with artists and writers.
The main wharf and settlement area is called New Brighton, on the west side of the island. Gambier Harbour, West Bay, lies to the east, with another wharf and boat dock. At the north end of the island is Ekins Point. [2] Off-grid communities include Douglas Bay, Daisy Bay, Gambier Acres, Ekins Point, Brigade Bay (coordinates ), Fircom Plateau (coordinates ), Sea Ranch (coordinates ).
Gambier Island had a general store (closed about 2010) and few seasonal options for accommodations. Barging companies provide service from Gibsons and Horseshoe Bay for transport of large items. Fire service is run by volunteers. There are no garbage processing facilities on the island. There is a community centre.
Halkett Bay Provincial Park is located on the southeast side of Gambier. [3]
Squamish people called the island Cha7élkwnech, in reference to its deep protected bays. It was a celebrated deer hunting area and was extensively used for resource gathering. [4]
The island was named by Captain Richards in 1860 for James Gambier, Admiral of the Fleet who had a distinguished career in the British navy, [5] was a Governor of Newfoundland and served as a negotiator of the Treaty of Ghent ending The War of 1812 between Britain and the United States. Logger Ken Reid cut a 14-foot diameter fir there in the 1930s.
Bowen Island, British Columbia, is an island municipality that is part of Metro Vancouver, and within the jurisdiction of the Islands Trust. Located in Howe Sound, it is approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) wide by 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) long, and at its closest point is about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west of the mainland. There is regular ferry service from Horseshoe Bay provided by BC Ferries, and semi-regular water taxi services. The population of 4,256 is supplemented in the summer by about 1,500 visitors. It has a land area of 50.12 km2 (19.35 sq mi).
West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is to the northwest of the city of Vancouver on the northern side of English Bay and the southeast shore of Howe Sound, and is adjoined by the District of North Vancouver to its east. Together with the District of North Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver, it is part of a local regional grouping referred to as the North Shore municipalities, or simply "the North Shore".
The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada, and the extreme northwestern mainland coast of Washington, United States. It is approximately 240 kilometres (150 mi) long and varies in width from 20 to 58 kilometres. Along with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, it is a constituent part of the Salish Sea.
Horseshoe Bay is a community of about 1,000 permanent residents in West Vancouver, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Situated on the western tip of West Vancouver at the entrance to Howe Sound, the village marks the western end of Highway 1 on mainland British Columbia. It also serves as the southern end of the Sea-to-Sky Highway, with Lions Bay just 15 minutes north.
The Sunshine Coast is a geographic subregion of the British Columbia Coast that generally comprises the regional districts of qathet and Sunshine Coast.
The North Shore of Burrard Inlet is a term commonly used to refer to several areas adjacent to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada:
Porteau Cove Provincial Park is a provincial park located along the eastern shore of Howe Sound in British Columbia, Canada.
Howe Sound is a roughly triangular sound, that joins a network of fjords situated immediately northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2021.
Halkett Bay Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park off Gambier Island in British Columbia, Canada.
Plumper Cove Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. The park is located on Keats Island in Howe Sound, northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia (ARSBC) is a registered non-profit society based in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), and has been a registered tax-deductible charity in Canada since 1992.
The Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSNC) was founded by Charles E. Peabody in 1898. Today the company operates an international passenger and vehicle ferry service between Port Angeles, Washington, United States and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on the MV Coho, through its operating company, Black Ball Ferry Line.
Langdale is a small residential community in British Columbia, Canada, located within the territory of the Squamish Nation, and part of West Howe Sound, Electoral Area F within the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD).
Keats Island is an inhabited island located in Howe Sound near Vancouver, British Columbia. Around eighty people live on Keats Island year-round.
Anvil Island is the third-largest of the islands in Howe Sound, British Columbia, Canada, and the northernmost of the major islands in that sound. It is part of West Howe Sound, Electoral Area F within the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) on the Sunshine Coast.
The Defence Islands are two small islands in Howe Sound, British Columbia, Canada, northeast of Anvil Island and in the northern reaches of that sound near Porteau Cove. The easterly and smaller of the two comprises Defence Island Indian Reserve No. 28 ; the westerly comprises the Kwum Kwum Indian Reserve, both under the administration of the Squamish Nation.
Horseshoe Bay is a major ferry terminal owned and operated by BC Ferries in British Columbia, Canada. Located in the community of Horseshoe Bay, a neighbourhood of West Vancouver, the terminal provides a vehicle ferry link from the Lower Mainland to Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, and to Bowen Island, a small island in the southern part of Howe Sound.
West Howe Sound, also known as SCRD Electoral Area F, is an electoral area of the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), in British Columbia, Canada. It is bound on the south by the Town of Gibsons, on the west by Elphinstone, on the east by Howe Sound, on the north by Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Electoral Area D, and on the southeast by Metro Vancouver Regional District Electoral Area A.
The Bowen Island ferry travels between Snug Cove on Bowen Island, and Horseshoe Bay in the District of West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a trip of three nautical miles across Queen Charlotte Channel. A scheduled ferry has been in operation since 1921, when Bowen Island was a popular holiday destination. Prior to that year, transportation to the island was by steamship from Vancouver, with only one trip daily. The Bowen Island ferry used a fleet of small passenger vessels until 1956, when a single car ferry began passenger service, and that ferry began carrying vehicles in 1958. In 2022 the route carried in excess of 1.2 million passengers plus 570,000 vehicles.
Langdale is a ferry terminal owned and operated by BC Ferries, which provides ferry services from the Sunshine Coast to the Lower Mainland, Gambier Island, and Keats Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia.