Located about halfway between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, Saturna Island is a small slice of paradise. Over half of Saturna Island is designated as park land – part of the Gulf Islands National Park.  Every June, I am lucky enough to spend a weekend there with some amazing women, exploring the beaches and watching the waves roll in …

One of my favourite places on Saturn is East Point, which is considered one of the best places on the British Columbia coastline for onshore whale watching. It is also the site where Moby Doll, the first orca ever live-captured for aquarium display, was harpooned in 1964. A sad story but the knowledge gained from the Vancouver Aquarium’s experience with Moby Doll was a turning point in our understanding of these beautiful creatures, about which little was known and whom people feared and considered a nuisance.

The white building you see in the photo is a small museum run by the Saturna Island Heritage Committee in the former fog alarm building at East Point where visitors can learn about Moby Doll, and the history of Saturna Island.

There is something very special about the Gulf Islands.  It’s a long slow ferry ride to Saturna, and as you slip away from the dock you seem to slip away from the world and exist in that perfect space between ocean, sky, trees and rocks.  This year, in order to squeeze as much time as I could away from the city, I took the ferry over and then hopped on a sea plane for the very fast 15-minute flight back to the mainland and back to the every day.

Until next year …