Galiano Island is one of the Southern Gulf Islands between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the west side of the Strait of Georgia, it is 27.5 km long, 6 km at its widest point, and 1.6 km across at its narrowest point and is separated from Saltspring Island by Trincomali Channel. On the western side of the island there are a series of sandstone caves. The island is northwest of Mayne Island, northeast of Saltspring Island and southeast of Valdes Island. It is part of the Capital Regional District Electoral Area G, and has a population of 1258 inhabitants.

Named after the Spanish explorer Dionisio Alcalá Galiano, who explored the area in 1792, the island is twinned with his home city - Cabra in Córdoba province, Spain. Galiano was long inhabited by aboriginal people from the Penelakut First Nation and used by other Coast Salish nations. Midden pits at Montague Harbour suggest 3000 years of inhabitance. According to the 2001 Canadian census, Galiano Island has 1,071 full-time residents. Industries of the past were logging and fishing, although today tourism and the arts are the most common methods of employment.

Government

Government bodies that oversee the island include Federal, Provincial and Regional agencies as well as the Islands Trust whose mandate is to establish land-use bylaws to "preserve and protect" the island, most notably in terms of development. For most of the twentieth century roughly half of the land on Galiano was owned by the logging firm MacMillan Bloedel. As a result, Galiano was not as extensively developed as neighboring islands. When the firm sold its holdings on Galiano, debate about development issues sharpened, and the Islands Trust set minimum lot sizes to limit development.

Local elections are held every three years to determine who will be the island's 2 Trustees.

Access

Galiano Island is accessible by vehicle via BC Ferries; the terminal is situated at Sturdies Bay, in the southeast corner of the island. This vehicle and passenger scheduled ferry service runs from Tsawwassen (Vancouver) on the mainland and Swartz Bay (Victoria) on Vancouver Island.

Moorage is available at several public wharfs for boat traffic: Sturdies Bay, (walking distance to the Village), Montague Harbour, Whalers Bay and Retreat Cove.

Daily, regularly Scheduled floatplane service is offered from Downtown Vancouver and the Vancouver International Airport through Seair Seaplanes and Salt Spring Air to Montague Harbour. New in 2009, there is now regularly scheduled floatplane service from Seattle daily through Kenmore Air, either through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Kenmore Air Harbor and Seattle Lake Union.

Parks and Wildlife

Galiano Island has a large variety of animals and plants. In a major flight path for migrating birds, Galiano has hundreds of bird species. Commonly sighted are eagles, herons and cormorants. Off its shores are resident orca whales (J pod lives in the waters of Active Pass, dividing Mayne and Galiano Islands), seals, otters, sea lions and many varieties of sea life.

Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park is one of the most popular parks in the Gulf Islands. It is unique for its Shell Beach, which is a west-facing beach with worn shells covering the whole expanse of the beach instead of sand. For thousands of years, it was the location of a midden used by Coast Salish people.

Montague Harbour is popular with the recreational boating community; the harbour is often crowded with yachts and sailboats during the warmer months of June, July, and August. The Park's mooring buoys are in limited supply and cannot be reserved, but the harbour is well sheltered if one chooses to anchor. A marina with moorage, gas dock, several small stores, and a cafe (summer only) is located at the southern end of the harbour. A public dock is near the marina.

Dionisio Point Provincial Park is a rugged natural park at the north end of the island with beautiful beaches that the local islanders call Coon Bay. Here you will find a unique shoreline with artistically sculpted sandstone formations, a sand beach for swimming, tidal pools, and colourful wildflowers and forests that fill this beautiful provincial park.

Mount Galiano is Galiano’s highest point of land. The top will provide hikers with views over the Gulf Islands, the U.S. San Juan Islands and the distant mainland mountains.

Collinson Point Provincial Park is essentially the shoreline of Mount Galiano, and is important in protecting the marine life of the approaches to Active Pass.

Bodega Ridge Provincial Park consists of a ridge rising several hundred metres above sea level, with views over many of the Gulf Islands' hundreds of islands and islets and beyond to the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula. High cliffs are home to raptors like peregrine falcons and bald eagles, as well as trees like cedars and Douglas fir.

Beaches

There are several beaches along the shorelines of the island. Pebble Beach is a beach with large pebbles in place of sand. The pebbles, after sitting under the sun for hours, help not only warm up the water when the tide rises but warm the beach goers as they lie directly on them.Several beaches have fine grey sand instead of coarse sand or shells.

People on Galiano Island

• Iona Campagnolo
• Jane Rule
• Audrey Thomas

See also

• List of islands of British Columbia

References

1. [1]
2. Galiano Island, BCGNIS

External links

• Galiano Island Chamber of Commerce
• Active Galiano Community Driven Event Calendar
• Montague Harbour Provincial Marine Park
• Gallery-Museum
• Galiano Island, British Columbia, Canada
• Galiano Island Information and Map
• Video of Galiano Island
• Galiano Museum
• The Galiano Club
• Tourism BC | Galiano Island