Page’s Resort and Marina
3350 Coast Road, Gabriola Island, B.C. V0R 1X7
Phone: 1-250-247-8931 Fax: 1-250-247-8997
VHF 66A
Search our site:
Gabriola date and time:
© Copyright Page’s Resort and Marina 2012
About Gabriola Island
About Gabriola Island
Gabriola Island is the northern most of the beautiful southern Gulf Islands in the strait of Georgia, British Columbia. The Gulf Islands are an archipelago consisting of hundreds of islands of varying sizes stretching from the San Juan Islands in the U.S. to the Northern Gulf Islands situated north of Gabriola.
Gabriola Island, which lies about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) east of the city of Nanaimo
on Vancouver Island to which it is linked by a regular 20 minute ferry ride, is about
14 kilometres (9 miles) long by 4.2 kilomtres (2.6 miles) wide and serviced by a
North Road -
This kidney shaped island is also known as the Petroglyph Island because of its wealth of ancient native stone carvings and as the Isle of the Arts because of the many artists, authors and poets that call Gabriola home. The permanent population of almost 5,000 and a summer population of several thousand more enjoying Gabriola’s mild climate, many public beaches and forested parks, restaurants, pubs, a public library, an elementary school, a museum rich with local history, a challenging golf course as well as fishing, boating, kayaking, diving, gardening and the many artistic events held throughout the island.
The name Gabriola is derived from Punta de Gaviota (Cape Seagull) as given to the southeastern end of the island by the Spanish explorer Jose Maria Narvaez, the first European to visit Gabriola Island in 1791.
Before Narvaez, aboriginal peoples lived in villages scattered around the coast, the largest on False Narrows where several thousand lived near today’s El Verano Drive. The petroglyphs (rock carvings) scattered around the island, although difficult to date, are considered to be up to several thousand years old. Since European contact and as early as 1500 AD, the native population declined dramatically due to diseases brought to North America by Europeans.
Since the first European contact, the island was visited again in 1792 by the Spanish expedition under Galiano and Valdes and the British expedition of George Vancouver.
When coal was discovered in Nanaimo in 1852, coal miners and ex-
The population of Gabriola grew very slowly in the early 20th century and even when electricity came to the island in 1955, the population increase was only about 1% per year. It wasn’t until after 1970 when the population grew tremendously helped in part to the hippie migration from the U.S. By mid 1980’s the population of Gabriola was approximately 2,000 people or about half of the current population which is concentrated on the north and south ends of the island.
Besides farming, Gabriola did experience some early industrial development. There was a brickyard that produced up to 80,000 high quality bricks a day in the early part of the century until it closed in the 1950’s. Remnants of broken bricks still lie scattered across the road along Brickyard Beach which was where the bricks were barged off the island. In the 1890’s and early 20th century, sandstone was quarried near Descanso Bay and shipped to Vancouver and Victoria for architectural use. In the 1930’s, millstones were cut from the sandstone for the pulp and paper mills along the coast. After World War II, the shipyard and Silva Bay became the major employer on the island until the 1970’s. Today, Gabriola is home to many artisans and their studios, tourist accommodations and all the many services to support the island visitors and local residents alike.
Folklife Village, on North Road, is the island’s main shopping centre. It was bought and rebuilt on Gabriola after its role celebrating Northern Cultures as the Folklife Pavillion during Expo 86 in Vancouver. Other shopping areas are located at the Twin Beaches area and at Silva Bay.
The plant life common to Gabriola Island include the trees Douglas Fir, Western Red
Cedar, Arbutus, Garry Oak, Bigleaf Maple and Red Alder. Sea creatures found in the
oceans around Gabriola include orcas, seals, sea lions, otters, oysters, clams, mussels,
prawns, wolf eels, octopuses, salmon, cod and many rockfish. Deer, racoons, and squirrels
are the most common land animals. Overhead, eagles and turkey vultures are a common
sight along with many over-
See the Activities page for more island information and events.