Lost in Galiano – Galiano Island Part 2

It takes commitment to get lost on Galiano Island. Many try, but few really succeed.

How can this be? The island is so small – as we proved when we hired a little “Smart Car” from the hotel yesterday, and managed to cover most of the island’s “roads” in one day. While our spines may never be quite the same, we navigated all of the thumpy, bumpy tracks without the aid of GPS – and were never really lost for more than about twenty minutes at a time. No, to understand what I mean by “lost”, you need to consider the people who come here.

Take, for example, the “happy family visitors”. You know, the people who suddenly realise it’s summer, and it’s hot, and the kids are really bored, so – “let’s all take a trip to Galiano tomorrow. It will be so much fun.” People in this group tend to drive minivans or SUVs with more kayaks on top than passengers inside. They arrive on the morning ferry, drive off looking for the amusement parks, don’t find them, search for a MacDonald’s, don’t find it, then head back to the ferry dock about two hours before sailing time “so the kids can watch Netflix using the wi-fi at the terminal” – which they then discover is actually just a parking spot on the road.

Then, there’s the “offshore owners.” They’re so successful back home that they now own that coveted little piece of paradise – a cabin in the woods, which may or may not have water views. The kayaks are neatly stacked out back, but they can’t quite remember who had the paddles last. People in this group come for a week or two in summer, and maybe the odd weekend, but not nearly as often as they promised themselves back when they invested. The cabin’s currently for sale because, “well Johnny goes off to college next year and it’s so …..”

And, of course, we can’t forget the “Nama Stayers.” These guys really don’t like either of the first two groups – maybe based on a deep-seated rejection of earth-destroying capitalism, or maybe just because one of those groups includes their parents. Either way, their motto is “Peace out man”. If you ask them why they came to Galiano, they’ll think for a long time, then say something along the lines of “you know, to break the shackles of the modern world and lose myself in nature”. They tend to gravitate to the organic market, but also frequent the bakery or the diner daily, because the wi-fi is free for customers. My impression is that many of this group don’t ever really fully lose themselves here. I suspect they eventually drift away, either back into the world of salaried jobs, public transport and mortgages, or maybe just to keep looking for something they haven’t yet found.

Finally, there’s the true “locals”. These are the people who have so completely lost themselves on the island that they know exactly where they are, and why. If you take time to stop and talk to them, they’ll tell you their stories. Here’s a few random quotes from our encounters.

“I saw four feathers lined up on a beach and knew this was the place I’m meant to be”
“I came for a week about five years back – and just stayed”
“I lived in Vancouver and Calgary. When I heard about Galiano, I wanted to come here, but it took me seven years to finally make it”
“You can’t park there (beside my car at the end of the little dirt road). Another car might come along and need to turn around”
“Oh, I never go to the mainland. I go to town (Victoria) on the ferry if I need big stuff, but generally I just support the local organic market or grow my own”
“You have to check out our beautiful nine-hole golf course. We just love it. It’s never busy” (Confession here – the golf course is the one thing on the island we couldn’t find. Maybe because we spent so much time sitting on those rocks by the bay looking for orcas).

I guess the quote from Irving Berlin sums it up best – “I got lost, but look at what I found”.