Please note that Lasqueti Island Ferry Service does not accept reservations.  Same as any other Public Transport Service in B.C., the service is provided on the “First Come First Serve” basis. If you are departing with luggage, it is advisable you arrive at least 20 minutes prior to departure to properly stow your belongings. Sailings are cancelled when winds exceed 40knots. The ferry service is run by Western Pacific Marine  Phone: (250) 333-8787

Lasqueti Island lies between the east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, in the Salish Sea (Strait of Georgia), Powell River Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. A passenger-only ferry connects the island to the community of French Creek, near Parksville. The ferry makes two to three runs one-hour per day, five days per week, weather permitting. Ferry schedule here.

History

Lasqueti has been inhabited by a succession of settlers. It was originally inhabited for 5,000 years by Pentlatch Band of the Salish First Nation. According to Archaeologist Dana Lepofsky, there are remnants of large settlements in nearly every bay on the island, as well as fish traps. Not much remains of this long habitation. Find more info here and here.

Then in the summer of 1791, José María Narváez of the Spanish Royal Armada led the first European exploration into the central part of what the Spanish called El Gran Canal de Nuestra Señora del Rosario la Marinera, now known as Salish Sea (Strait of Georgia). Narváez captained the Santa Saturnina, a 33-foot schooner, and was accompanied by a smaller longboat the San Carlos. During this expedition Narváez gave Lasqueti it’s name, after a Spanish explorer Juan Maria Lasqueti who was famous for charting Brazil. 

However, Lasqueti Island remained inhabited by the Pentlatch Band Salish First Nations until 1860, when the first European settlers arrived, Scottish sheep farmers. Those sheep still live on the island: hearty, wild descendants of the original settler’s sheep. Fishermen and loggers followed. The fishermen would sail up from Nanaimo and Victoria each fishing season, setting up small huts and smoke houses. They would return to the cities once the holds of their sailing fishboats were filled with salted and smoked salmon. Eventually permanent settlement took hold. Mail was brought by rowboat from Nanaimo, and then delivered on foot through miles of trails. Signal fires would relay messages across the Strait. Tucker Bay was the site of the first commercial dock built in 1912, and became a port-of-call for the union steamships moving up and down the Strait. A post office, school and store were then built here.

False Bay slowly became the center of commerce when in 1916 a salmon cannery opened there and people were attracted to the steady jobs. Tucker Bay’s harbour was then declared unsafe for the regular steamship transportation when one of the boats hit a reef there. Eventually a school, post office, store and steamship dock were added to False Bay. It became and still is the island’s centre. The Island was logged but the loggers left many seed trees that are now huge old-growth giants. Lasqueti had at one time an abundance of huge red cedar, logged prior to the 1950′s.

Then came the 1960′s which led to a wave of back-to-landers and draft dodgers. An uneasy peace was eventually struck between the newcomers and the old timers, especially when the new comers proved their interest in helping preserve the island.

Demographics

The island had a population of 426 people, and a land area of 73.57 km² (28.4 sq mi). Lasqueti Island is the least developed of the major Gulf Islands. Its roads are unpaved, and it is the only one of the larger Gulf Islands that is not connected to BC Hydro’s electrical power grid. Solar, wind, micro-hydro and fossil fueled generators power the island.

Community

Lasqueti has a yearly Arts Festival during the summer, featuring local painters, photographers, sculptors, poets, fiction writers and historians. There is a hotel and a restaurant in False Bay, where the ferry arrives and departs. There is also a great cafe and store. Numerous cookie stands and farmer’s stands operate on an honour system and is always worth checking out. There are a number of great B&B’s and a Taxi Service on the island. The Lasqueti Island area is renowned for sailing, sea kayaking and diving.

Aquaculture and Agriculture

Aquaculture includes clams, geoducks, oysters, honey mussels, and prawns. Agriculture include seasonal vegetables, orchard fruit, nuts, and berries. There are a few farms on Lasqueti Island. Their products range from garlic, blueberries, apple juice, eggs, to maple syrup. There also is a shellfish farm and a shellfish hatchery.

Flora and fauna

The island has a number of drier and wetter microclimates, the latter often characterized by red cedar and the former by native cacti, arbutus and succulent plants.

Geography

Soils for the most part form shallow, stony deposits over bedrock which is almost entirely igneous and largely basaltic. Much of the island is covered with 100 million year old Cretaceous marine fossils, a testament to how the island was sea bed before being thrust up by geologic activity.

The Garden Residence on Lasqueti Island is a 25 acre property that has been groomed and nurtured for over 30 years, creating a coastal Shangri-La! Two residences, luxury bath house, ponds, 1000s of shrubs, trees & perennials, fenced & irrigated. Unbelievable! For sale by the owner, Listed at: $975,000

From Wikipedia, Gulf Islands Guide, Lasqueti.ca, Northwest Coast Archaeology

The Grounds are a spectacularly lush year round . . .

A long private driveway leads up to a fenced, gated property. Continuing up the hill, you reach the main entrance, where you enter through an exotic wooden gate.

The grounds consist of a large grass field, bordered by various trees: oaks, maples, birches, beeches, firs, and a mature fruit tree orchard. Many flowering shrubs grace the property as well.

The Garden Residence on Lasqueti Island is a 25 acre property that has been groomed and nurtured for over 30 years, creating a coastal Shangri-La! Two residences, luxury bath house, ponds, 1000s of shrubs, trees & perennials, fenced & irrigated. Unbelievable! For sale by the owner, Listed at: $975,000