Keats Island, BC, Canada

August 3, 2010
Some of you may ask, "where is Keats Island?". It's a small Island about 2 square miles off the coast of Vancouver in the Howe Sound.
It has around 80 full time residents.  There's no ferry access.  There's a shuttle service that takes you to the ferry and then there is Tony the water taxi man who can take you across the sound (15 minutes) to the town of Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast.  There are no stores on Keats so you must come prepared or learn to forage with the deer and 1 bear. (black berries are in season! and so are huge crab and salmon!) I love this quaint, picturesque place.  For me to get here it took a bus, subway, bus again, ferry, and a boat.  I had to hide Lola all the way!
Some of you may ask, "what do you do here at Keats Island?"
Well upon my arrival we all took naps.  It's appropriate here and encouraged to nap every couple of hours.  Reading and backgammon are a necessity along with cooking and walks through the forest to find a sandy beach suitable for swimming if you are inclined.  Meeting your niece Angela on the dock is a highlight.  For my big adventure I
                    hopped a ride from Tony the water taxi driver over to Gibsons to do some art gallery gazing, organic produce shopping, juicing and a meeting.  Gibsons is the main town in a stretch of coastline called the Sunshine Coast.
The mindset of this area is similar to Encinitas, Laguna, Berkley or Santa Cruz.  These are my people!  Sustainability and organic is the name of the game here.
There also many survivor schools that use this place as a jumping off point.  I am bringing my van over on the ferry next week to spend a week or so tootling around.
This is the area I flew up to check out last year to move to.  I haven't completely shut the door to move here it's just that it is expensive and the growing season is rather short.  The Sunshine Coast was voted the number one place in the world to live last year for a community under 30,000.  The vote was within the western world to include education, sustainability, beauty, libraries, health care, transit, and pollution.  The flowered houseboat below welcomes you as you embark on to the marina and you feel you have stepped back in time.                                                                             


After a day at Gibsons I was welcomed with my family for a gathering of old, ethnic Ukrainian cooking.  I failed to learn the recipes before my mom passed on.  I was so grateful my cousin Carol had learned the 2 most famous ones:  Pierogies and Pedaheir (cabbage rolls).  We had a blast cooking for 2 days!!! 

The synopsis for Keats:  relax, read, reflect, read, relax, rejuvenate, relax, read and make sure you get at least 3 naps a day!

What did Lola do?  She chased deer!  (I'm serious)

More photo's below