Canadian Getaway: Savary Island
Canadian Getaway: Savary Island
A late summer idyll on B.C.'s magical Sunshine Coast
“Every island to a child is a treasure island.”
—P.D. James
Last month I agreed to take the plunge and board an airplane for the first time in almost three years to take a road trip to a seaside destination my husband Jeff and I first fell in love with in 2011 and could never get out of our minds: the Sunshine Coast in Canada’s British Columbia.
It’s a place that’s a lot more familiar to Canadians than Americans, whose common associations with their northern neighbor’s westernmost province are usually limited to the cities of Vancouver and Victoria, the capital of B.C. We had a hard time explaining to friends and family that we weren’t spending time in either of these places, although we did drive around the former en route to our first ferry to our initial stay in Gibsons, a little seaside town with a lovely marina and a peaceful, untouristy vibe.
If you take a look at the map above, the Sunshine Coast stretches from about Gibsons, just northwest of Vancouver, to Lund at its northwestern end. Although most of it is attached to the southwestern corner of mainland Canada, much of it is unreachable except by ferry, boat or plane. The challenges of getting there do keep the tourist counts down, a plus for those of us seeking relief from crowded summer destinations.
We were determined to visit the little towns we had so enjoyed on our two previous visits and to spend a few days on sparsely inhabited Savary Island. Its population, listed as 100, swells during the summer months to 1,000 or so—though perhaps not all there at the same time. Many come to spend the hot months at vacation properties that have been in their families for generations. The numbers are a lot for a place that measures less than 5 miles in length and a little over half a mile at its widest point.
The charm of the island never wears off, as we heard from Hayden McKinnon, who has been coming every summer—and sometimes during the off-season—to visit his grandparents for all of his 24 years.
“There’s no place I’d rather be than on this island in the summer for sure, even with the crowds,” Hayden told Jeff, who interviewed him for his Photowalks TV channel. “The people are half the fun. It’s a little busy at times, but I wouldn’t change it.”
Even though there are quite a number of other islands in the Strait of Georgia (the body of water between southwestern mainland B.C. and Vancouver Island), Savary, sometimes called “Hawaii of the north,” is the only one made entirely of sand (the others that are formed of glacial rock), even though it’s forested with evergreen trees, Hayden told us. The white sand is covered with a carpet of shells and driftwood that visitors like to use as building materials for makeshift shelters and whimsical art pieces. Some, like the structure below, are a bit more elaborate.
Located within the territory of the Tla'amin First Nation people, who call it Kayeqwan, the island, according to Tla’amin legend, was once a two-headed serpent called Ihos that was transformed into an island in punishment for its greedy ways.
Here’s a video Jeff shot about our visit to Savary Island.
A deserted island? Hardly!
When Jeff told me he’d booked a little cabin on Savary for three days, I wondered what we’d do—and what we’d eat. There are few services—no restaurant chains or big retailers (or small ones, for that matter!) or groceries, no hotels or condos, no public bathrooms or garbage collection, no hospitals, fire station or police. Without an electrical grid, residents make do with solar power and generators.
Two groundwater wells provide water from the island’s aquifers, and residents use septic systems for sewage, packing supplies in and garbage out. Almost everyone—including our hosts, Joan and Larry—seems to have a vegetable garden to supplement store-bought produce, sometimes in short supply.
There’s no mail delivery, no Amazon trucks making their rounds—residents travel to the mainland to pick up their post and supplies.
Although there was more car traffic than I remembered on the dirt road that rings the island, most visitors are happy to walk or ride bikes through the dense forest of Douglas-fir, hemlock and pine, part of it protected from development by a land trust.
The only year-round business, from what I could tell, was the small general store, where you could buy most staples. Unfortunately, I didn’t discover this until after we’d purchasing a small cooler for about $60 (probably $45 in U.S. currency), a bag of ice, plus some chicken thighs, turkey burgers and other supplies to cook on the barbecue and induction hot plate that our hosts were providing. We took all this, plus suitcases, backpacks and assorted other “stuff” on the little water taxi from Lund to Savary. Jeff kept referring to our destination as a “desert island,” but truly it wasn’t.
And the food was great!
It turns out that during summer months this little woodsy island comes alive with visitors and residents, many of whom have been vacationing in Savary since childhood and are now welcoming their children and grandchildren. Though there were no McDonald’s, Starbucks or Taco Bell, there was a little pub, a café, a pizza hangout, a store called the Sugar Shack that sells ice cream and candy, and a second one that sells candy, soda and homemade jewelry.
Almost all of these are summer-only businesses, including a food truck, Smokin’ Barrels BBQ, that sold what was probably the best smoked brisket sandwich I’ve ever tasted, plus a delicious hotdog that Canadians refer to as a smokie.
Mindful of the island’s fragile ecology, the owners vowed to recycle all its waste for a “Zero Garbage Customer Experience.” Unfortunately, given the vagaries of cooking everything with propane on makeshift equipment, the truck closed down for the season the day after we had our favorite meal there, posting a sign of thanks and apology.
But it felt like total luxury when we discovered there was a farmers market where we purchased chicken apple sausage to grill on the barbecue to add to our pasta, plus a pop-up café called Carma after the two bakers, Carolyn Unsworth and Matt Rose, who had the bright idea to start selling coffee and scratch-baked pastries at cost simply because there wasn’t such a thing on the island.
‘I Love to See You Eat’
Carolyn, who has been coming to Savary with her five children since 1981, camping in the backyard of her realtor brother, who has a home on the island, said she always wished there was a place to go for a treat and a cup of coffee at a reasonable price.
She was inspired by her Indian-born mother Queenie, who died in England in 2021, and her sister Nina’s book about her mother’s life in India and England and her cooking that merged recipes from the two cultures. The title, I Love to See You Eat, came from something her mother would often say. Carolyn decided to make her dream into a reality with the help of her boyfriend and partner, Matt Rose, a professional baker.
“I’ve never had much money, and she left me a little bit of money, and I know my mom would say ‘feed people.’”
Every night and morning, she and Matt labored to prepare and cook trays of popular savories and sweets on their propane stove, laughing as they tried to read temperatures on the stove by flashlight. Among their popular offerings: sausage rolls, spinach pies, brownies, sugar cookies, carrot cake, and British favorites, sticky toffee pudding and Bakewell tarts. Sometimes they had mishaps, burning whole batches of brownies or cinnamon buns. But mostly, like Queenie, they were just happy to see people eat. And, at the end of the day, they just gave away the leftover pastries—though there usually weren’t that many!
This was their first summer, and they hope to be back next year. The place is simply “magic,” Carolyn said.
“I always say my children became way more humane when they came here because they weren’t on phones, they weren’t distracted, they weren’t trying to be someone they’re not. And there’s nothing like being on the beach with them at night. Where else do you go and watch the stars? And [the kids are] trapped with you. They’re on an island!”
We took some baked goods back to to have with our barbecue, which we ate on the porch of our cabin. And we went to the beach to watch the stars—spectacular, but sadly, no photo can do them justice.
More photos and Jeff’s video
Substack, this wonderful platform, keeps reminding me my post is “too long for email,” which means you may only be reading part of it. However, if you’ve stuck with me this far, here’s a link to some more of my photos of Savary Island and the other places we visited on the Sunshine Coast.
As so many people told us—and we discovered for ourselves—it really is a magical place. I’m almost reluctant to write about it as I worry that it will be overrun with tourists as so many of my favorite destinations in the U.S. have become (Yosemite and Zion, for example!). But then I think, why shouldn’t others enjoy the places we love?
What you do you think? Do you have favorite destinations you’re reluctant to tell people about because you want to keep them to yourself? I’d love to hear from you!
Below, you’ll find a link to Part 1 of Jeff’s Photowalks TV episode about the Sunshine Coast. Part 2 about Savary Island will post next week.
I hope to share some recipes for fall and the upcoming Jewish High Holidays in the next week or two. For the moment, I’m praying for a break in California’s unprecedented heatwave that will induce me to want to cook or bake again. Meanwhile, I’m chopping veggies and fruit for salads and dreaming of a return visit to British Columbia—and all that glorious blue water!
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Ruth
It was wonderful having you and Jeff stay in our cabin. I must say you were I favorite guest this year. I can't wait for Jeff's vlog on Savary Island, the Sunshine Coast vlog was amazing. If you come back to Savary I am going to cook you one of my favorites meals. Oh! Really we'll make it a party with some of the Savary people. And maybe we can even get Larry to perform for us.
What a wonderful post, Ruth! I felt like I was traveling along with you and Jeff, a beautiful adventure and I loved all of the descriptions of the food you had and the brisket looks WOW! I’m going to continue on with Jeff’s post. Thanks for this, I feel like I went on vacation! ❤️