CBC’s food columnist describes some of her favourite spots on the small island

Bowen Island, a short hop on the ferry from Vancouver, makes for an easy day trip from the city — and is all the more fun for foodies looking for something different, says CBC On The Coast’s food columnist.

For a quick trip from Vancouver, consider heading to Bowen Island – a laid-back rural island filled with charming boutiques, casual eateries and plenty of opportunities for outdoor adventure. Only a 20-minute ferry ride away from West Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay, Bowen Island makes for a great day trip or weekend jaunt.

The Amazon, Sicily, Madeira — and Bowen Island?
Leave it to a British newspaper to remind us that one of the most scenic day trips is in our back yard.

If you’re looking for a day trip, this is a perfect choice. Very easy to get to and only 10 $ for ferry’s return ticket. The island itself is not very big, the nature is beautiful and accessible from the port.

Riding the BC Ferries vessel to Bowen Island from Horseshoe Bay is a 20-minute affair but it allows enough time to climb to the boat’s open-air top deck and take in three nautical miles of breathtaking west coast scenery.

Spring’s finally here. Take advantage of the slightly warmer weather and those lovely extra hours of sunlight this season by exploring Vancouver’s beautiful backyard with these fun and affordable day trips!

Tourist in Your Town is On The Coast’s summer series. We visit communities in the Lower Mainland to explore hidden gems to check out for a summer visit.

This week Producer Bridgette Watson caught a quick ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay to Bowen Island. That’s where she met resident Lorraine Ashdown who moved to Bowen 15 years ago.

There isn’t time for a fancy intro; I have a lot of ground to cover with no less than 11 venues to consider in this column.

Recently, I was lucky to be sent on a Bowen Island culinary adventure with my family and was blown away by the variety and quality of dining options there.

The best thing about Bowen Island is that it is incredibly close to Vancouver, but it is nothing like Vancouver.

An easy 20-minute ferry from Horseshoe Bay pops visitors out on this small Howe Sound island municipality, instantly resulting in a decelerated pace from the hustle of the big city. Here, life is quintessentially West Coast island: laid back, tight knit, and friendly.

It’s summertime and that gives you the perfect excuse to explore outside of Vancouver.

Even if it’s just for the weekend, a change of scenery is good for the soul and luckily you have so many options to choose from. When you arrive all you have to do is put on your shades, pour yourself a drink, and get into holiday mode.

Canada turns 150 in 2017. What better way to celebrate Canada’s sesquicentennial than enjoying her natural beauty experiencing her seas, lakes, and rivers! Here are our top 10 insider tips on the best ways to explore the waters of Vancouver’s North Shore.

There are few things just as sweet in adulthood as they are in childhood, but the first real day of summer is one of them. With the sun warming your shoulders and the anticipation of hiking trails, BBQs, and fireworks on the horizon, it doesn’t get much better than this. When you add in Canada Day celebrations and parades, well, life really is sweet.

A few weeks back I shared 5 reasons why I think we all need a girls getaway every once in a while (see that post here). Aside from the obvious (you just plain deserve it!), it can be so refreshing and help you recharge. It’s also a chance for you to spend some quality time with friends and enjoy a glass of wine (or a few! 😉 ) and do whatever you want when you want. Doesn’t that sound amazing?! Oh the things we appreciate so much more after kids…!

Bowen Island is unique: It’s only an hour from Vancouver, but the back-to-basics atmosphere makes you feel as though you’ve traveled deep into B.C.’s wilderness.

Catch a BC Ferry from Horseshoe Bay for a 20 minute sailing to Snug Cove, or take a water taxi from Coal Harbour or Granville Island. As you cross Howe Sound, the towering Coastal Mountains command you to slow down, pay attention and be present. Before you know it, you’re stepping into another world.

Slow down and smell the sea on two perfect day trips from Vancouver. We think an island day trip is a must on any Vancouver vacation, after all how can you resist? The west coast is dotted with rugged islands, each more beautiful than the next. Hop on the ferry and head over to Bowen Island or perhaps take a cute little seaplane to Victoria on Vancouver Island. These two top island picks make for a fun day adventure from Vancouver and are a great way to truly experience the beauty of British Columbia’s West Coast.

Sunday’s. The last day of a regular weekend. How do you spend them? Realizing you have no more clean socks so you better do laundry. The day where you want to drink only coffee and lay on the couch? Recovering from a Friday/Saturday night out? Brunch? Beach? All of the above? How about getting lost? Is that on your Sunday to do list, cause it definitely wasn’t on mine this past weekend but it happened & I loved it!

A Canadian island is hoping to work a little reverse psychology on visitors by telling them how awful it is and not to come.

The new marketing campaign for Bowen Island is designed to keep the island as the best-kept secret in British Columbia while at the same time sneakily encouraging an increase in sightseers.

Certain Canadian cities get all the glory. We’re looking at you, Vancouver and Calgary, with your sparkling cityscapes and lush emerald tree lines. Meanwhile, some of the most beautiful destinations don’t get any credit. Like Beyoncé’s backup dancers, these pretty places in Canada are just as fantastic as vacation headliners—but rarely get acknowledged. We searched for places that pack a major visual punch with unique charm, postcard-worthy scenery, and breathtaking landscapes.

Just a 20-minute ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay, Bowen Island is the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Sometimes all we’re looking for is a quick getaway where we can relax and rejuvenate without breaking the bank.  Luckily, B.C. offers up plenty of beautiful destinations not far fro mthe city where you don’t have to deal with crowded tourist hot spots.

Just a twenty minute ferry ride from Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay or approximately thirty minutes by water taxi from Granville Island or Coal Harbour, the magic of Bowen Island awaits. For day-trippers no need to bring the car. The beach, hiking trails, shopping and restaurants are within steps of the ferry which docks at the beautiful Snug Cove. With no overnight campgrounds or brand-name hotels, Bowen Island’s rental cottages and B&B’s provide the perfect get-away from the big city.

The people of Bowen Island in British Columbia have a love-hate relationships with tourists. To emphasize that, the island has released a startling new community identity: “Tell your friends it’s awful here.”

“We love to show off our island, but we don’t want it to be overrun with tourists,” explains Chris Staples, a Bowen resident and founder of Vancouver-based agency Rethink. “We want visitors, but only if they really ‘get’ what makes Bowen special.”

If you live in Vancouver, escaping bustling city life for Bowen Island is like pushing the easy button for a revitalizing retreat. A 20-minute ferry ride to Snug Cove from Horseshoe Bay will drop you in an outdoor playground and foodie’s paradise.

What better way to start off a foodie tour than with an eggs bennie brunch at The Snug Café? Once you’re good and full, grab some fuel for your day at award-winning espresso maker Bowen Island Coffee. For the kids (or kids at heart) don’t miss Candy in the Cove, the world’s smallest candy store. We love the Disney-themed Pez dispenser sets and the Chickn Bones (don’t be turned off by the name!).

My grandmother was the family’s resident storyteller, and I recall with great fondness hearing her talk of distant relatives’ lives, including time spent somewhere called “Bone Island.” Years later, in poring over maps of BC, I’d alight my eyes on a Bowen Island, just northwest of the city and the bottom-most jewel in a cluster of islands I’d managed to never visit.

Looking for a break from the city but not sitting on enough cash or time to hop on a plane for a stint in Sayulita or a tour around Europe? Give yourself a faux vacation with a day trip to Bowen Island. Even though the ferry ride is short (only 20 minutes) there’s just something special about the act of disembarkation that is as liberating as it is relaxing. And to an island, no less! Super bonus: this getaway is totally doable without a car.

Tourism Bowen Island’s Chair, Murray Atherton presented a cheque to the Bowen Island Municipality’s Mayor Murray Skeels to go towards the enhancement of the residents’ and visitors’ enjoyment of some of the Island’s trails and beaches. QR Codes explain to the user where they are, what they are looking at and what history is behind what they see today. John Dowler of Cosmic Ideas and Web Design has donated countless hours developing the QR program and is looking forward to expanding the sites throughout the island.

Rain streaks the windows of Babette Deggan’s pottery studio as she lights a fire to banish the chill and lines up yesterday’s pots to dry on top of the woodstove. Classical music tinkles from the stereo as she wedges a lump of clay and then settles behind the wheel to shape a vase. Firelight flickers across a romantic landscape painting on the wall by her husband, Paul, and illustrations of dreamy female figures by her son Adrien. “I need to have clay under my fingernails,” she says with a lilting French accent. “Pottery is my happiness.”

If you need to get away from the city for a weekend, or even just the day, hop on a ferry and sail across to Bowen Island. Just a 20-minute ride from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, this idyllic island with its pristine beauty and tranquil shores is the perfect getaway.

Here are five things to do once you’re on Bowen Island.

Sixteen DNCBers had a ball on Wednesday riding the ferry and walking around Killarney Lake on Bowen Island. We saw a few neat birds, but mostly just enjoyed the serenity of a forest walk at a place where most of us had never been before. Check out the photo evidence by Jonathan, Roger, Pat and others on our Picasa site…

How an amazingly successful Re-Use It store on Bowen Island is giving back to the community while diverting waste from the landfill, and how their longtime goal for their own composting facility is making headway, with each knick knack sold.

From the Bowen Island Undercurrent, February 26, 2016

Just off the coast of West Vancouver, Bowen Island has long attracted Vancouver visitors with its rural charm, forest and shoreline trails. Take the 20-minute journey over on BC Ferries (the vessel also takes vehicles), and you’ll arrive into charming Snug Cove.

Wrapping around Snug Cove is the 323-hectare (800-acre) Crippen Regional Park, a great place for picnickers, and hikers will love the 11 kilometre (6.8 miles) of trails.

Bowen Island goes above and beyond to celebrating Movember.

FOR MORE THAN 125 YEARS, BOWEN ISLAND HAS BUILT A REPUTATION AS A RELAXING GETAWAY FOR BOATERS AND LANDLUBBERS ALIKE. TODAY, THE MARINAS AND ATTRACTIONS MAKE IT EVEN MORE ENTICING.

We got more than we bargained for on our latest trip to Bowen Island’s Snug Cove. What we were expecting was the usual laid back ambiance of this small historic port at the mouth of Howe Sound. What we received was vintage yachts, classic cars, period fashion shows, an elaborate tea party, music on the dock, and plenty of island history thanks to Bowen Island Steamship Days.

“FieldTrips” is either a day trip or a few days where I visit food areas of interest which may include farm visits, producers, wineries, restaurants and/or other places that people can visit. This is about offering  Vancouver Foodster readers a chance to get out of town and take a “Field Trip” for the day or a few days to explore, learn, taste and experience.

from Today’s Senior Newsmagazine