French Beach
Named after this intrepid explorer guy who crossed Canada by foot (!), French Beach offers pretty much whatever outdoorsy fun you could ask for, and it's easy to stay thre. There's campsites, picnic tables and everything, swimming, it's right on the Strait of Juan De Fuca, which is pretty - go there for an afternoon, you'll want to stay a couple days, have a campfire, chill out... that's our recommendation.
French Beach Provincial Park is located on the west coast of southern Vancouver Island. The park can be accessed via Hwy 14, 20 km west of Sooke. Directional signs are posted. The park is located approximately 11 km from Jordan River. Nearest communities, towns or cities are Sooke, Jordan River, Port Renfrew, Victoria .
Juan De Fuca Trail, China Beach & Mystic Beach
Mystic beach is on one end of the Juan De Fuca Marine Trail, so it's a good place to start (or end) a hike. Next to the beach, there's a great campground, so you can spend the night if need be. China Beach is nice and sandy, it's a great place to chill out and have a picnic or whatever, wade around in the water, relax... don't light any fires though! It's illegal on the beach. Remember to pack a lunch and drinking water.
Sombrio Beach
Apparently a perfect location for surfing. It's on kilometre 29 of the Juan De Fuca trail, so if you want to hike around, this is a good place to start. Honestly, the hiking around here will blow you away. There's all sorts of little things you'll find, like little waterfalls and stuff, and the beach is beautiful, the water, the little pebbles that make up the beach, and that typical west coast green forest with hiking trails that's just got this magical quality.
Botanical Beach
If searching the depths of space for alien life is too expensive or time-consuming for you, check out Botanical Beach instead. It's at the end of the Juan De Fuca trail, it's full of crazy marine life that's perfectly presented in little tidal pools that you can look into. A bunch of wildlife research facilities are located nearby, because the whole area is used for crazy biology research!
Remember, if you visit Botanical Beach, don't get carried away - this wildlife is super-fragile, and the whole place is a really important protected area. So don't touch any wildlife or put your hands in the tidal pools. Just take pictures and stuff.
Saltspring Island
Tons of grown-up hippies, farmers, parents who believe in the healing powers of crystals and the destructive powers of microwaves, cool artists who make stuff out of driftwood and play home-made drums, a ton of famous people with kids... these are just a few of the people you'll meet in this strange and wonderful new-age paradise. It seems like everybody's moved there either to create a modern-day utopia, or because they think they're moving into one. If Vancouver Island isn't isolated and artsy enough for you, Saltspring Island is your next best bet. It's smaller, it's slower, it's charminger, and it's hippier. Maybe happier.
How to get to Saltspring Island:
The ferry from Swartz Bay to Saltspring Island takes about 35 minutes. Check out the schedule on the BC Ferries website ↑.
Ruckle Park
When you're on Saltspring Island, check this place out - it's a great place to camp and chill out. You can relax, have a fire and watch the ferries go by in the distance. Apparently there's all sorts of wildlife there, but the wildlife I saw that was really cool was seashore-marine-type stuff, like little mussels and enemonies and stuff in little tidal pools.
Mt. Maxwell Provincial Park
Photo by Mark Madsen at Flickr
The coolest thing about this park is the view from the top of the mountain. It's the highest point around, so you can see the rest of Saltspring Island, the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, and even a lot of the BC mainland. It's also a great place for hiking, picnicking, whatever... like a lot of these parks it's got a lot of Douglas Fir and Garry Oak trees, which are pretty. This park also allows cycling!
Chemainus
The Cowichan Valley
This area is steeped in serene, natural beauty, and full of cool old farms that are getting used in modern ways, neat people, an interesting history involving first nations culture, cool art by cool artists etc.
We've got a whole other section on Cowichan.
all these pictures of cowichan are from this awesome site ↑
Tour Companies
Ocean Island Tours
Our very own tour company offers daytrips all over southern Vancouver Island, including sooke, the Juan De Fuca trail, Victoria & area etc... Doug the Daytrip Co-ordinator is a sweet guy who knows everything, and you can't find a better deal!
http://www.oceanislandtours.com/
Coastal Revelation Nature & Heritage Tours
"Coastal Revelations' eco tour operators can help you find the wilderness adventure holiday you’re looking for. Your nature tour guides are Interpretation Canada trained, which means their passion for this place lights up innovative and interactive programs and activities."
http://www.coastalrevelations.com
