Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/126959
"Whaletown map (detail)" from Islands in the Salish Sea: A Community Atlas, edited by Sheila Harrington and Judi Stevenson. Published by TouchWood Editions C d tes Islan or weekender Cortes Island the inside track Shuck-and-jive: The must-munch for shellfish lovers? Squirrel Cove's Seafest Oyster Festival (cortesisland.com). Mind-body sustenance: Hollyhock's vegetarian buffet, with activity daypass (hollyhock.ca). Wades and wows: Manson's Landing/Lagoon tours, with Lynne Jordan (in exchange for museum donations; 250-9356340). The cappuccino-browniereggae combo: at Trudie's Café. Pebble interlude: Smelt Bay's 16 hectares of provincial park, for toasty swims, evening campfires, grassy playground; camping nearby (env. gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/park pgs/smelt_bay/). The view on high: Easter Bluff's 360-degree seascape (cortesisland.com). Prime paddle: On-deck burgers, funky general store with scooped ice-cream, floating-artgallery tours — just depart Cortes (via water taxi or kayak) and arrive hungry at Refuge Cove, West Redonda Island (refugecove.com). —Cherie Thiessen 10 W e s t w o r l d p10-11_Wknder.indd 10 >> Summer 2013 [ ] May 19 Seafest Oyster Festival July Music Fest Mid-August Sandcastle Day (tide dependent) the getaway Cortes Island is as remote as it gets when it comes to Gulf Islands serviced by ferry. The island lounges in moody Sutil Channel at the entrance to Desolation Sound: wild, rugged and sparsely populated, particularly in the north. On its drier, southern half (in the rain shadow of Vancouver Island), cougars and wolves coexist alongside descendants of 19thcentury settlers, a Klahoose First Nations community and more recent arrivals searching for their own hectare of backcountry paradise. No sleepy backwater this, though. The Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery features solo and group exhibitions, and touring and local musicians, such as The Wild Canadians, keep dance floors bouncing from Manson's Landing to Gorge Harbour. Also: skateboarding; Ultimate Frisbee Tournaments; hikes to Von Dop Inlet's 500-year-old Big Fir; world- renowned Hollyhock Learning Centre for pampering of both body and soul; and, just 10 minutes from "downtown," tropical-looking Hague Lake's white-sugar beaches and 47 hectares of parkland and trails. the hideaway A skinny dirt lane bisected by fern-fringed Hobbit trails winds deep amidst five hectares of fir and cedar groves. Just beyond the final twist: Cedar Moon Beach House, nestled on a generous sweep of Desolation Sound with floor-to-ceiling windows framing distant Mainland peaks and West Redonda Island. Highlights: A master bedroom with Egyptian-cotton linens and down-filled duvets, aromatic hand-milled soaps, wood-burning fireplace, piano, dreamscape soaker tub and French doors opening onto the main deck's 180-degree views. Plus games room and four guest rooms. From $250/night; canoes free (cedarmoon.com). (insets top & middle) Andrew Findlay, (eagle's-eye view) The Slide Farm 13-04-18 1:28 PM W G # E • • • • • • • FO Pr th Po to At eq Di av Pl m Si h