Photos of Keats Island

January 23rd, 2008

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Canada

Photos of Keats Island

Tim recently visited Keats Island, a tiny scrap of land in Howe Sound:

The body of water around it is called Howe Sound, and if you’ve touristed around here you’ve seen it out of the left side of your car on the first part of the way to Whistler, or the right side when almost home. Keats’ population in winter is maybe fifty; but then a thousand on certain summer long weekends. The Island and Sound are photogenic.

He also took some gorgeous photos, which made me pine a bit for the many blues and greys of coastal BC.

I have both friends and family with cabins on Keats Island, so I’ve been over there about a dozen times. It’s a lovely spot, though the dwellings are a little close together for my taste. Tim doesn’t say if he visited the Eastbourne side or the Keats Landing side. The latter is where I’ve spent most of my time.

There’s a big bible camp on the Keats Landing side–they own a bunch of land there. Curiously, the Wikipedia entry for Keats Island doesn’t mention it. I’ll amend it.

Tags: bc, cottage, howe-sound, island, keats-camp

Comments: 5 Responses so far

Cheryl
January 23rd, 2008
6:56 am

Oh, I stayed at Keats’ Camp briefly one summer (grade 8 or 9). I was lured in by the “art and drama” theme for the week, not quite realizing that it was a Bible camp. It was an interesting week…. not sure if I have any photos though.

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darren
January 23rd, 2008
8:09 am

Cheryl: I too went there at some point in my childhood. I think I knew it was a Bible camp, but my friends were going and I was curious about the whole religion thing anyway.

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Derek K. Miller
January 24th, 2008
8:41 am

One of my close elementary school friends (who now does very well as a software consultant in NYC, as I discovered last month when he stumbled on my blog) came from a fairly religious Christian family, who also had a cabin on the Keats Landing side of the island, so I went there a few times some 30 years ago. We went to the bible camp for Sunday service, but otherwise my friend and I were able to roam about much as we wished.

The island was served by a small BC Ferries passenger vessel from Langdale (I think it may be privately operated now) — the only way for cars to get on and off is by barge. That gives it an interesting vibe, despite how close it is to Vancouver. Like many islands in our vicinity, there are tons of very cool raw-granite rock beaches, including small beachside caves, to explore.

I recall being in their cabin when my friend and I learned there was going to be a second “Star Wars” movie (”Empire Strikes Back”) for sure, and we bounced on our beds in excitement.

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darren
January 24th, 2008
8:46 am

Derek: Indeed, that ferry was the smallest ferry in the BC Ferries fleet. It was called the “Dogwood Princess” and I think it had a capacity of 40 humans and no cards.As you say, in recent years, it’s been replaced by a similarly-sized privately-operated (though, I suspect, government subsidized) ferry.

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