Sturt Bay new docks are complemented by a large visitor's dock with a new covered hospitality float.
Texada Island's Sturt Bay has seen some positive changes over the past several years and is no longer just a stopover on the way to Desolation Sound, but a growing destination offering lots to discover.
The new Texada Island Boating Club docks are now complemented by a large visitor's dock with a hospitality float. The float, protected from the elements, has become a favourite meeting and greeting spot for visiting boaters.
A 'no rafting policy' is still in place, and a major policy change has tripled the available moorage by allowing guest boaters to use vacant member spots.
The new Heritage museum in Van Anda now adds to the rural amenities. Other amenities are a delivery service from the supermarket/liquor outlet; great pub food at the Texada Inn, with showers for a small fee; and a gas station with diesel plus laundry services. All are within easy walking distance from the harbour.
There is one cloud on this otherwise peaceful horizon. A proposed LNG terminal for Blubber Bay on the north end of Texada could potentially affect the whole of the Strait of Georgia and impact all recreational boaters, as well as shipping and ferry traffic. The two mile exclusion zone surrounding one of these behemoth tankers would be like towing Whiskey Gulf down the strait. Texada Action Now (TAN), along with other interested groups, is fighting a rearguard action, informing communites up and down the Strait of Georgia of the danger.
Contact Texada Boating Club wharfingers, Barb and Ted Soepboer at 604-486-7574; Bob Timms, Tourism Texada, 604-486-0274 or www.tesada.org; Doug Paton, curator, Texada Heritage Museum- dnpaton@gmail.com; Chuck Childress, Chairman, Texada Action Now, 604-486-7443 - www.texadaactionnow.org
by Gary Grieco
griecogary@gmail.com
Islound Traveller Writer, Storyteller
Gary Grieco is a freelance writer, avid reader, sailor, and motorcycle enthusiast based on Texada Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Published Pacific Yachting March 2009