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We stopped in today at the Wild Bistro in Gibsons to find out what Ian and Kera were up to heading into the holiday season. Turns out they’ve struck a foodie nerve with the addition of Ian’s new ‘Just Feed Me’ menu item.
Many of the Wild’s guests are regulars – people who love the [...]

[/caption]I know, I know. This happened in late July. I heard all about it but have only just now gotten the time to view the video of the tugboat turning over in the Skookumchuck while pushing a barge loaded with equipment and trucks out of the LaFarge gravel operation and other remote Sechelt Inlet locations.

My father sent me the link and the footage is incredible. It was taken by a kayaker from Demshitz, a trio of whitewater adventure kayakers who paddle and surf locations like the Skookumchuck Narrows Rapids, and have created a film called "Demshitz the Movie" about extreme kayaking.

They were at the rapids to play in the surf and got a very graphic reminder of why these rapids are so dangerous, whether you see standing waves or not. The whirlpools themselves have claimed boats and lives over many years and this footage shows how treacherous it is going through them at any other time than absolute slack tide and how minor movements and constant water force can overcome even the mightiest of Inlet warriors, the sturdy tugboat.

The tide was approaching slack but it was still a good 40 minutes away from flat calm - as much as the Skookumchuck can ever be.

A good visual for anyone interested in the wild power of one of the Sunshine Coast's most visited attractions. That's why it's worth the hike!

To time your walk to coincide with peak tidal movement and best viewing, visit the Sechelt Visitor Info Centre's online Skookumchuck Schedule. NOTE: Ensure you are reading the current year's tidal information.

RELATED READING:
Bigpacific's Skookumchuck Pages
Bigpacific's Skookumchuck Gallery, with Kayakers
BC Provincial Park Skookumchuck Page

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Sunshine Coast Resort Video - please allow time for loading
Visit the site
Sunshine Coast Resort: Luxury and fun in the heart of Pender Harbour

Northwest of Sechelt is a land where time slows into a summery march of blossoms, ocean tang, and whispered memory of pioneers and eccentrics, calling to the soul to meander… to relinquish the grip of the city pace in a spirit of old-fashioned ‘vacationing’. That land is Pender Harbour.

Long an attractant to a wide milieu of characters - from bushwacking adventurers and strong-backed builders to a lady writer with trunks laden with evening dresses and a doomed love affair with an English poet, or an Austrian aristocrat living, penniless, with an invalid husband on the mud flats of Oyster Bay – Pender Harbour offers one of the most accessible and beautiful rural vacation experiences in Coastal British Columbia today.

That spirit of resilience and capacity to envision the future is nowhere more in evidence than the Sunshine Coast Resort. Reclaimed from the hillside’s one-time squatters approximately 20 years ago - the once-dumping ground of everything not natural (tires, paint cans, burned out cars) - has been, under Ralph & Silke Linmann’s hands, transformed into a world-class vacation destination. The summer apartments, motel units and full service marina have been expanded to include a luxury hotel with a mix of standard hotel rooms, suites and the stunning penthouse suite with central stone fireplace and a private deck view of some of the most beautiful sunsets on the West Coast.

Read more


Click
here for a full list of all listed resort properties.

Click
here to search by keyword, location or amenities

You
want to have it all! Great accommodation, all t

I'm working hard to create and upload videos of the Coast, and am always looking for interesting Sunshine Coast videos to add. If you'd like to submit one for review and possible inclusion, please write to me using the contact us page. Thanks!


Salmon clipping at Rivers Day... did you know they anaesthetize the baby salmon with oil of cloves for the adipose fin removal? So cool!


Bigpacific.com's Sunshine Coast commercial, by Annika at FlyingFastProductions.ca


Introduction to the Sunshine Coast - Multimedia Slideshow


Sargeant Bay Slideshow, Halfmoon Bay BC


Sakinaw Lake Lodge in multimedia format


St. Mary's Hospital Foundation new hospital expansion fundraiser: BEDLAM stretcher races


2nd Annual Salmon Festival, Gibsons Landing Business Association


Tzoonie Yourself! Remote Wilderness Camping just 2 hours from Vancouver


Powell River by Motorcycle


Roberts Creek Mandala Project 2009


Sunshine Coast Tribute by DuaneBurnett.com


An interesting video about coming to the Coast, with small clips of footage mixed with stills and a soundtrack.


Simon Sees the Sunshine Coast - watch it and then tell me you don't want to come here!


SueandSteveShow.com Road Trip: Gibsons BC - how families do it


Sunshine Coast Tourism video


Okay, I LOVE this one. Scenic footage of the Sunshine Coast of Whittaker beach in the 1950s and 1980s. What a treasure.


Mountain Biking - Awesome Video of Noronalife BC Bike Race Day 5: Sunshine Coast

What a day! My girls and I spent the day exploring the Coast again, this time heading to Roberts Creek for the annual Earth Day Celebrations down at the park & mandala. Fabulous food (oh, the chocolate cake!), fresh produce, jewelery, crafts and a ton of informational booths, topped off with live performances under the canopy at the mandala made for a very well-attended and fun event.

Check out the videos here:


Hula Hooping at Earth Day in Roberts Creek from Laurie McConnell
and this performance from the mandala:



After meeting up with friends Duane Burnett of The Local Newspaper and Heather Till of The Coast Reporter and a few other pals, and checking out all the booths - see all the photos at photos.bigpacific.com - we continued towards Gibsons where we'd heard there was some kind of event happening at Deer Crossing Art Farm. Well, it turns out we missed it, but in finding a place to walk our goofy 1 year old mutt we discovered Elphinstone Crossing, a new subdivision at the end of Storvold Road in Port Mellon, just off the Port Mellon Highway. What vistas! Of course it rains here a lot, but the open valley and views of mountains at Whistler, Gambier Island, Georgia Strait and the majestic peak of Mount Baker make it a fantastic location. 4.3 acre lots mean the preservation of the quality of life and wilderness-like setting. I just could not get over the view and took a panorama video in high def here:


Elphinstone Crossing Panorama from Laurie McConnell at Bigpacific.com. 

To top it all off, I came home and created a new 3 minute video for the Coast with over 50 fabulous images, and put it up on Animoto and You Tube for you. It's got full size high-def visuals, so please be patient while it's loading:



I hope YOUR Earth Day weekend was as good or better than mine!

 

So, we have a bunch of dogs. The Pugs, Pompidou and Kaiser Soze. The Terrierist, Lucky, currently gallivanting around in a head cone post bad-bounce in the bush. And Luna - or Lunatic as we often call her.


Luna

It turns out Luna likes a lot of things she shouldn't. Like CNN (she yanked the cable wire off the side of the house and chewed it, CNN was the first to go), amplifier cords, laptop keys (one laptop is missing the period, 'm', and down arrow, horribly disabled), giant jawbreakers, slushies...  We thought that was the worst of it and that most of her transgressions were our fault - doors left open, slushies left in the back seat of the car without lids, jawbreakers up at mouth height in the daughter's bedroom.

But no. I went for coffee with a friend and while I was raising my cup inside, Luna had hopped the back seat and plucked the cold coffee in the cupholder between the front seats, and tipped it over rather adeptly into both the driver's side AND the passenger side, and licked it up from the upholstery. Like she needs caffeine. Maybe she wants to be a police dog? She also likes donuts a lot.

Anyway, there I was with a car too smushed to barely drive, and then only while sitting on plastic. Ironically, the friend I had coffee with talked about Splash & Shine in Sechelt, and how competitive they were for automotive detailing - it wasn't just a biofriendly drive through car wash and self-clean centre, they did the whole ball of wax.

I dropped the guilty Luna off at home and cleaned the car of the most of the detrius that my kids manage to accumulate, and brought it in to Alan at Splash and Shine, who had the bay and steam cleaner at the ready for me. Here's what it looked like before:


Dang that coffee drinking dog!

I headed off by foot to meetings and a relaxing lunch at The Side Dish, one of my fave lunch spots in Sechelt. When I came back I was delighted to find this:


Auto-Redemption.

Between the four dogs (all big shedders), trips to the bush,

Davis Bay in Spring, oo la la.

Gorgeous high-definition panoramic view of the Davis Bay Sechelt waterfront. Keep an eye out for the red & white of Bigpacific on the Bike and if you see me say hi - I've always got interesting and valuable giveaways for Coast businesses!

Laurie McConnell, Bigpacific Webmaster

My partner Diane and I finally got the chance to use the Chasters Gift Certificate I won in a draw on their opening day last year. Am I ever sorry I waited so long! We headed down to Bonniebrook Lodge Oceanfront Inn in Gibsons, on a gorgeous spring evening, to dine sumptuously before heading out to the All Candidates Debate at the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse. A stellar dining experience and feisty local politics - a great combination.

Here's a video panorama of the view from the restaurant:


Chasters exceeds expectations

And a few pictures of our meals:







What's coming next at Chasters? How about the not to be missed Chef's Tasting Menu event on April 30th?

 Thursday April 30, 2009
Champagne Reception at 6:30
Dinner at 7:00

- a 5-course dinner with champagne reception for $49 per person  - our select wine pairing is an option for $39pp - we are opening a cellar select shiraz for this event - you may not want to miss this!!
Please download the menu (pdf).
Please reply in kind by e-mail or call Lina - 886-2887 for your personal reservation….
MOTHER'S DAY EVENT: Call for details and book soon - it will be a wonderful treat.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO EAT A FULL MEAL TO ENJOY CHASTERS: Come for the view and a beverage and appy, or order appetizers and dessert, or share a main and extras. We just want to see you!

Langdale
Gibsons
Keats
Island
Gambier
Island



Gibsons
Gateway to the
Sunshine Coast


New - 2009 Salmon Festival Information - click here for more information!


Gibsons Accommodation: Gibsons B&B, Gibsons Cottage Rentals, Gibsons Hotels
How to Get Here
A
Brief Tour
Take
a photographic tour - *NEW*
Gibsons
Facts
Gibsons
Community
Roberts
Creek
History
LOGGER SPORTS PHOTO ALBUM


How to get to Gibsons
To
get to Gibsons, take the Sunshine
Coast ferry from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver to the Langdale
terminal. Or, if you're coming from Powell River, take the ferry
from Saltery Bay to Earls Cove at the north end of the Sunshine
Coast. (For ferry details, see the website: www.bcferries.bc.ca,
or call 1-888-BCFERRY.) Drive south along Highway 101 through Garden
Bay and Madeira Park and, farther south, Secret Cove and Halfmoon Bay.
Continue right through Sechelt,
Davis Bay and Wilson Creek and past Roberts
Creek.
Malaspina Coach
Lines charter bus service runs from both the Langdale
and Earls Cove terminals, and public transit from Langdale.
Tel: 604-885-2217
Toll Free: 1-877-227-8287
Or you
can even fly if that strikes your fancy.

Gibsons Harbour
Gibsons
- famous for more than the Beachcombers
Perhaps one of Gibsons biggest claims to fame
is as the site where the long-running TV series The Beachcombers was filmed. Although the film crews are long gone, Molly's Reach
restaurant and the pier (where much of the filming was done) are
still there, and several of the cast, notably the late star of the series,
Bruno Gerussi, chose to make their homes here. After all, they knew
there was more to Gibsons than The Beachcombers.

The famous Molly's Reach, winter evening
Photo courtesy of Photographytips.com

Gibsons Community
Gibsons
& District Chamber of Commer

The Sunshine Coast is a great place to do weekend rambles. Compared to the city, where everything is spread out, or other communities where there's one nucleus into which everyone migrates, the Coast is unique with its string of communities, single highway, and leisurely attitude.

Gibsons Liquidation Auction from Laurie McConnell on Vimeo.

Yesterday I began my jaunts with a trip out to the Gibsons Curling Rink for a liquidation auction. That was fun, though I couldn't last long listening to the auctioneer - too much auditory stimulation! I really wanted one of the 3-4 person tents but in a blink they were gone with one person buying both at $40 each. $50 was the top of my budget, and one should never attend an auction without a good list and budget fixed ahead of time lest you come home with say, 15 makeup boxes, 2 humidifiers, curtain rods that are too big for the windows, etc. I won't say any more.

Then it was over to my favorite tech store on the Coast, London Drugs. Ahh, London Drugs. Other women may head to the large cosmetics section, cool and constantly changing housewares aisles, or perhaps the beautifully designed kitchen sales area... but I head over to computers, stopping in to say hi to Christian and Ted in the cameras area (thanks for the awesome Kodak HD video camera with built in pop-out USB port, no cords yahoo! and a great price). Then it's through the arch to tech heaven, where I peruse the netbooks - one of the only PC products that you can even buy without Vista pre-installed; netbook and data card from your cellular provider and it's blogging from anywhere - and then pay homage to the macs. Boxes and boxes of macs, from gorgeous 24-inch iMacs (one friend said the iMac she bought for her husband due to his deteriorating sight has totally revitalized him) to my idea of nirvana: the 15" MacBook Pro with 4gb ram, 320gb drive, superprocessor and lightweight aluminum case... toss in the new intuitive trackpad with built in motions for browsing the