East Point Park

East Point ParkDonald Lovegrove2014-04-01T21:15:55-07:00

East Point Park is one of two public spaces on Saturna Island, which is tucked away at the southern end of the Southern Gulf Islands chain.

Saturna islanders lobbied hard for the creation of this serene day park beside the East Point Lighthouse, a featured attraction of the 2.5-hectare East Point Park, built in 1888.

East Point Park is now a part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, one of Canada’s newest national parks. The park protects a portion of British Columbia’s beautiful southern Gulf Islands – a landscape of rocky headlands, forested hills and shorelines studded with colourful tidepools. The park resembles a patchwork quilt of protected lands scattered over 15 larger islands, and many smaller islets and reefs.

The unusual sandstone shoreline, sculptured over centuries by wind and wave erosion, has formed pockets, providing hours of pleasurable exploration of tidal pools. Depending on the height of the tides, you’ll find more or less of the shoreline revealed during your visit, just as you’ll see more or less of magical Mount Baker’s magnificent snow cone rising above the eastern horizon, depending on the clouds. The lower the ocean, the more there is to explore at East Point.

Walk the weathered snout of East Point and discover the many colours revealed by erosion in the smooth shaped limestone. Offshore, the curious eyes of harbour seals will follow you around. A trail leads down the right side of the lighthouse to a fabulous picnic spot on the rocky ledge above the churning waters of Boiling Reef.

East Point Park is a naturalist’s paradise, teeming with birds and marine mammals. There are few sights more thrilling than seeing killer whales in their natural environment, and East Point is known to be one of the best places in the Gulf Islands from which to watch for whales during summer. Local residents claim that pods of orcas pass the lighthouse on most days between May and November.

If you’ve brought a hand-carried boat, you can launch from the beach to explore the shoreline, but beware of the tidal currents that churn through Tumbo Channel.

East Point Park is located on Saturna Island in the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia. BC Ferries operates a ferry service from Swartz Bay to Lyall Harbour on Saturna Island. Disembark at the ferry terminal on Ralph Road, turn left onto East Point Road, and continue to the extreme eastern tip of the island via Tumbo Channel Road.

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