Or....Skip Vancouver Island drive and take ferry thru the Islands?
 

I have posted 2 postings inquiring about Vancouver Island....maybe a ferry around the islands would be better?
Would the Sun Coast be better?
You can see, I am all over the place now!

While I don't your personality, age or what you want to experience, I'll tell you a little about the Sun Coast. I'm a backpacker, low cost adventerous type even though I'm in Florida kicking back.I've been to the island, Strathcona Park (nice but nothing unique). But what was really cool was taking the Ferries up to Lund. There is a Marine Park there (I had a boat) and it is fantastic. Weather, Water, Mountains, bounty from the water and people are incomparable. Many German's and Scandinavian's run the restaurants which are surpisingly very good.

Thanks....I will check that out.
I'm in flatland FL now, also. Getting eager to travel to the NW!

It's called the Sunshine Coast.

One thought is to do a circle tour. Several years ago my husband and I took the ferry fromVancouver to Vancouver island. Took ferries from Vancouver island to some of the little islands, drove north and took the ferry to the Sunshine Coast (aka Sechelt). Drove south down the Sunshine Coast, took the ferry from Gibson's back to Vancouver.
Saw a lot and actually got a great deal on the ferries (there was a special "circle" rate). I suggest you contact BC ferries to see if this is still doable.

Just starting to do research on a trip to Vancouver and Victoria and at this point know nothing so please forgive my ignorance. This circle tour sounds like something we would enjoy. Would we need a car or can you hop on hop off so to speak, you know, packpack and stay a day on this island and a day on another? We have the first week of July and would fly into either Vancouver or Seattle.

I'm just starting research, also. I would say you wouldn't NEED a car because the port cities have lodging nearby but, it is too tempting to explore once you have "landed".
We will be dragging our rental car around on the ferries.
It seems you have to think ferry when you are in that region.
Also, I have emailed all the different regions requesting printed info by snail mail.

Hello cd,

It may help you to read the report about the 10-day backpacking trip that my son and his girlfriend did to Vancouver, Tofino, Denman Island, Hornby Island and Victoria in August 2004. (They flew to Vancouver on a Friday evening and returned from Victoria on a Sunday evening.)

As the trip report indicates, they found public transportation to be excellent in Vancouver and Victoria. However, they they found it a sruggle to use buses to get from one small town to another, or to get from one town to the ferry departure point for another island. They said that, one way or another, they would make sure they had a car the next time they visited Vancouver Island and the other Gulf Islands.

They did not do the "Circle Tour," but I've had enough exposure to the area to tell you that a week would be too short a time in which to do any kind of justice to the Circle Tour.

I believe your best bet might be to do what my son and his girlfriend did, which was to fly into Vancouver and out of Victoria.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34523794

Hope that helps.

cd, to make sense of all this, you really need to look at the ferry schedules and maps, here:

http://www.bcferries.com/schedules/maps/

Thank you Judy. I found that if we leave from Seattle, we have to take the Washington Ferry thru the San Juan Islands to Victoria and then take the BC Ferries on to Vancouver. Any details you could add to this?

Hello cd,

Here is a website that provides ferry options from the Seattle area to Victoria. Ironically it is the website of a B&B in Victoria, but its links to ferries' websites are as comprehensive as I've seen anywhere:

http://www.andersenhouse.com/ferries_maps.html

If you choose to get around by car and drive your car onto ferries, it is absolutely essential to make advanced reservations on the major ferry routes in the summer.

July 1st is the Canada Day Public Holiday. I expect ferries will be even busier than usual that weekend.

Thanks again Judy, the website is very helpful.