Gibsons: Sunshine Coast with my dog
Gibsons is a coastal community on the sunshine coast. It’s about a 45 minute ferry ride away from Vancouver/Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. This summer, my friends and I spent 4 days in Gibsons with my new puppy.
Getting there
In total, we had 13 people traveling to Gibsons. We split up into different cars and tried to maximize the number of people our cars can fit. We drove 5 adults plus our dog and booked our ferry for 9:50 am. It costed us $115 in total and the ferry ride back to Vancouver is free. We arrived at Horseshoe Bay terminal really early (8:30 am) because I wanted extra time to coax Tofu (my dog) into peeing and pooping before boarding the ferry.
We took a quick stroll into the village and Tofu successfully peed and pooped in the morning before boarding the ferry. Once on board, dogs are not allowed to leave the vehicle except to go to the specific pet-designated areas, which is a small room that can fit 4 people due to covid rules. Usually, we would leave our vehicle and enjoy the views, but because we didn’t want to leave Tofu alone in the car, we stayed in the car with him the whole time (~45 mins). It’s not that long of a ferry ride, but for longer ferry rides it might kinda suck.
Accommodations
We actually have a friend whose family owns property on Gibsons, so we were able to stay at a home for free for 4 days. However, his house is up for AirBnB and so are many other properties in Gibsons.
Things to do: Explore downtown Gibsons and Smitty’s Marina
On our first day, we mostly walked around downtown Gibsons. Downtown is roughly a 10 minute walk from our AirBnB. It is a cute and quaint town, very colourful. There is a harbour/pier where all the boats park and lots of restaurants residing on the dock or overlooking the dock.
Of course, this activity is very dog friendly.
Also shoutout to Mike’s Place, a really yummy gelato place!
Things to do: Gibsons Public Market
Gibsons Public Market is a community marketplace with local food merchants, a collect-hold-release aquarium and a bistro. It is quite small for a public market – the first floor is mostly the bistro and the aquarium, which I didn’t enter. Down stairs is where all the local food merchants are, and they have little stalls/booths selling different items. For example, there’s a cheese booth, meat booth, fish booth, etc.
It’s a cute little marketplace and I got some fancy burrata for $13. All the produce looked fresh.
Note: dogs are not allowed inside the public market so dogs will need to stay outside. They have a big bowl of water for dogs outside and a little eating area.
Where to eat: Smoke on the water BBQ shack
During our exploring, we spotted Smoke on the Water BBQ Shack, a rustic BBQ shack close to the harbour that smelled amazing! Read my review here.
Things to do: Paddle-boarding & kayaking
Most of my friends decided to rent paddleboards and kayaks. Unfortunately, they don’t allow dogs on kayaks or paddleboards, so we opted not to choose this activity.
I heard the water is not very still since the area is in the harbour/pier where all the boats are coming in. So prepare for a big more waves than you might expect!
Things to do: Scooter rentals
My boyfriend and I decided to try renting a scooter to explore the island because it is dog friendly. We rented scooters from Scotty’s Rentals. Scotty is a really chill dude who rents scooters and e-bicycles. You only need your driver’s license to rent a scooter, but if you have a motorcycle license, you can rent a faster scooter (150cc). We rented the scooter for 2 hours (this is the minimum) for $40 and paid an extra $10 for gas.
There is a little crate at the back of the scooter where Tofu was able to fit inside. If you have a larger dog, this probably won’t work for you. At first, Tofu was afraid and actually jumped out of the box (very dangerous!!!!) so he was dangling on the side of the scooter. We tried again by tying his leash shorter to the box and also added another rope to secure him from jumping out. The second time, Tofu stayed in the box and as I got used to the speed, I was also able to pet him/wrap my arm around him while sitting on the back of the scooter.
We really enjoyed the scooter ride and the breeze and freedom that came with it. The roads on Gibsons are not busy and it’s a very scenic ride if you stay along the coast.
Things to do: Bonniebrook Beach
On our scooter, we stopped by Bonniebrook Beach, a place Scotty recommended us to check out. It’s roughly a 7 minute scooter ride so it’s very close.
The beaches in Gibsons are very rocky (like big rocks… not gravel). It’s a far cry from the soft sands of Tofino beaches. So I didn’t exactly love hanging out at Bonniebrook Beach, but it was nice to take a look at the views and give Tofu a break from eating wind on the scooter hahaha. To this day, I’m still not sure if he enjoyed the scooter ride since his first time he was so scared.
Things to do: Secret Beach
On our way back from Bonniebrook Beach, we found a sign that says “Secret Beach”, so again, we made a little stop. There is a small trail that leads to Secret Beach and a flight of stairs (makes me think of Wreck Beach).
Secret Beach looks very similar to Bonniebrook Beach (again, giant rocks lol). But one cool thing was that they had a swing! It’s just a rope and a large branch but we enjoyed playing around with it for awhile.
Where to eat: Tapworks Brewing Company
Beer was good but the food and service was just meh. Read my review here.
Things to do: Crabbing at Davis Bay
Davis Bay is actually in the district of Sechelt, which is a 20 minute drive from Gibsons. Sechelt seems to be more modern with bigger buildings. We visit Davis Bay to go crabbing and have a beach day.
Again, the beaches are too rocky to really lie down at all on a blanket so bring chairs if you plan to chill there.
We ended up moving to the pier/boardwalk where people fish and crab. We brought crab traps so you’ll have to bring your own equipment, but the pier is really high above the water so make sure your crab trap rope is long enough to reach the water lol. The crabs we caught were all too small to take home with us.
There were a bunch of kids jumping off from the pier as well. Some of my friends did it and got scratched and bled from barnacles when climbing back up the ladder or swimming back to shore. Just goes to show how old we are now.
Things to do: Crabbing at Friendship Pier
Friendship Pier is at the Trail Bay Pier and is a present day version of the wharf that welcomed visitors to Sechelt as early as the 1900s. The pier has free 24 hour seasonal moorage on the attached float to welcome small boats. We tried crabbing here as well since the crabs at Davis Bay were all too small. Well, they were also too small at Friendship Pier.
But we took some fun group photos and there was also an ice cream shop that sells dog ice cream so my dog had a good time.
Where to eat: Persephone Brewing Company
I would actually say this is more of a place to drink because their food menu is quite limited, but Persephone Brewing Company has a really cool big barn with outdoor picnic tables for drinking. They also had a really delicious chicken liver pate that came with sweet caramelized onions, mustard and pickled veggies. Great snacking food to go with drinks.
Again, dog friendly spot.
Where to eat: The Gumboot Restaurant
I didn’t take any pictures of our food at The Gumboot Restaurant, but it’s where we had our final meal during our trip. They have a really pretty and secure backyard dining area that is dog-friendly. Their menu has a lot of variety of soups, sandwiches, pasta, tacos, etc. Portions were big but the food wasn’t exceptional.
Final thoughts
Our trip to Gibsons was more relaxing than it was activity-filled. We spent a lot of time just hanging out together in the house, having barbeque, or playing frisbee at a nearby park. I personally think 4 days is a little long to spend in Gibsons as it operates on “island time” (i.e. things move slowly on the islands lol), but that’s also because we had so many people with us every day. With a group of 14 people, it’s hard to make dinner reservations or certain activities. I also brought my dog so we constantly tried to find dog-friendly spots as well, so I think my friends have been super accommodating to Tofu during this trip which is so awesome.
Generally, Gibsons is a super dog-friendly place. I think Tofu was really happy these 4 days because there was always someone to play with him and he got so many daily walks!
One important thing to note is that for some reason, alot of the restaurants are closed Monday to Thursday, which just blows my mind. I hear they have a staff shortage which is why they are closed so many days of the week. Keeping this in mind, if you are a foodie or if you have certain restaurants you want to try, make sure you visit them on the Friday/weekend before they are closed during the weekday!
Sincerely, Loewe