Alan,
As you noted, Pender Island is small. But still somewhat rural. After my retirement, we moved to South Pender Island in 2003. We had ocean front property, 1 acre, and had switchbacking stairs built 65 vertical feet down to the beach. Kept our canoe down there. Paddled to Hope Bay for coffee and scones. Paddled to the pub in Bedwell Harbour for beer and burgers. Paddled to Medicine Beach for coffee. Paddled to Poets Cove for fine dining. Paddled over to Saturna Island’s winery. Paddled to Saltspring Island for the challenge. Circumnavigated South Pender many times. Circumnavigated the entire island a few times. People (i.e., kayakers) said it couldn’t be done in a canoe. But they didn’t know any better. They were kayakers.
Year-round population is 2,500; 6,500 in the summer. We liked our time here, but it still rained too much, which is why we moved to east-central Saskatchewan in 2008.
A lot of farms are owned by multi-generational families raising sheep and goats. A lot of private land, but quite a few small parks and trails. It still rains too much for me, but we still have friends on Pender, and 6 of Kathleen’s brothers and sisters still live in the general Vancouver area. One of her brothers, with his wife, will be visiting in early April. None of them ever came to see us in Preecevile. There is a real snobbishness, and a feeling of superiority regarding Saskatchewan among west coast people. Kathleen and I were on the Executive of the garden club. At our last AGM, the president said, “We need to say goodbye to Michael and Kathleen, as they are moving to Saskatchewan.” The entire crowd broke out in laughter, at the mere absurdity of such an idea.