Eagles, Birdies and Bears on Vancouver Island
If grass-eating goats isn’t your thing, that’s OK. At nearly every golf course, you’ll find a meal worth your money.
At Fairwinds, for example, it’s the West Coast clams with chorizo, crab and candied salmon. Or the local halibut and chips. At Crowne Isle, it’s the strip steak. At Bear Mountain, it’s nearly anything on the menu at Panache Restaurant, which also has a wine list heavy with B.C. wines. Even the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort – a long name but a terrific hotel close to the airport – has surprisingly good food and a talented chef. It’s a solid choice if your flight departs early the next day.
No matter how long you’re here, it never seems long enough. As you head to Victoria for your flight back home, weaving between charming, sleepy towns, passing farm stands selling fresh eggs, zipping around logging trucks stacked to the hilt and teetering on every edge of highway that rounds yet another salmon river, you’ll wish you had more time here.
Vancouver Island offers that rare combination of good golf, breathtaking scenery, and a sense of discovery that makes a trip worthwhile, and not just because the Canadian dollar is depressed and the U.S. dollar is strong. As summer yields to fall, this month and next are ideal times for that irresistible combination – golf and leaf peeping.
Come to think of it, there really isn’t a bad time of year to head this way.
Just the facts
Tourism British Columbia – 800-435-5622, www.helloBC.com/golf
Golf Vancouver Island – 888-465-3239, www.golfvancouverIsland.ca