Passengers explore the view from the William G. Ernst, the ferry to Big Tancook Island and Little Tancook Island
The road less travelled: A hike on the ‘backalong’ portion of the island is quietly rewarding
Visitors explore the winding dirt road along the coast of Big Tancook Island
A tourist examines grave markers at the cemetery on Big Tancook Island
Wishing Stones Studio and Gallery, home to an art gallery, craft shop, lending library, games room and the Tancook Island Museum, is a gathering place for both residents and visitors
The Tancook Island Museum, housed inside Wishing Stones Studio and Gallery, contains artifacts large and small that reflect the history of the island, its people and way of life
A young visitor retrieves his dart from the board at Wishing Stones Studio and Gallery which is home to an art gallery and craft shop, lending library, games room and the Tancook Island Museum
Many little treasures may be spotted on the pebbled beach of Southeast Cove on Big Tancook Island
(Click on any photo for a larger view.)
Sometimes you just know when something’s right.
There’s a feeling you get, a fluttering of excitement that simply says, “Yes. Do it.”
For Scott Webber, that moment came when he visited Big Tancook Island for the first time about 13 years ago.
It was an unusually warm day in March — “T-shirt weather, ” he says — and he headed over on the ferry with his mountain bike to do a bit of exploring.
As he pedalled around the dirt roads of the island, something just clicked. He knew it was right.
“I fell in love with it, ” he says. “The island spoke to me. It just said, ‘You’re home.'”
That was on a Saturday. On Monday, he went to the bank. On Wednesday, he made an offer on a house.
“I’ve spent more time buying a TV than I did my house, ” he says.
And he’s never looked back.
Nowadays, Webber wears the ferryman’s blue uniform. He makes the 50-minute crossing from Chester to Big Tancook several times a day as part of the crew of the William G. Ernst.
Usually he knows most of the passengers. But on this day, the ferry is loaded with tourists.
Which is an odd thing, in a way.
As far as traditional tourist amenities go, the island’s offerings are sparse. Restaurants, cafes, shops and businesses probably number in the single digits.
But it’s unlikely that people go to Big Tancook for the usual reasons. It has so much more to offer.
As a tourist, there are no distractions here. There are no boutiques, no souvenir shops, no tour buses, no expectations about what you’re supposed to do.
It’s just you and this place that you’ve chosen to visit — the dirt roads, the brightly painted homes, the pillowcases clinging to the clotheslines, the wildflowers at the side of the road, the buoys hanging from the trees, the rocks painted as ladybugs lined up in front of the schoolhouse.
You’re confronted with the essence of travel — simply discovering on your own a place and its people.
Since the ferry only permits foot and bicycle traffic, visitors are forced to slow down and actually see.
When you get off the ferry, you have a choice to turn left or right on the main road. On a recent visit, nearly everyone turned right.
My travelling companions and I took the road less travelled to an area with the wonderfully folksy name of “the backalong.”
Just up the hill is a place with bicycles for rent, an ingenious business idea appealing to a captive audience. Although walking is a perfect way to see much of the island, a bike would cover more ground with fewer of the aching muscles that come from hours of walking.
Shortly after making our way down this stretch of road, a couple who had also turned left passed us as they made their way back toward their starting point.
“There’s nothing down there, ” they said.
“Everything is something!” I replied, obviously already under the island’s spell.
It’s true, we didn’t spot any stores or cafes down that road. But we did see a deer bound across the road right in front of us, heard a cock crow from someone’s yard and had a great view of the water.
The road turned out to be a dead end, but then, most roads on Big Tancook are dead ends.
Turning right off the ferry leads to more typical amenities: a craft shop and restaurant, a post office, a public outhouse (which curiously has two toilets in the same stall), a cemetery and an impossibly picturesque church.
A saunter down another road leads to a pebbled beach where treasure hunters will be rewarded with plenty of green, white and brown beach glass.
Near the beach, you’ll find a curious place called Wishing Stones, which is a gallery, museum, library and games centre all rolled into one. It would be easy to spend a couple of hours here, examining photographs and crafts, looking at artifacts that tell of Tancook’s history, settling into a chair to read a book, or playing one of the dozens of board games, displayed Royal Tenenbaums-style along one wall.
On the ferry on the way back to Chester, I heard a couple of visitors remark that visiting Big Tancook Island feels like stepping back in time. Perhaps it’s the scarcity of commercial enterprises. Or maybe it’s the relative lack of traffic.
Whatever it is, it does seem, at least to a visitor’s eyes, that there’s a slower pace to life here.
Even after living on Big Tancook Island for more than a decade, Webber can’t quite put his finger on it either.
“There’s definitely a lure of island life, ” he says. “It’s almost something mystical.”
TIPS:
Park your car near the wharf in Chester.
Dogs and bicycles are permitted on the ferry.
The ferry costs $5.50 per person for a round trip (kids under 12 free).
Bring decent walking shoes, water and snacks.
Visit tancookislandtourism.ca to check the ferry times and find more information.
This article appeared originally in The Chronicle Herald.
Day Tripper 
