Our first in a series of expert tours this year began on May 2, 2026 with Dr. Peter Arcese as our Guest Speaker and tour guide.  Peter has spent decades doing research in our area of the Salish Sea and had many stories of not only historical information about the islands in the area, but of course, the bird life we saw and the changes noticeable over the years.   

We got a bit carried away and were out just a little longer than our 1.5 hour designated time. 
This was also Sea Star's first time using Eventbrite so that we could do single seat sales.  Please consider following us on Eventbrite, or become a Sea Star member so that you'll get advance notification of future single seat tours.  
Our photo credits of the day go to Chris Edley - wildlife and Gloria Morson - passengers. 
​Thank you for allowing us to share with everyone.  

#educational #birdmigration #birdwatchers

When one of our members spotted an upcoming event in Seaside Magazine on Resilient Gardening and FireSmart at  Patio Gardens  in Central Saanich, we went to work!  This event was sponsored by Central Saanich Fire Department and through their FireSmart program.  They were kind enough to allow us to sponsor a group transport from a group from Piers Island to sit in on the workshop given by Ryan Vantreight, FireSmart Coordinator for Central Saanich Fire Dept. and Bethany Couture, certified horticulturalist at Garden Alchemist.
Piers Islanders loved the presentation so much, we're looking forward to assisting Piers Island Fire Dept. and their FireSmart team with bringing Bethany to Piers soon.

In 2025  Sea Star received a grant from CRD and the Southern Gulf Islands Emergency Program to use to assist nearby Gulf Islands with training, planning and preparing.  As Piers Island has a robust FireSmart program we worked with them to bring FireSmart teams from other fire departments to observe their projects and discuss first hand with the Piers team.  
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Event #1 – FireSmart – April 25, 2025
Working with CRD FireSmart Coordinator we organized a group of FireSmart representatives from a number of Gulf Islands as well as from the local CRD office.  Sea Star arranged with the local FireSmart people to transport everyone to Piers Island for a presentation at the Piers Island Fire Hall, coffee, lunch and a tour of various Piers Island sites that had undergone treatment.  The local Emergency Management team assisted with the presentation and tour and the group enjoyed a wonderful informal session sharing ideas while enjoying a picnic style luncheon.

Event #2 – Mock Evacuation – May 24, 2025
Working with the local Piers Island EP team and PIVFD, Sea Star provided transportation off and back on to Piers Island while the EP team and PIVFD ran a mock evacuation exercise with wildfire being the cause of evacuation.  In a presentation on Wildfire Preparedness Day earlier in May residents were given Grab & Go bags sponsored through the grant.  Velvet Warrior, the Local Emergency Management Representative, ran through the evacuation process with Islanders in attendance.  SGIEP, PEMO and several other organizations were involved with the event.  The feedback we received was excellent. 
 
Event #3 – FireSmart – August 13, 2025
We had offered our first FireSmart group a second opportunity to visit the Piers Island team as only 6 had been able to make the first event, although more had been signed up.  We spoke to Sidney Fire Department, noticing that they had just set up a FireSmart component to their department and offered assistance to them.  We were then contacted by Rosie at CRD FireSmart with a request for another visit.  Rosie had attended our first event.  This was again a great opportunity for an exchange of information, and both the Piers FireSmart and Emergency Management teams were involved.
 

What will 2026 bring?  We're working on it...coming soon.  :)

When Sea Star 1 needed new canvas windows we had a couple of volunteers for the task.  Experienced...no...ready, willing and able...YES!
Our special thanks to the Charlesworth sisters Sarah and Catriona who guided, coached and herded Director Pauline through the sewing process.  This also involved a FaceTime call to France to puzzle through some issues.  Then Skipper Steve to the rescue assisting with the grommet installations.  We will now be wind and water free aboard Sea Star 1 all winter. 

We've just finished our first tour of the season with the Friends of Shoal Harbour.  Please contact them directly if you'd like to learn more about the Shoal Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary and experience it from the water.  They have a few seats left on some of the tours, so contact them to reserve.  

Well, on a person you'd call it legs, on a boat...I guess new hulls.  It's been a process but when we discovered that we could replace her aging pontoons...we went for it with the expert guidance from Loonie Toons Pontoons & Powersports in Desbarats, ONT.  They even popped out to meet us when on holidays in BC.   
Mark Keeler of Vector Yacht Services tackled the project with the help of our unwavering volunteers.  
These boats are so special in their design that refurbishing was a fantastic solution for us.  She is now launched and in service for the summer.  

Our special thanks once again to Allan Warrior, Brian Warrior, Velvet Warrior, Gary Peacock and Burke Stancill.  

In our first year of service there was bottom paint to be done on 2 vessels, scraping and applying  our new Founding Member sea stars, and a  little reupholstery to be done.  This was all done by volunteers.  Not to mention the excellent service received from Forsch Marine in making sure our engines were running smoothly, Canoe Cove Marina, our home port, Liquid Metal Marine for their expertise and Eurosa Gardens for winter storage of Sea Star 1.  They say it takes a village and Piers Islanders and the Saanich Peninsula businesses are helping us as true neighbours.   Thank you all. 
#volunteers #yyjtours #sidneybythesea