Spending time in nature
is good for our health.
A few of the marine mammals, intertidal life, wildflowers, trees, and edible plants you’ll find in the Southern Gulf Islands.
Photographs, videos, audio, and text Copyright © 2026 Richard Philpot/SGIOUTSIDE.ca.
PLANTS
Plants of the Southern Gulf Islands.
Trees, bushes, wildflowers, wild berries, and fruit orchards. The absence of high mountain ranges means that the marine climate surrounding the islands is quite different from that of the adjacent mainland. Mild, wet winters and dry summers result in a diverse growing range of plant life. Meadows and forests left moist by winter provide ideal spring growing conditions for plants to flower and set seed. Read about the Southern Gulf Islands’ wildflowers and Western redcedar trees.
MARINE MAMMALS
Marine Mammals in the Southern Gulf Islands.
Orca (killer whales), Pacific harbour seals, and Steller and California sea lions inhabit the waters of the Southern Gulf Islands. The likelihood of sightings of these and other marine mammals increases with knowledge of each species, learning the best places to encounter them, keen senses, and carrying binoculars. Others seen in the SGI include the gregarious River otter, Dall’s porpoise, the exceedingly shy and rarely observed Harbour porpoise, Northern elephant seal, and sporadically spotted humpback and minke whales.
INTERTIDAL LIFE
Intertidal life in the Southern Gulf Islands.
“The Pacific Northwest coast is one of the world’s richest, most diverse habitats for intertidal marine life.” (D. Sept 1999 & 2024). Wow, not many places can say that. The variety of animals living in the Southern Gulf Islands’ intertidal zones, like sea stars, anemones, limpets, barnacles, crabs, urchins, and jellies, to name just a few of the hundreds of species and subspecies, is waiting to be uncovered. It’s well worth the search. But please remember the four rules of observing nature’s intertidal life: 1) Step carefully, 2) Restore their habitat, 3) Handle live creatures with care, and 4) Take no souvenirs.
