Anvil Island

Anvil Island, an icon of the BC Sunshine Coast

Anvil Island

Anvil Island, with its distinct horn and steeply rising profile, is an icon of the British Columbia Sunshine Coast ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal at the westernmost reach of the Trans Canada Highway that you can drive to without some method of flotation, and Langdale ferry terminal on the Sunshine Coast.

Although the Sunshine Coast is on the BC mainland, the incredibly deep Howe Sound and almost vertical slopes that rise out of it, coupled with the length of Howe Sound, running all the way up to Squamish, BC, on the Sea-to-Sky Highway, make a road over or around it impractical, or at least, too expensive for the present population of around 40,000 on the lower Sunshine Coast to justify.

Another ferry at the top end at Earl’s Cove connects to Saltery Bay, providing access to the upper Sunshine Coast with the main community of Powell River and another approximately 20,000 souls.  Powell River is linked to Vancouver Island via a ferry from Westview to Little River.