Valdes Island

Valdes Island
Island
A kayak and a sunset on Valdes Island.
The Southern Gulf Islands, including Valdes.
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Land district	Cedar Land District
Region	Southern Gulf Islands
Government
• MP	Elizabeth May (Green)
• MLA	Murray Coell(BC Liberal Party)
Area
• Total	23 km2 (9 sq mi)
Time zone	PST (UTC−8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC−7)
Area code(s)	250, 778

Valdes Island is one of the Gulf Islands located in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada. It is across Porlier Pass from Galiano Island, which lies to the southeast. It has an area of 23 square kilometres (9 square miles), and is 1.6 kilometres (1.0 mile) wide by 16 kilometres (9.9 miles) in length. The island is popular with kayakers, boaters and has historically been the site of several human settlements.

It is named for Spanish explorer Cayetano Valdés y Flores, who first came to the region in 1791 as a lieutenant serving under Captain Alexandro Malaspina on the Descubierta. Valdes returned later in 1792 as captain of the Mexicana to explore the area with Dionisio Alcalá Galiano who captained the Sutil. The island was given its name in 1859 by George Henry Richards, captain of HMS Plumper.

There is currently a small community of permanent residents on Valdes Island, located at Starvation Bay. One third of the island is set aside as three Indian reserves of the Lyackson First Nation. At Shingle Point, which is the location of one of those reserves, the island shows evidence of human habitation from at least 5,000 years ago in the form of approximately 60 archeological sites.

Valdes Island was one of the locations of the colonies of the Aquarian Foundation, the BC-based cult run by Brother XII in the late 1920s and early 1930s The organization had several buildings on the island, of which little trace remains today. There were also rumours that money was buried on the island, however these have never been proven.