Every island here has its own flavor – things that make it distinct from the others. One has more farmland. One has the highest “mountain” on the islands. A lot of them lack electricity. Most of them lack stores.
Canoe Island is distinct because it is synonymous with French Camp. As we learned on our little tour when we first stepped foot on it last weekend, a family that couldn’t find a French camp on the west coast decided to buy the 47-acre island in 1969 and make it into one. The staff and counselors come from all over the world. They speak French and incorporate it into daily camp life.
Since moving here, we had heard about Canoe Island French Camp, but one look on the website – 12 days for $2,700 – meant our kids would probably never see the place. And neither would we.
But thanks to a weekend family camp offered to 4-H and homeschool families, we got a perfect chance to experience it for two days – at a rate we could rationalize.
Here is a little photo tour so you can experience it too. The only thing that was unphotographable and dazzlingly unforgettable was our bioluminescent night paddle on a 15+-person boat around the island. The sky was black, the sea was black, and the silhouettes of our bodies and paddles were black. The only light was the distant dark-gray horizon, which was lit by faraway city life, and the electrifying white-green of bioluminescent organisms incited by every paddle stroke we made. It was otherworldly; like no experience I’ve ever had.
Leaving the Orcas Island dock for the 30-ish-minute motor to Canoe Island, on the other side of Shaw Island
Entry point onto Canoe Island
San Juan Islands meets France
Heading toward the main camp area
Huge tipis with six cots each named after the largest cities in France
These were fantastic during our rainy night – we stayed dry as a bone
I wouldn’t mind having one of these in the backyard!
Our family tipi assignments
London meets Sherwood Forest
Kids chose from cooking, archery, fencing, art, bracelet-making, swimming, etc.
After this was hatchet throwing!
Archery is not an uncommon activity at camps in the San Juan Islands.
Our first meal was lunch – yay!! I was in for 4 meals I didn’t have to cook!!!
Learning French vocabulary while eating our meals
The ping pong, foosball, and cooking-class room (“Le Ritz”); I now call table tennis off-the-table tennis
Ever a hit during free moments, Foosball was a magnet
A heated pool by the frigid Sound is a Northwest anomaly – what a treat!
Our Cassoulet dinner – French stew of rabbit, chicken, pork, and white beans – and the chef’s own bread
My favorite side dish – hummus with tangy sun-dried tomatoes, roasted broccoli, and sunflower seeds
We made s’mores and sang songs from their songbook around the campfire until dark – first time I’ve sung “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana around a campfire!
Insert here your best imagination of black night-paddling through perfect glass water around an island. No lights, silence, and bright-white electrifying designs swirling all around you. You feel you could be anyone, anywhere, from any time long ago – a Viking, a Patagonian, a Polynesian. And the bioluminescence wasn’t all that unlike what the grandmother in Moana became when her soul reincarnated into a manta ray and flew through the water underneath. Our bioluminescence just wasn’t in the shape of an animal. It was hard to go back to the dock and go to bed.
The next morning’s activities – when do you ever get the chance to try fencing?!
Did you know fencers spend 3 years on leg strength before ever lifting a sword? We cheated.
It’s really different to look through a mask and get gouged with blunted sword tips – we had fun!
You get really sweaty from the mask and thick clothing
And yes – girls do beat guys, said our instructor, Nico! Go Lila!
Their longhouse is a theater
Our final hour – “Casino Night”
I think we packed a week into 2 days
Some final paintings to take home with us
Goodbye Canoe Island and the bioluminescence boats
A big thank you to the Canoe Island French Camp staff. You were fantastic!
