The Juan de Fuca Bucket List Book
Fifty places between Esquimalt and Port Renfrew.
It's an adventure, not a guidebook
Don’t get stuck trying to work out where to go next. No research needed. Open the book, pick your next place, go.
Perfect if you’re new to the area, planning a weekend out, or you’ve lived here for years and want an excuse to finally see somewhere new.
Go to one of the fifty. Then peel a sticker off the sheet, press it into the circle on that page, and write the date, who you were with, and anything worth remembering.
Everything from ten-minute stops to all-day hikes, all of it west of Victoria.
What’s in it
One page per place. Difficulty, time and distance across the top, then a short write-up: what makes it worth the drive, where to park, and what the walk actually involves once you are out of the car. Know before you go, not a field manual.
Every image in the book is a photograph I took standing at the place itself, finished in the same black and white style so all fifty pages hold together as one book. No stock photography, and nowhere I have not been.
You always know how far out you are
Every page carries the same strip along the corridor, west to east, with a marker showing where that place sits.
Victoria is zero. Sooke is 39 kilometres. Shirley is 57. Port Renfrew is 111. So before you read a word about a place you already know whether it is a twenty-minute errand or the whole day gone.
Every page also carries a QR code. Scan it and the full online guide to that place opens up, with maps, directions and more photos. Handy while you are planning at the kitchen table, rather than standing in a parking lot with one bar of signal.
- 50 places, one page each, from Esquimalt out to Port Renfrew
- An image from every place, shot on location
- Difficulty, time and distance at the top of every page
- A corridor strip on every page showing how far out you are, in kilometres from Victoria
- A two-page map of the whole corridor
- A sticker set, with a marked circle on each page to put one
- A notes box on every page for the date, who you were with, and what surprised you
Reviews & Common Comments
- It answers the what next question. The most common reaction, in reviews and across the table at a market, is relief at not having to research. People describe opening the book instead of opening six tabs.
- Places even locals have not heard of. Readers who have lived on the island for years consistently mention finding spots in the book they did not know existed.
- New arrivals use it as a starting point. People who have just moved to the area treat it as a ready-made plan for their first year here.
- Regular visitors use it as a default. People who come out often say it removes the where should we go this time conversation before it starts.
- The stickers are the part people talk about. Marking off a place gets described as the reward, and it is the reason the book gets picked up again rather than shelved.
- It sells as a gift. A large share of copies are bought for someone else, most often for a new arrival or for someone who has been here a lifetime.
Recent snapshot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Our family has lived on Vancouver Island for a number of years. There are hidden gems in this book that we have never heard of and can’t wait to check out.
Part old world treasure map, part travel guide.
This would make a great gift for anyone spending a short time or a lifetime on Vancouver Island.”
Simon P., verified purchase
“This was purchased as a gift and will absolutely be well received as both a treasure and a challenge for its adventurous recipient.
The descriptions are spot-on accurate, the tid-bits of information and background are very inviting, and the stickers are the perfect reward!”
Cecilia P., verified purchase
Who it is for
- Families who would rather have Saturday decided before Saturday arrives
- Couples who want something to work through together
- People who come out from Vancouver most weekends, or spend the same week here every summer
- Anyone buying a gift for someone who loves this island and already owns enough candles
It is also the easiest thing to hand someone who has just moved here and does not yet know where to start.
The book itself
It was made to be handled, written in and kept, not stored on a shelf. The binding is the expensive kind for that reason.- 64 pages, 5.5″ x 8.5″
- Premium perfect bound with a square spine and PUR glue, so it opens flat and stays together
- 15pt softcover in a sandy matte stock
- 80lb, 100% recycled matte interior paper
- Sticker set included
- $35
Where to buy
Online
Ships anywhere in Canada, usually sent within a day or two.
Ordering takes you to Paper Cuts, my wife Jen’s online art shop, run out of Sooke. It is where all the Vancouver Island Bucket List products live, so you are buying from the same two people either way.
In person
Pick up in Sooke is usually ready within 24 hours of ordering, which saves you the shipping.
Run a retail location and want to carry it? Get in touch.
Fifty decisions, already made
From a ten-minute stop at Whiffin Spit to the walk down to Mystic Beach, it is all in there, sorted, with the research done. Start anywhere.
Written in Sooke, printed in BC. Pick up in Sooke or shipped across Canada.
Juan de Fuca Bucket List – 50 Places You Must See
You are not short of places to go out here. You are short of decisions. That is how a Saturday disappears and you end up at the same beach again.
I live in Sooke and I have been to every place in this book. Fifty of them, from Esquimalt out to Port Renfrew, one to a page, already sorted. Pick a page, pick a day, go.