British Columbia's Sunshine Coast is a sublimely scenic 160-kilometre stretch of waterfront between Howe Sound and Desolation Sound, reached by a 40-minute ferry ride from West Vancouver. Join Howard White, award-winning humorist and lifelong coast denizen, on a guided tour from Gibsons, where the long-running TV series The Beachcombers was filmed, to Powell River, the largest community in the region. Along the way, sojourn in Roberts Creek, whose patron saint—the irrepressible Harry Roberts—invented the name "Sunshine Coast." Stop over in Sechelt, named for the shíshálh or Sechelt Nation who once occupied the bulk of the Sunshine Coast territory. Follow the seriously twisty highway to visit Pender Harbour, where some local fishing folk still do their Saturday shopping in kicker boats. Drop anchor in Princess Louisa Inlet, and discover why the likes of John Barrymore and Andrew Carnegie once came to marvel at its canyon-like splendour.

With paintings by local artists, poems by local poets, tall tales by local characters, miracles by Sechelt medicine men, tips on predicting the weather, a fair share of risqué gossip about historical figures, a good mix of bold opinions and hard facts and over 150 beautiful colour photographs, The Sunshine Coast is a book to be treasured, not just by residents and visitors, but by anyone with an eye for fascinating places. First published in 1996, this fully revised edition contains updated text and all new photographs of coast life from the area's most talented photographers including Dean van't Schip and Keith Thirkell.

Howard White was born in 1945 in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He was raised in a series of camps and settlements on the BC coast and never got over it. He is still to be found stuck barnacle-like to the shore at Pender Harbour, BC. He started Raincoast Chronicles and Harbour Publishing in the early 1970s and his own books include A Hard Man to Beat (bio), The Men There Were Then (poems), Spilsbury's Coast (bio), The Accidental Airline (bio), Patrick and the Backhoe (childrens`), Writing in the Rain (anthology) and The Sunshine Coast (travel). He was awarded the Canadian Historical Association's Career Award for Regional History in 1989. In 2000, he completed a ten-year project, The Encyclopedia of British Columbia. He has been awarded the Order of BC, the Canadian Historical Association's Career Award for Regional History, the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, the Jim Douglas Publisher of the Year Award and a Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree from the University of Victoria. In 2007, White was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He has twice been runner-up in the Whisky Slough Putty Man Triathlon.

Howard White's profile page

Born and raised on BC’s beautiful Sunshine Coast, Dean has been photographing the natural environment for over 30 years. His appreciation for the beauty and biodiversity of this unique area comes through in his high definition medium format transparencies and high resolution digital images. Dean is a regular contributor to the stock photo agency All Canada Photos and has had images published in publications such as Over Beautiful BC, the Encyclopedia of BC, Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Yachting, Whistler the Magazine and Hasselblad Forum. Tourism BC, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, the Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society and Harbour Publishing have all used his images in books, magazines, calendars, brochures and cards over the past 20 years. He lives in Roberts Creek, BC.

Dean van’t Schip's profile page

Dolf Vermeulen's profile page

Regan Hately's profile page

Keith Thirkell is a photographer whose work has been featured in Beautiful British Columbia, BC Extreme, the Vancouver Province and the books Sunshine & Salt Air: A Sunshine Coast Visitor's Guide and The Sunshine Coast. He lives in Gibsons, BC.

Keith Thirkell's profile page

The Sunshine Coast: From Gibsons to Powell River, Revised Second Edition

Howard White, an award-winning local historian and humorist, has lived on the Sunshine Coast since 1950. In this exquisite revised edition he takes readers on a tour exploring five distinct areas: Gibsons, Sechelt, Pender Harbour, Jervis Inlet and Powell River. Lavish up-to-date, informatively captioned, colour photographs beg one to explore this 160-kilometre stretch of the BC coastline. White provides a detailed account of the history and character of each settlement. He engages readers with lore of old-time BC including tall-tales by local characters and accounts of historical figures. The author’s personal opinions and experiences of life in this area bring a special feeling to this portrait of his home turf. This work includes extensive Aboriginal references, geography, geology, flora and fauna.

The Sunshine Coast: From Gibsons to Powell River, Revised Second Edition

Howard White, an award-winning local historian and humorist, has lived on the Sunshine Coast since 1950. In this exquisite revised edition he takes readers on a tour exploring five distinct areas: Gibsons, Sechelt, Pender Harbour, Jervis Inlet and Powell River. Lavish up-to-date colour photographs all informatively captioned beg one to explore this 160-kilometre stretch of the BC coastline. White provides a detailed account of the history and character of each settlement. He engages readers with lore of old-time BC including tall-tales by local characters and accounts of historical figures. The author’s personal opinions and experiences of life in this area bring a special feeling to this portrait of his home turf. This work also includes extensive Aboriginal references, geography, geology, flora and fauna.