Qualla: Ballenas Island Light https://qualla.com/ballenas-island-light en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/8/ballenas-island-light-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Ballenas Island Light https://qualla.com/ballenas-island-light Ballenas Island Light: Introduction https://qualla.com/ballenas-island-light/ Photo credit Ken Walker, CC BY-SA 3.0. The name gives it away. Ballenas is Spanish for whales, and the islands earned it from the Spanish explorers who sailed these waters in the late eighteenth century, when humpbacks and grays still moved through the Strait of Georgia in numbers large enough to name a place after. The lighthouse that stands on West Ballenas Island today is a white octagonal concrete tower topped with a red lantern, 27 meters tall, built in 1900 and moved to its current position in 1912. It is not open to the public. The island is privately owned, and the light keeps its own company.

Read more: Ballenas Island Light on Qualla

Image: Ken Walker | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/8/ballenas-island-light-wp/c0z8-ballenas-island-light-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Ballenas Island Light: A Light Between Two Shores https://qualla.com/ballenas-island-light/ Photo credit Ken Walker, CC BY-SA 3.0. West Ballenas Island sits in the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, in waters where commercial shipping, fishing boats, and pleasure craft all converge. The lighthouse was established in 1900 to mark the passage, and from the beginning i...

Read more: Ballenas Island Light on Qualla

Image: Ken Walker | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/8/ballenas-island-light-wp/c0z8-ballenas-island-light-a-light-between-two-shores.mp3 0:06 2 full Ballenas Island Light: The Keepers' Roster https://qualla.com/ballenas-island-light/ Photo credit Ken Walker, CC BY-SA 3.0. The list of keepers reads like a compressed history of a century on the BC coast. Wilhelm Betiat served for a single year in 1911. Arthur Broughton Gurney kept the light from 1912 to 1916, then again from 1920 to 1921, with his wife, Mrs. A.B. Gurney, taking over the post from 19...

Read more: Ballenas Island Light on Qualla

Image: Ken Walker | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/8/ballenas-island-light-wp/c0z8-ballenas-island-light-the-keepers-roster.mp3 0:06 3 full Ballenas Island Light: Concrete Against the Strait https://qualla.com/ballenas-island-light/ Photo credit Ken Walker, CC BY-SA 3.0. The tower itself is a study in pragmatic coastal engineering. Octagonal in plan, built from reinforced concrete, and painted white for maximum visibility against the dark conifers and grey rock of the island, it was designed to withstand the winds that channel through the strait....

Read more: Ballenas Island Light on Qualla

Image: Ken Walker | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/8/ballenas-island-light-wp/c0z8-ballenas-island-light-concrete-against-the-strait.mp3 0:06 4 full Ballenas Island Light: Private Island, Public Light https://qualla.com/ballenas-island-light/ Photo credit Ken Walker, CC BY-SA 3.0. West Ballenas Island is privately owned, which makes this lighthouse unusual among British Columbia's coastal stations. There is no public dock, no visitor center, no interpretive trail. The light serves mariners, not tourists. From the water, the white tower and red cap are visi...

Read more: Ballenas Island Light on Qualla

Image: Ken Walker | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/z/8/ballenas-island-light-wp/c0z8-ballenas-island-light-private-island-public-light.mp3 0:06 5 full