More than just the most photographed place in the Gulf Islands, the East Point Fog Alarm Building is a story about how the Saturna community came together to save one of their most cherished symbols.

Community Stories

Explore Saturna - A site overview

www.exploresaturna.com is an online community development platform designed to promote heritage tourism on Saturna Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Using dynamic web content, short documentaries, 3D content created with the Unity game engine and interactive maps, the website connects visitors with the fascinating heritage of Saturna Island and its vibrant modern community, focusing primarily on the Spanish exploration of the BC Gulf Islands and the community's rehabilitation of the picturesque East Point Fog Alarm Building.
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The Lighthouse Keepers

Living in a lighthouse, usually in a remote, often cold and certainly wet locations, is not for everyone. But before the automation of the lights up and down Canada's coastline, the longest national coastline in the world, the role of lighthouse keeper was incredibly important to commerce and remote communities.
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Rehabilitating the Fog Alarm Building

The fog alarm building, the most photographed building in all of the Gulf Islands, now a multi-use community-operated centre, almost became a pile of wood and nails in the back of a garbage truck.

The story of how the Fog Alarm Building was saved and rehabilitated by the community, speaks not just to how Saturna Islanders tackled this particular project, but to how they tackle so many projects on their island, as a cohesive, well-knit community that consistently takes on tasks much larger communities would struggle with, with examples ranging from their innovative recycling system, to the Ecological Education Centre (EEC) and, of course, the Fog Alarm Building.
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Diaphone Fog Alarm Technology

As any sailor worth his salt at the end of the 19th century could have told you, a lighthouse wasn't much use if all the light around you was obscured by the thick banks of fog that often blanket the treacherous channels of the Gulf Islands. It was a Canadian invention, the diaphone fog alarm that helped keep mariners off the rocks as they sailed and steamed around the George Straight.

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Archives

Interact

Flickr Slideshow

Click to view a large version of this slideshow.

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Video Gallery

video gallery
Click this button to load and watch a series of short documentaries on Saturna Island's culture and heritage.

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Virtual East Point

East Point
Visit the Fog Alarm Building in a virtual recreation of Saturna's scenic East Point.

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Interactive Satellite Map

interactive map
Click this button to load a hi-resolution, interactive satellite image of Saturna Island with interesting stories and important locations around the island.

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