The question above showed up on my Quora home page, suspect it was auto-generated as the island is the only thing listed on my profile page.

Short answer: serene.

It’s a small island, (approx. 6km wide/12km long, 3500 people), and much like any small community with the exception there’s something of a moat – it takes a boat or ferry to get here. For the 60% of the island that leaves every day to go to the mainland to work, it’s an oasis of green and quiet to come home to.

The population that stays on the island to work or are retired get the most out of living here. They enjoy life on what’s affectionately called “Bowen Time”, a more laid back attitude reinforced with road speed limits maxed out at 40kph with long stretches being 30kph. Probably feels like a crawl to most commuters trying to get home but a pleasurable speed to enjoy the scenery and smell the roses going by.

The air is a lot cleaner than on the mainland a few kilometers east, from a hill top often one can see the edge of the smog from the city creeping out over the ocean and stopping well before it gets here. It is dark at night, there are only a few street lights around the area the ferry unloads, called Snug Cove. The “downtown” area consists a few restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries along with a General Store and organic food store and a pub.