Camp Douglas is fully staffed and equipped to offer a stimulating and structured program. Many of our activities not only teach skills, but encourage creativity. While younger campers go to bed earlier than older campers, a typical Camp Day would look like this:
Campers split into two groups. One group spends an hour at the waterfront, while the other spends an hour doing another activity, then the groups switch. Activities that may be scheduled during this time include:
and more!
Take Highway #1 West to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal. Follow the signs to the passenger drop-off area. The camp staff will be there to meet you, wearing brightly coloured Camp Douglas Staff T-Shirts and standing next to a table with a 'Camp Douglas' sign on it. Head over to the desk and:
Once your children have been signed in, the Camp Douglas experience begins! Camp Douglas Staff and volunteers will accompany your children on the 40-minute ferry ride to the Sunshine Coast. Please do not send spending money for the ferry ride with your child. There will be a bus waiting on the other side to take them to Camp Douglas, and their luggage will be delivered to the camp.
If you need to drop your child off at the camp in Roberts Creek, please email or call the week before to make arrangements.
On Friday, after campers have enjoyed a morning of activities, packed and cleaned their cabins, their cabin leaders will help them load their luggage onto the van and and they will hop aboard a school bus to the Langdale Ferry Terminal. The campers will be accompanied by their Cabin Leaders and other staff onto the ferry, and given a little snack pack for the journey home. Campers will be accompanied by Camp Douglas staff all the way back to meet you at the terminal entrance, at the same spot where they were checked in.
Sometimes ferries are late – we often do not know this until it is too late to make alternate arrangements. We will do our best to keep you informed of changes to ferry schedules - in these instances, notification will come via email. Inquiries can be made once you arrive at the ferry terminal as to whether the ferries are running on time.
Drop-off occurs between 2:00 pm and 2:15 pm. Please note that we do not sign in children earlier than 1:50 pm so please come prepared to wait until sign-in begins.
Pick-up occurs at 5:00 pm. Please note that this time is more of an estimate as sometimes the ferry runs behind schedule. We will try to update parents/caregivers if there is a substantial delay in the ferry schedule.
Please double check your registration confirmation for exact drop-off and pick-up times, as occasionally there are exceptions to the timings listed above.
YES!! Mail Call is a daily highlight for many campers; please do consider sending a message to your camper, one for each day of the week if you like! You may wish to leave letters for your camper with the a staff member at drop-off time, and they will distribute them throughout the week. Alternatively, you can send email messages to your camper during the week during the week. We print and distribute messages to campers at each mealtime. Please use the form below, or email director@campdouglas.ca.
You are welcome to leave a message on our voice mail and if the matter is important, we will ensure that your camper calls you back as quickly as possible. Phone calls for general chit-chat are not encouraged as it becomes difficult to manage enough time for all our many campers - we like to keep them engaged in the activities of the camp! Rest assured that campers needing to call home will be allowed to do so.
Here at Camp Douglas we understand the importance of fueling our bodies with food to nourish us throughout the day. We offer comfort style food so campers get a taste of home while away. Along with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we also offer dessert (“Mug-Up”) and opportunities for snacks (“Tuck”). The kitchen staff work hard to prepare a variety of options for breakfast in order to give our campers a positive start to their day.
Lunches and dinners bring fun twists on classic camp foods such as taco salad and sloppy joes. Themed meals bring fun and amusement to the dining hall with many campers looking forward to the end-of-week formal meal. Camp Douglas makes it a priority that campers go away from the table with a full belly, and bedtime rounds of toast are a fairly regular occurrence for our hungrier campers. We offer vegetarian options upon request.
Please do not send your camper with food or snacks for them to keep in their cabin, as this can be an attractant for wildlife. If you would like to send special food for your camper's needs or preferences, please contact us and we can make arrangements to accommodate.
Camp Douglas is a NUT-FREE ZONE to ensure the safety of all of our campers, visitors and staff with nut allergies. We work hard to be nut free, but we can not guarantee a nut-free site. If snacks are brought by campers with nuts, they are removed from the cabin and returned to the parents/caregivers at the end of the week. We do not allow foods containing nuts in our kitchen at any time.
We can accommodate vegetarian, dairy free and gluten free options. Please let us know as soon as possible what your camper’s dietary needs are. You may also choose to send along some special snacks and meal alternatives to supplement what we offer. If you have further concerns, please contact us at office@campdouglas.ca.
Camp Douglas is “picky eater friendly”. We offer bread, jam, nut-free spreads, fruit and veggies at every meal for those who just don’t find what we’ve prepared appetizing. Even our staff opt for alternatives sometimes! With our responsible Cabin Leaders eating at each table, we ensure that everyone eats enough to keep themselves going through the week. Picky eaters often find that after a couple days of extra exercise and excitement they are more willing to try new foods.
Swimming is a daily activity at Camp Douglas. While campers are encouraged to enjoy the water, there are times when they may choose to stay dry. Reading, playing guitar, taking pictures and creek wading are also encouraged during waterfront time.
Water safety is taken very seriously at Camp Douglas. Our Waterfront Director and Waterfront Assistants have current National Lifesaving Service (NLS) certification and a current Standard First-Aid/CPR-C certification. We adhere strictly to the accreditation standards of the British Columbia Camping Association concerning water safety.
All swimmers must do a swim test with the Waterfront Director upon arrival at Camp Douglas. Small Fry campers must wear well-fitted life vests at all times while on the waterfront. As well, older campers who are not accomplished ocean swimmers wear life vests while swimming. We find that so many swimmers enjoy the life vests that no one camper feels singled out for wearing one – in fact some of our staff wear life vests with the express purpose of helping campers feel comfortable in theirs.
All swimmers who wish to swim to our small swim platform must wear life vests and be accompanied by staff.
All staff and volunteers must also pass a swim test. Cabin Leaders are expected to be in arm’s reach of campers while in the water. Campers are partnered with other campers as swim buddies. Your camper and his or her swim buddy will have skills and swimming interests that match. Swim buddies are trained to “buddy check” and to communicate with each other and their Cabin Leaders before leaving the water or the beach.
The swimming area is marked by buoy lines and inspected for safety before each swimming period.