Descanso Bay is on the west end of Gabriola Island. It was named Cala del Descanso, or “cove of rest” in the early 1790s by Spanish
explorers, though Captain Richards marked it as Rocky Bay during his 1862 survey of
the area.1
1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 158.