A curated directory
A short, deliberate list of Vancouver Island floats and river spots, not every puddle with a rope swing. If it is here, it is worth your time.
A directory for Vancouver Island's rivers and hot spots.
GoFloat helps you find your next float: which rivers are worth tubing, where to put in and take out, and what the water is doing today. One island, one front door, a growing list of destinations.
Why it exists
Every summer the same question goes around: is the river worth floating today? The answer is scattered across Facebook groups and word of mouth, and someone's memory of last weekend says nothing about this afternoon.
GoFloat is the front door. Instead of hunting for the right group or the right person, you come to one place, pick a destination, and go. Each spot carries its own live conditions, written by the people actually on the water.
How it works
GoFloat is a hub, not a monolith. It does not host each float's pages; it gathers the destinations and sends you to them.
Live, local conditions
Each live destination is its own site with its own gauge, weather, and reports from floaters. A number cannot tell you the river felt bony. A person who floated it can.
More on the way
Spots still being built are listed as coming soon, so you know they are on the way without being promised a date.
One float at a time
Every spot is its own animal. What floaters care about on one river, the crowd, the water level, a shuttle back to the car, a particular drop, is not what they care about on the next. Working out which factors actually matter takes a season of reports to get right, so destinations arrive one at a time rather than all at once.
The Puntledge River is the first, at puntledge.ca. It is where this starts, not where it ends: the plan is a growing network of float sites around the Island, and in time beyond it.
What GoFloat will not tell you
GoFloat is a community guide, not a lifeguard. It reports conditions; it never clears you to get in the water.
- Whether a river is safe today. Conditions change fast and are never guaranteed. The sites here describe the water; the judgement call is yours and only yours.
- What the water is doing right now. Gauges lag and reports describe a river that has already moved on. Everything here is recent history, not a live feed.
- That any spot is risk-free. Rivers are wild and can injure or kill. Wear a PFD, never float alone, float sober, and know your take-out before you launch.
Who made this
GoFloat is built and run by Roga Digital, a web development studio on Vancouver Island. It is free and ad-free, and it costs real money to run, so there is a quiet place to chip in. A tip is entirely optional and gets you nothing but our love and appreciation.
Something wrong, missing, or out of date?Tell us about it. GoFloat gets better because of people like you taking the time.
Like GoFloat? Buy us a coffee and help keep the rivers mapped.
Common questions
What is GoFloat?
GoFloat is a directory of river floats and outdoor hot spots on Vancouver Island. Each destination is its own standalone site with live conditions; GoFloat is the hub that gathers them in one place and links you out to them.
Is GoFloat free?
Yes. GoFloat is free and ad-free, and it stays that way. There are optional tip links for anyone who wants to help cover the bills, and a tip buys nothing extra.
How do I get conditions for a specific river?
Open that river's site from the directory. Live destinations, like puntledge.ca, carry their own gauge, weather, and reports from people who floated that day. GoFloat itself does not host conditions; it points you to the site that does.
Can I suggest a river or swimming hole?
Please do. If a spot on Vancouver Island belongs on the map, tell us about it and we will look into it. Destinations arrive one at a time, so it may not appear overnight, but every one starts as a suggestion.
Is floating safe?
Rivers are wild. They are not groomed, patrolled, or monitored, conditions change fast, and they are never guaranteed safe. GoFloat and the sites it links to report what the water is doing; none of them tells you it is safe. Wear a PFD, never float alone, float sober, and know your take-out before you launch.
Find your next float
Browse the directory and pick a river. Know one that belongs on the map? Tell us.