Work is underway on a water route that will connect Vancouver Island and the mainland.

The Salish Sea Marine Trail will provide official access points to the ocean to make the coastline more accessible.

It will also tie together a network of camping sites that are within a day’s paddle from each other.

“We want to enable the continued travel for small boat users along the whole coastline,” said Stephanie Meinke, president of the B.C. Marine Trails Network Association.

The 257-kilometre route will go from Victoria and the Saanich Peninsula into the Gulf Islands, north past Nanaimo, through the Winchelsea and Ballenas islands across to Lasqueti and Texada Islands, then down the Sunshine Coast and across Howe Sound to end at Horseshoe Bay.