Which island were you looking at off of Vancouver Island? You don't have to tell me if you want to keep it secret. P.S. I have no money anyway....
It was a property on Vargas. http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/vargas-island-property
Do it. I've been fortunate to have visited a handful of Gulf Islands this summer. Cortez, Gambier, Maine,... My girlfriend's family has one cabin on Bowen Island and one on Thormanby so we go out to those places quite a lot. Thormanby is boat access only. They've been building bits of things on their lot since the 70's. All you need is a portable saw mill and the world is your oyster. We even managed to do some surfing around Tofino during easter break this year. Surfing in a full on rain storm is really cool. I mean really fucking cold. If you have the means what-so-ever to own a little chunk of it, then I'd say it's worth working hard for. I don't have to tell you that I'm sure. Hope it happens for you.
You have just become my new favoritest person. Gotta keep in mind: if you're in Seattle and you want to get to Tofino, you drive 2 hours to the border and you wait. And then you drive to Tsawwassen and you wait. And then you pay like $90 and then you drive three hours on that awesome road but in the amount of time you've spent traveling you could be on Kauai. I still prefer Tofino. 
If I'm gonna be waiting, the ferry from Tsawwassen to Victoria is not a bad place to be doing it. Besides, if you were settling Vargas, chances are you'd be staying long enough to make the drive seem effortless. And considering you would have an intimate knowledge of when to avoid the border crossing while also bustin' out that handy NEXUS fast pass, you'd HOV those assholes everytime. Coming from Seattle though, I'd rather take the train up to Vancouver, then charter a sea plane over to Vargas. Flying at a consistent 1000 feet over the Straight, in the co-pilot seat, staring into the sun. The pilot would drop you off on your own private beach tout de suite. Oh wait, just remembered that I don't have any money. Plan B: Drive to Port Angeles and take the Coho up to Victoria. Last time I took that ferry I saw a breaching humpback. And dudes working border patrol that way are about as laid back as they come. Incidentally, I was on the coast in Washington State a few weeks back and took this photo:
Oh, that is lovely. Moclips? If I were serious about it, I'd buy a boat. If I were slightly less serious about it, I'd make my dad pick us up and fly up there. Problem being he's got a Mooney and I"m almost positive those don't come amphibious. Worthy of note: those "laid back as they come" border patrol agents are the only ones to actually catch legitimate terrorists before they could blow anything up.