To the north is Point Roberts, Washington, and to the east and south are the San Juan Islands.

Approximately half of the island is in the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve (GINPR) that was formed in 2003 from a gift of ecologically sensitive land by Ulla Ressner and John Fry,[4] existing provincial parks, an Ecological Reserve, and other Crown land.

The name Saturna comes from the Spanish naval schooner Santa Saturnina ("St. Saturnina") captained by pilot (piloto) José María Narváez, which along with a longboat of the Spanish naval packet ship San Carlos, explored the island's coast in an excursion under the overall command of Pilot Juan Pantoja y Arriaga in 1791.

[9][10] East Point Day Use Area, with a museum inside the old Fog Alarm Building,[11] an Environment Canada monitoring station, and sandstone shoreline.

[12] Mount Warburton Pike viewpoint, which is the tallest mountain in the Outer Gulf Islands.

[16] Gulf Islands National Park Reserve offers 7 walk-in (or kayak-in) backcountry campsites at Narvaez Bay.

Daily floatplane service from Vancouver International Airport [21] and downtown Victoria[22] to Lyall Harbour is available.