Posts In The “British Columbia” Category
The Pacific Northwest Trawler Fest will be held at Anacortes this year on May 7th through 9th. We’ll be presenting on Saturday the 9th at 10:30am on Queen Charlotte Sound. This is our favorite cruising destination—if we could only visit one place year after year, this would be the place. The terrain is complex, the…
Anyone who’s written about Seymour and Belize Inlets says that Alison Sound, off Belize Inlet, is the most beautiful spot here. We agree. Several waterfalls gush from the north shore en route, and the entrance to the sound itself is striking. A massive slide has scoured a huge section of shoreline. Kilometer-high mountains soar above…
Although bald eagles are among the largest birds we see on the coast, often we see gulls and other much smaller birds chasing eagles through the sky or tormenting them on a tree branch. This seems curious, given the difference in size. While eagles are excellent hunters, according to Bald Eagles: Their Life and Behavior…
We’ve cruised as far north as the Broughtons in winter, but this year’s winter cruise to the Gulf Islands (map of area) was colder, with more snow and stronger winds, than any other. This was the first time we’ve had to actually shovel the boat off. The cold weather gave our furnace a workout, but…
We didn’t think we’d ever stop at Pirates Cove Marine Park, at the north end of British Columbia’s Gulf Islands. The BC Marine Parks Guide bills it as one of the more popular parks in the Gulf Islands, with room for 75 boats. This is remarkable, given that the cove from shore to shore is…
Mount Tzouhalem is the 1,500-foot bluff directly west of Genoa Bay. We’ve eyed it every time we’ve anchored in the bay, but this year, we finally climbed it. We’d arrived on a cold, crisp winter day, after a recent snowfall. The weather was cold enough to freeze the surface water around the marina. …
Tod Inlet is a busy anchorage in the summer months. The basin has all-weather protection, but the main attraction is nearby Butchart Gardens. The gardens have a dinghy dock that makes for easy landing and access to the spectacular garden display. And boats crowd the waterway on Saturday nights to watch their firework show. …
Francis Point Marine Park, established in 2000, is a relatively new addition to the BC Parks system. The park takes up about a third of Francis Peninsula, just south of the entrance to Pender Harbour on the Sunshine Coast, and has sweeping views across Malaspina Strait to Texada Island. We visited one winter while at…
At the southern end of Laredo Channel, several bays and waterways indent the shoreline along Princess Royal Island. Some appear on the chart as possible anchorages, but most feel open and exposed. Hague Point Lagoon is a notable exception. The almost land-locked basin has a somewhat tricky entrance, but inside is sheltered anchorage with room…
We arrived back from nearly 3 weeks exploring the Outside Passage. And, similar to our exploring in Queen Charlotte Sound, we found a wonderfully complex shoreline with literally thousands of anchorages. Some were quite challenging and most were incredibly beautiful. For example, the entrance to Port Stephens is a bit of an eye opener at…
Queen Charlotte Sound has many amazing white-sand beaches, but the best we’ve found are at the McMullin Group. The sand is deep and soft, and almost every beach has view east to the Coast Mountains. The island group is wonderfully complex, making for interesting dinghy exploration. As we toured around, we kept finding what…
When we first arrived at Triquet Island, a deer bounded toward us across a wide, white-sand beach. Nearby, a wrecked fishing vessel embedded in the sand was evidence of the ocean’s power. On our second visit, we found a whimsical wilderness hut above an even nicer sand beach as well as a trail to a…
We visited Queen Charlotte Sound for the first time in 2002, and the complex terrain, impressive scenery, and variety of fabulous anchorages
For us, an ideal cruising destination combines solitude with a chance to explore new territory. We seek places that are little covered in the cruising guides and where few people go. Besides an appealing anchorage, we are always on the lookout for interesting side trips, such as a trail to a view or a lakeside…
The concept of a floating, mobile community is so unusual that the National Film Board of Canada featured one in a 1960’s documentary. The Water Dwellers depicted a village not far removed from the through-the-looking-glass wonderland of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, unique to the B.C. coast, if not much of the modern world. Skiff and motorboat…
We were travelling north through Wells Pass in the Broughtons one year when Jennifer yelled “Bear!” We were a good half-mile from any shore, so a bear sighting seemed a little unlikely. But the bear wasn’t on shore, it was swimming about 20 feet off our port bow. We’d been running at about 7 knots,…
It was 04:00 hours on December 31. We’d left Port Hardy early, hoping to reach Seymour Narrows for the 11:30 slack. The winds were calm in Hardy Bay, but visibility was near zero. Daylight was hours away and a blizzard obscured what little ambi- ent light there was. We peered through the snow from our…
Spider anchorage and the surrounding islets make up the heart of the Hakai Luxvbalis (pronounced hack-eye looks-bal-ease) Conservancy Area at the edge of Queen Charlotte Sound. The complex waterways, sheltered anchorages, amazing scenery and diverse ecosystem are popular with pleasure boaters, kayakers and scuba divers. Popular, however, is a relative thing. A busy day in…