Brooks Peninsula and Columbia Cove | West Side of Vancouver Island

Cruising the west side of Vancouver Island requires frequent hops in the ocean. The hops are typically short—15 to 30 nautical miles—but even a few hours in rough conditions can be awful. Three headlands can create particularly rough conditions: Cape Scott, Brooks Peninsula, and Estevan Point. Brooks is perhaps the worst of all. It juts out from Vancouver Island into the Pacific Ocean like an enormous, flat, rectangular slab. Dramatic … Read more

Quatsino Sound | West Side of Vancouver Island

Quatsino Sound is the northernmost of the five sounds along the west coast of Vancouver Island. It’s also among the most developed, with many active logging operations and several communities scattered throughout (and good cell phone service!). The run from Sea Otter Cove to Quatsino Sound was easy: no wind, lazy swell. For boaters used to cruising the Inside Passage (including us), being out in the ocean is different. Even … Read more

Crossing Queen Charlotte Sound to Cape Scott

For the last several days, we’ve been closely monitoring the weather forecasts, looking for a window to cross Queen Charlotte Sound and round Cape Scott to the west side of Vancouver Island. Environment Canada had been calling for 20-30 knot southerly winds today, diminishing to 5-15 knots tomorrow, then increasing to 15-25 the next day. But yesterday afternoon they revised the forecast. Suddenly today looked decent, with 15-25 knot winds … Read more

The Abandoned Cannery at Namu, B.C.

We left Kynumpt Harbour and cruised four nautical miles to Shearwater, where we tied up for a couple hours to do laundry, grocery shopping, and top off the fuel tanks. The grocery store was closed for restocking until 1:00 p.m. (Our lucky day! Fresh produce!) so we took advantage of the new laundry drop-and-fold service ($20 Canadian per load) while we had a late breakfast. With chores done, we headed … Read more

Meyers Narrows and Kynumpt Harbour

We left Port Stephens with no particular destination in mind. Once again, rain poured down. Given the rainfall, not much scenery was visible and riding around in the dinghy wasn’t very attractive, so we figured we’d make miles. We hate to zoom through such an interesting section of coast, but frankly, we’re ready for summer. Outside of Port Stephens conditions weren’t very summer-like. Gusty southerly wind, 1-3 foot chop, sideways … Read more

The Outside of the Inside Passage | Captain Cove and Port Stephens

Heading south from Prince Rupert, we opted to take the “outside of the inside” route. Most boats take the most direct protected route: Grenville Channel (aka The Ditch), which runs between the mainland and Pitt Island. This is a perfectly fine route, well protected, with several scenic anchorages. The “outside of the inside” route, which runs along the west shore of Pitt Island, isn’t necessarily better, but it is different … Read more

Crossing Dixon Entrance

Getting out of Ketchikan was an exercise in patience. Storm after storm, packing lots of southerly wind and buckets of rain, pummeled the area. Even in a town that receives more than 160 inches of rainfall annually, this was exceptional. Streets flooded and locals complained about the worst summer ever. Fishing guides canceled charters. Twice we recorded more than four inches of rain in a single day. Fishermen commiserated via … Read more

Behm Canal and Misty Fjords

We left Thorne Bay and headed for Ketchikan to catch up on laundry, groceries, etc. and to pick up Kevin and Laura’s 9-year-old granddaughter, Mijonet, for a trip around Behm Canal. The Ketchikan airport is across Tongass Narrows from town. Remember the infamous Bridge to Nowhere? Yep, that was here, and since it was never built, air travellers arriving or departing Ketchikan must take a boat a few hundred yards … Read more