Do you have any small boat sailing experience…or a friend who does?  Then one of our globe’s greatest vacation experiences awaits, with affordability a primary benefit.   Your destination is the southern wilderness coast of British Columbia.  To reach it, you drive, via road and ferry, to the small port of Comox on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island.  Here, you charter the sail of your choice, for a week of cruising island passages accessible only by sea (notice we said “sail,” but power boats are also available if your esthetic sense (or lack thereof) permits).

The discounted value of the Canadian dollar (66% of ours) contributes to your enjoyment of a trip that allows you to take your lodging with you , prepare your own meals, tend your own bar and, if sailing, minimizes fuel cost.  Your bareboat charter cost will range as low as $600 per week for a vessel accommodating four, and all necessary gear (except  clothing and bedding) is included.  

Comox-based Desolation Sound Yacht Charters offers a wide selection of craft… up to the 40-foot range that comfortably sleeps eight adventurers.  The current charter operators have been providing a high standard of service for over two decades.  We’ve sailed forth from their docks a total of four times, have also chartered from both Anacortes and Seattle, stateside (in addition to owning our own boat for a time)..

An ideal port of departure

Puget Sound and the abutting San Juan and Gulf Islands are awash with pleasure boaters each summer and ringed with ports and resorts.  If you have any skills at sailing and self-sufficiency, you’ll find the myriad channels and anchorages to the north of Northwest urbanity an ideal source of quiet and relaxation afloat.  

Desolation Sound on the B.C. mainland coast is many roadless miles removed from any permanent population and you can reach this scenic wilderness in an afternoon’s sail from Comox.  We recommend boarding your boat the evening before departure (an extra fee of $50).  This enables a non-rushed acclimation to your quarters and craft.  Comox has ample provisioning resources near dockside.  A note of caution: alcoholic beverages are the salient exception to cost-cutting advantages of devalued Canadian currency.  Avoid as much of the sin tax as you can by taking the allowable import limit of booze with you at border crossing.

We charter a diesel-powered vessel, use wind power only wherever possible and find that a 6-day tour of Desolation waters can be accomplished on the fuel supply with which you departed.  Your charter period will run from 9 a.m. the day of departure to 9 a.m. on a Day 7 return.  Our preferred itinerary includes access to a couple of moorages along the way where limited shoreside supplies are available, with ice the primary commodity you may need to replenish.  While all equipment necessary for sailing, navigation and cooking is included in your charter fee, we urge you to bring along a crab pot, binoculars and a flashlight…most boats available will have a gas or charcoal outdoor grill on board …check for this, if you like wild oysters steamed in the shell.

Natural provender abounds

Your dining table can be set by low tide, which exposes cliffsides of native oysters for plucking (Oyster Island in Waddington Channel is an ideal source).  Prideaux Haven, an anchorage destination ideal for your first or second night out, has gravely beaches abounding in steamer clams for your digging.  Wherever you anchor, dropping in a baited (bacon, cooked food scraps will work) crab pot should provide a catch by morning.  Trolling a lure while slowly underway may attract salmon, while bottom fishing by jigging a feathered , weighted lure is a usually-productive anchorage activity.  

Stops in Teakerne Arm and at Cortes Bay have introduced us to the Spot Prawn commercial fishery that drops pots many fathoms deep to attract this delicious prey…and the fisherman encountered will sell a portion of his catch at a price less than this delicacy fetches on the retail market.  We’ve found September ideal timing for finding prawns, and also the month when weather conditions tend to be consistently ideal.

An ideal itinerary

Set sail right after U.S. Labor Day and the weather will feature sunny skies, brisk afternoon breezes for sailing , no crowded anchorages…and “low season” (after Sept. 1) charter pricing (20% less than July1-Sept. 1) on the widest selection of available craft.

Your charter hosts will provide suggested routes and your boat will have a full complement of charts.  We prefer to depart Comox at 9 a.m., sailing across the open waters of Georgia Strait (this can be an invigorating sail if the breeze cooperates) to the mainland coast in the vicinity of Lund, a beer and gas stop at the end of the road
(and ferry crossings) from Vancouver.  Soon you reach the entry to Malaspina Inlet, with good anchorage choices and usually productive crabbing.  Arise early and sail an hour into Desolation Sound to the almost hidden entrance to Prideaux Haven wilderness anchorage.  The post-dawn light will unveil spectacular alpine peaks backdropping this crystal blue, superbly sheltered cove.  

Oystering, as previously described, should be a Day II goal.  Day III is an opportunity to check out Walsh Cove, site of a recently created provincial marine park.  Meandering through deeply forested , high banked channels will take you to secluded, scenic Squirrel Cove for the night.  Day IV is the time to seek Spot prawners in Teakerne Arm, then head for an evening anchorage in Squirrel Cove, where a small store offers provisions.  

South Sea island make believe

On Day V, sailing southward to the northern tip of the Georgia Straits will bring you to Savary Island, a small, flat and narrow deserted isle with a strand of white sand beach on which to picnic and frolic in the manner of South Seas dreams.  Day VI can provide a hull-down afternoon crossing of Georgia Straits, then sail south along the Vancouver Island coast to Henry Bay…a quiet anchorage with sandy beaches and an ideal overnight  site before a short five mile sail to Comox for a 9 a.m. arrival.

All told, you will have sailed 141 miles, with 25 hours spent underway…a leisurely pace.

You’ve decided your own activities, experienced some exhilarating time under sail, been reminded of what true quiet nature can provide, sampled a wilderness cruising area with majestic fjords, towering mountains and cascading shoreline waterfalls, and been nourished by the bounty of the sea.  Why English explorer Captain Cook christened this area Desolation Sound will forever be a mystery to me…but, then, he made a mistake of late season timing.  May through September, Desolation area mean temperatures are 72 to 78 degrees and rainfall is less than 2 inches per month.  Water temperatures are more than warm enough for swimming.

Next time, Captain, consult your Travel Agent!

© 2002 Oregon Magazine