7-Day Desolation Sound Cruise

The day began at the gate of Comox Marina, where the fleet set out across Georgia Strait, rounding Mystery Reef and Savary Island before passing the seaside town of Lund. Boats threaded Thulin Passage together, arriving at Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island for the first overnight anchorage.

From there the week unfolded along the inlets and channels of Desolation Sound. Crews explored the reversing creek at Squirrel Cove, climbed to Unwin Lake, and anchored beneath Cassel Lake Falls in Teakerne Arm, where some swam in the warm lake water. Refuge Cove offered a stop for coffee and cinnamon buns before the group continued down Lewis Channel.

Prideaux Haven brought anchorage among towering peaks, with time spent in Melanie Cove and Laura Cove. Further on, Waddington Channel gave a choice of quiet harbors — Roscoe Bay with its freshwater lake, Pendrell Sound with its warm water, and Walsh Cove with its native pictographs on the cliffs. The cruise then rounded the Redonda Islands through Homfray Channel, tracing some of the deepest soundings on the coast, before returning through Thulin Passage to Lund for another overnight.

A crossing back over Georgia Strait brought the group to Henry Bay on Denman Island, a calm anchorage with quiet sandy beaches not far from the base. Photos from along the way show boats resting together in still coves, rocky shorelines framed by forest, mountains rising over calm water, and waves breaking near a wooden dock under a grey sky.

The gathering closed as it began, back at Comox Marina. Boats were fueled, cleaned, and made ready, gear packed and checked, crews settling in for a final night before the morning checkout — a quiet end to a week spent moving gently through the coves and channels of Desolation Sound.