As at 29th November 2018
This is the PHYC’s
planned cruise in 2019 as part of the activities of the PHYC and is scheduled
to commence Wednesday June 11th or 12th in the Gulf
Islands and to complete Saturday June 22nd at Egmont after visiting
the Princess Louisa Inlet. This plan is scheduled to take 12 days running on 4 days for 24 hours and covering 127 n-miles at an average speed of 5.3 knots. Participants are required to make
all of their own reservations and they should inform the marina operators that
they are part of the Port Harvey Yacht Club.
This plan is subject to any of the four “W’s;
(1)
the
Whims of the Fleet Capt, (2) the Whining
of his mate, (3) the Weather and (4) the Wishes
of club members.
This
edition of the Passage Plan is as a result (1) and (4) above.
Tuesday 11th
and Wednesday 12th June To
Thetis Island.
Email: thetisislandresorts@gmail.com with water, power and internet as well as a limited supply of groceries. Kuper [now known as Penelaku] and Thetis Islands were originally joined by a narrow strip of land until 1905 when a canal, known as “The Cut” was dug to allow the passage of small boats. A bridge over the canal was constructed, however, it was destroyed in 1946.
Thetis
Island got its name from H.M.S. Thetis (in turn named after Thetis the Nereid,
a sea nymph daughter of Zeus), a British 36-gun frigate that was on the Pacific
station from 1851 to 1853 and surveyed the area.
Thursday 13th
June At Thetis
Island
Thetis
island is 2,560 acres (1,036 ha) in size. It is approximately two miles
(3.2 kilometres) wide and three miles (4.8 kilometres) long north to south. Two
north to south land ridges define the east and west sides of the island. Burchell Hill is 591 metres
(1,939 feet) above sea
level, and forms the high point on the west side of
Thetis island, and Moore Hill is
585 metres (1,919 feet) above sea level, and forms the high point ridge on the
east side of the island.
The cruise starts out with a visit to
Chemainus to take in a performance of Manna
Mia on Friday June 14th and on to Pirates Cove on Saturday June
15th.
Friday 14th
June Thetis Island to Chemainus – 3.9 n-miles.
Saturday 15th June Chemainus to Pirates Cove – 11.4 n-miles
Depart the marina and
proceed via Stuart Channel and Ruxton Passage to Pirates Cove on de Courcy Island. Anchor or tie to mooring rings (do
not tie to trees) in cove to explore of the park.
Pirates
Cove offers a sheltered anchorage in 12 to 15 feet over mud
with good holding
Pirates Cove
Marine Park is a 31 hectare (75
acre) provincial park situated on the southeast end
of DeCourcy Island. Established in 1966, this park is a significant
draw to boaters given its very well protected cove offering fairly good
anchorage. Providing two dinghy docks and several stern tie
mooring rings, Pirates Cove is an active anchorage during the summer
months. Although locals say it is not as busy as it was in years past, there
has been upwards of 50 boats on the busiest weekends. Russell’s
Landing Dock is located within Pirates Cove and is a private
facility for the use of DeCourcy Island residents and guests
only. Please do not tie up to the dock or use it to access the park.
The park provides excellent walking trails in
addition to a very popular beach at the south end known to locals as the south
beach or as Ruxton Passage Cove by the Douglass’s. The bay here provides
excellent anchorage when there is a northwesterly wind, or if you find Pirates
Cove is just too crowded.
See the map of the Pirates Cove Marine Park at the end of
this plan.
Sunday 16th June Pirates
Cove to Silva Bay – 15.6 n-miles.
Depart Pirates Cove to transit Gabriola Passage on the
high-water slack then via either Sear Island Passage or Commodore Passage to
arrive at Silva Bay and tie up at the Silva
Bay Resort & Marina’s docks [250-247-8662 info@silvabay.com] with washrooms and
showers (showers take loonies, approx. 4
minutes per loonie), laundromat (washers/dryers take tokens – $3.00 per token)
and potable water is available at the fuel dock only.
Monday 17th June At Silva Bay.
Contact GERTIE the Gabriola's Community Bus
Service 250-668-6809 for transport to the island’s
shopping centre or rent bicycles or scooters from Page’s Resort & Marina
250-247-8931 to explore Gabriola Island.
Gabriola has public
beaches and forests, shopping centres, restaurants, a library, an elementary
school and a museum. Its many cultural events include annual festivals related
to art, poetry, gardens, music, boating and fishing.
The
first European visit to Gabriola was by the Spanish schooner Santa
Saturnina under José MarÃa Narváez in 1791. In
1792, the island was again visited by a Spanish expedition, under Galiano and Valdés. Galiano and Valdés
stayed at Pilot Bay for several days, to repair their vessels and explore the
vicinity of what is now Nanaimo.
By
1874, 17 settlers were working the land on Gabriola, and
two-thirds of those had First Nations wives
and young families.
Apart
from farming, Gabriola experienced industrial development in the 20th century.
A brickyard produced 80,000 high-quality bricks a
day in the early part of the century, and they were sent principally to Victoria and Vancouver. The
brickyard ceased functioning in the 1950s. In the 1890s and early twentieth
century, sandstone blocks were cut from a quarry near Descanso Bay and shipped
for architectural use in public buildings in Vancouver and Victoria.
Tuesday 18th June Silva Bay to Pender
Harbour – 34.1 n-miles.
Departure depends on the weather in the
Straits with Halibut Bank Buoy reporting wave height of one meter or less and Sisters Island
lighthouse reporting winds of no more than 15 knots.
If its
blowing, we aren’t going.
Depart the marina and
proceed via the channel west of Vance Island and across the Strait of Georgia,
through Welcome Passage to Pender Harbour. As we plan to go across on a Sunday,
WG, the torpedoes range, should not be active.
Pender Harbour is an intricate
amalgam of bays and coves that encroach inland for five kilometres and provide
over sixty kilometres of shoreline. Once a steamer stop, a fishing village, and
an important logging and medical waypoint, it is now an unincorporated
community within the Sunshine
Coast Regional District (SCRD).
Pender Harbour's population is under 3,000, with over 40%
of property owners being non-resident. Pender Harbour includes the small
villages of Madeira Park, Garden Bay, Irvine's Landing, and Kleindale.
Tourism is an important part of the local economy. The
area has an arts community and several annual music festivals. It hosts the
second-oldest May Day celebration in British Columbia.
Named in 1860 by Captain G.H.
Richards, RN,
after Daniel Pender, RN ( - 1891).
Pender arrived on this coast as second master of the survey vessel Plumper, 9 November 1857;
served as master of the Plumper and the Hecate; commander of
the Beaver (hired from
Hudson's Bay Company for hydrographic work), 1863-70; assistant, Hydrographic
Office, London, 1871-84.
Before the first Europeans discovered the area, a vibrant
population of First Nations equaled or doubled its current number of
inhabitants. Sex'wamin, the Shishalh winter settlement centred on Garden Bay,
was likely one of the largest on the British Columbia coast. It is estimated that
over 5,000 First Nations people lived in longhouses on the shore near where the
Garden Bay Hotel now sits. The Shishalh vacated Pender Harbour and relocated to
summer villages up the inlets of Jervis, Salmon, and Narrow. Theirs was the
opposite of current migration patterns, which see Pender Harbour's population
swell in the summer and thin during the winter months.
Wednesday 19th
June Pender Harbour to Princess
Louisa Inlet – 44.3 n-miles.
Dock at the
Princess Louisa Society’s floats at the Chatterbox Falls. Generator use is restricted to 0900 to 1100 and 1800 to
1900 hours.
In June 1792 Captain
Vancouver explored Jervis Inlet to
its end and apparently found the entrance to Princess
Louisa Inlet but did not enter as the tide was ebbing through Malibu Rapids at the
time.
James F. "Mac" MacDonald purchased
the core of the park, 45 acres (18 ha), in 1919 and donated it to the
Princess Louisa International Society in 1953. It was acquired by BC Parks in 1964. Much
of the remaining land surrounding the inlet has been acquired and added to the
park in following years. Hamilton
Island, renamed MacDonald
Island, is now a part of the park as well.
In 1940 Herman Caspar, who was rumored to
have homesteaded at the entrance of the inlet,
sold the land to Thomas F. Hamilton for $500. Casper was
actually a squatter and had no legal right to the land. Hamilton, an American
aviation executive, did buy all the land surrounding Princess Louisa Inlet with
the intent on developing it with a series of themed luxury resorts to cater to
visiting yachtsmen and Hollywood celebrities. However, only one resort
was built at the entrance of the inlet, the Malibu Club which was named after
Hamilton's yacht the Malibu. In 1950, the resort was closed and abandoned due
to a polio outbreak
and quarantine. The property was later sold
to Young Life in
1953 and they have successfully operated it as a summer camp for
teenagers.
The more accepted theory is that
the inlet is named for Queen Victoria's mother, Princess Victoria of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who was born Mary Louise Victoria. Adjacent
Prince of Wales Reach was named after Edward VII when
he was the Prince of Wales. Princess Royal Reach was named
after another one of Queen Victoria’s daughters, Empress Frederick of Germany. Five
mountains around Queens Reach are named after children of Queen Victoria: Mount Victoria, Mount Alfred, Mount Alice, Mount Arthur and Mount Helena.
No matter who the inlet was named
for, some government official got the spelling wrong with Louisa instead of
Louise.
The
society has purchased various parcels of property around the inlet which they
gave to the BC Parks. More information on the society’s web-site www.princesslouisa.bc.ca
.
Thursday 20th
June At
Princess Louisa Inlet
We
may be able, if it is available, to take on fresh water
Friday 21st
June Princess Louisa
Inlet to Egmont – 33.5 n-miles
Backeddy Resort and Marina advises
that they have a strong current running at the docks on both a
flood and ebb tide. They have a dock crew to assist you and they recommend you
hail them on VHF 66A before you dock so
they can be there to assist. When docking, please approach with bow to the current for maximum control.
The Backeddy Pub is a favourite for locals and visitors alike. Please
note their pub does not serve minors,
but they do have a restaurant area for families with children/minors and a
great little picnic area overlooking the water and marina. They also take
reservations for large bookings and they can accommodate additional buffet
style service in their party room.
For the energetic, there is a serene hike in the rainforest from the
trail head of Skookumchuk Narrows Provincial Park to the Skookumchuk Narrows
observation points for the spectacular waves and whirlpools. Even when there is
not a big tide that produce such a spectacular water display, the trail is the
perfect place to experience our pacific northwest rainforest. The hike is
relatively flat and takes approximately 45 to 60 minutes each way. Washrooms
are located at each end of the trail.
This is the completion of the PHYC
cruise. Participates can now head off on their own or they may, if they wish,
return to the Gulf Islands
along with the Seajay to take in the Valley Power Squadron’s Sail past at Sidney
Spit and Canada Day celebrations at the Port of Sidney.
