Swordfish Bay
An option to
picking up your resupply in Shearwater is to have it sent to Klemtu, instead.
That makes Shearwater a discretionary stop rather than required and makes
it easier to exercise the Queens Sound / Bardswell Group Blue Highway option. Klemtu
is a dry community, though, so no pizza and beer dinner.
If you are in a hurry to get back on the IP you
need to reach Seaforth Channel. From Cultus travel up Queens Sound on a
strong flood and blow through Raymond Passage to Seaforth. You will miss
a lot if you do but will be back on task. Instead consider stops at the
Goose Group, the McMullin Group and the transit of Gale Passage. That is
a much more interesting route but more time consuming.
Crossing Queens Sound to Goose commits you to
7.5 NM of open water so conditions must be within your skillset. If that
doesn’t sound like fun there are other options but if you love sandy beaches
the area sheltered by Goose, Gosling, Gull, Snipe, Duck and Swan Islands
provides more than you will be able to handle. It was recently rated as
one of the Top Ten Beaches in British Columbia by Wild Coast Magazine.
Morning on Gosling Island
North of Goose lies the
McMullin Group. The western shores of this stunning cluster of granite
islets are pounded by the open Pacific and slowly eroded to sand that settles
on the eastern shallows creating a Tropics-like environment. At low tide
there is sandy beach in all directions. At high tide the water is a
beautiful aquamarine.
McMullin Group from Islet 48
North of McMullin
and just off the south end of Potts Island is Islet 48 which is one of my favorite
campsites. It doesn’t get much traffic and has a surprising number of
tent sites above the high tide line. Aside from being a nice campsite is
strategically located.
Islet 48
Continuing into
Thompson Bay you can enter Gale Passage which separates Athlone and Dufferin
Islands. It connects with Seaforth Channel about a mile from where the
oil barge tug recently sunk and leaked diesel. Damage is still being
assessed. Paddling Gale is a unique experience since both the north and
south ends are constricted and feed into a large lagoon. As the tide
rises water pours in through both ends creating tidal rapids and filling up the
lagoon. When the tide drops the current reverses draining the lagoon.
Timing is everything in navigating Gale Passage.
Entering Gale Passage
Just inside the
northern entrance to Gale is a Heiltsuk cabin and a reliable source of fresh
water.
Heiltsuk Cabin Gale Passage
If the diesel
spill makes Gale Passage untenable follow the western shoreline of Potts Island
to the “Back Door” of Joassa Channel where another Heiltsuk cabin is located on
Quinoot Point. Follow Joassa north to Seaforth Channel and back to the
Inside Passage route.
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