Port Browning to Princess Cove: Calm Waters and Hidden Gems

With a big, stubborn high pressure parked overhead, we woke to another morning of flat seas and light winds—perfect conditions to move on. But first, a mandatory fuel stop: breakfast at the Copper Otter. A few years back, new owners took the helm, and if anything, the food and warm hospitality have only gotten better.

the walk up to the driftwood shopping center is all on the roads

The copper otter; Yummy!

breakfast sandwich at the copper otter

Back aboard OceanFlyer, we motored out into quiet waters. Pleasure boats were few and far between this early in the season, but the commercial traffic was in full swing. At the intersection of Active Pass and Navy Channel, we found ourselves threading between four BC Ferries—the Coastal Celebration, Queen of New Westminster, Queen of Cumberland, and Salish Raven—plus a SeaSpan freighter for good measure. We held course and speed, weaving cleanly through the ferry ballet without a hitch.

the park sign looks refreshed and inviting

Another visit to Princess Cove on Wallace Island has long been on our list, but it’s usually packed in season. Today? Just one lonely sailboat tucked inside—our lucky break. We dropped anchor and enjoyed a leisurely afternoon walk to Conover Cove, about 35 minutes at Bob’s signature "trudge" pace. The trail is well maintained, with only a few muddy patches to dance around. Along the way, we paid homage to the island’s quirky landmarks: the rusted-out truck and the tiny cabin overflowing with boaters’ handmade signs.

the trails on wallace island are very nice

every visitor must stop and check out the car

the cabin is the other must stop on your walk between conover cove and princess cove

a small sample of the boat signs that cover every inch of the cabin, both inside and out

early season in conover cove

oceanflyer and one sailboat in princess cove

its setting up for a nice sunset; where’s the drone?

The day closed with a jaw-dropping sunset—calm waters, brilliant colors, and the feeling that adventure is just beginning.

sunset in princess cove

Bellingham to Port Browning: Alaska, Here We Come!

After six months of upgrades and elbow grease aboard OceanFlyer, we’re finally pointing the bow north—Alaska bound! We’ve got five months of cruising ahead and couldn’t be more excited. It’s our fourth run to Southeast Alaska, but the first in nine years. Time to rediscover some old favorites and chart a few new ones.

Calm Seas, And that’s just fine with us

Today marked our crossing into Canada, making us the first among our cruising circle to test the waters after recent political frostiness between U.S. and Canadian leadership. Would border agents be in a mood? Not at all. Canadian Customs was smooth, professional, and just as courteous as ever—zero drama.

Our first stop? Port Browning—a perennial favorite for clearing in and winding down. There’s usually plenty of room to anchor, and it’s a quick dinghy hop to shore and the welcoming Port Browning Pub. Stretch your legs another 20 minutes and you'll hit a solid grocery store, a liquor shop, a charming bakery, and the Copper Otter—a restaurant well worth the walk.

karen walks under the leaning tree at The Pub

Bob settles in for some good pub food

we celebrate the start of our trip with an over-the-top dessert

well stocked grocery store at port browning

Prefer docks over swinging on the hook? Good news: the marina’s been steadily improving under the Oak Bay Group’s stewardship, and we now recommend it without hesitation.

Great view of the Port Browing Resort and docks

there is always room to anchor at port browning

Next stop: northward and onward. The Inside Passage awaits.

Kendrick Island to Port Browning

Our original plan was to overnight in Lyall Harbour but the forecasted 25 knot westerly winds overnight indicated a change was prudent. We decided to go to Port Browning a day early.

As we had morning coffee and prepared to haul the anchor, we were entertained by eight river otters feeding in the shallows at low tide.

We went through Gabriola Pass about an hour after slack – had around 3 kts on the nose but it is such a short, straight, easy passage that there was no issue, even with opposing traffic.

As we headed down Tricomali channel, we were surprised at how few boats were out. Of course, that changed as we neared the more popular areas of the southern Gulf Islands.

To break up the trip today we planned to stop for a walk around Wallace Island, anchoring in Princess Bay. When we got there, there was just no room at the inn. So we changed plans and headed for Glenthorne Passage on Prevost Island and dropped anchor for lunch. We have a favorite spot toward the end of the Passage where you can look out to Captain Passage. This length of the Passage now has more permanent mooring balls than we remembered, right down the center of the fairway.

There were 4 boats already at anchor, but our spot was available. We had a nice lunch and enjoyed watching the traffic go through the gaps in the rocks.

As we departed after a 2-hour stop, 3 more boats made their way into the passage. We are most definitely in the height of the summer season.

The trip to Port Browning was uneventful, other than dodging local traffic and the BC ferry Coastal Inspiration.  We had it timed perfectly, the ferry took our stern. The anchorage at the head of Port Browning was very busy, but you can always find a spot if you take your time. The docks at the Port Browning Marina were also full. Mostly power vessels at the docks and overwhelmingly sailing vessels in the anchorage.

busy port browning

Happily anchored amidst the sailboats, we had a relaxing evening.

Pender Harbour to Kendrick Island

Predict Wind let us down today. Only the second time on our three-month trip. But, according to Karen, it let us down quite badly.

We have been monitoring the forecast for the Strait of Georgia days before we arrived at Pender Harbour. There are lots of open water crossings we have made this trip, and they have been quite good. We wanted this to be the same, so we were really watching weather. Earlier on, yesterday (Monday) was the time to cross, but that had changed to today a few days ago. That’s why we spent an extra day in Pender Harbour. We knew the winds would be from the SE – not our preference for this crossing – but they were to be only 5-15 kts until afternoon and the seas were to be small.

Well…the winds were from the SE as forecasted, but the winds were not 5 – 15 kts. Instead, the base winds were over 15kts with with gusts to 22kts and the waves easily reached 3 feet for the first part of our trip rather than the one footers in the forecast. The ride was very wet, the boat was continually doused in salt water. We got salt spray as high as the flybridge windows.

The only good news was that the restricted area, Whiskey Gulf, was inactive, so we were able to tack and get a better ride than staying on our initial course. Despite our best efforts, though, things went flying in the galley as I was trying to cook while underway. Nothing broken though!

As we got closer to the Vancouver Island side of the strait, the wave action diminished some and the ride was still sporty but more comfortable.

The water sandwiched between Kendrick Island and Valdes Island is not well known. It is just off the eastern entrance to Gabriola Passage, so many people go right past Kendrick when they are transiting the pass.

The West Vancouver Yacht Club has an outstation with docks and mooring balls there but the anchorage itself is roomy enough to accommodate us non-yacht club boaters. It’s also close enough to easily dinghy to Silva Bay or visit the park marine park in Wakes Cove.

We have been to the Kendrick Island anchorage many times and like it because it a nice place to rest after crossing the Strait of Geogia. We are also fans of Gabriola Passage, as it has far more latitude and far, far, far, less traffic than Dodd Narrows. Plus, it is a straight and short shot through the passage.

looking southest down the Strait of georgia from Kendrick Island

When we arrived, there were only two sailboats anchored and no one on the Yacht Club dock or moorings balls. We expected more neighbors, but given the strong SE winds, that might have kept the boaters away as the head of the anchorage is open to SE winds. That said, the anchorage is protected from SE fetch, except for a brief time at the highest tides. We were happy for the breeze as the sun came out in force once we arrived.

the view back to the north east toward silva bay

WVYC docks attached to kendrick island and their mooring balls in the anchorage

A few more boats came in during the afternoon hours, a triple raft on one yacht club mooring and a few smaller sailboats. We were happy to just relax after our crossing, which was more lively than we had wished for.

Texada Boat Club to Pender Harbour

We have not been to Pender Harbour for many years. We tend to pass up the crowds found here in our quest for more remote anchorages.

However, this year we are going to wait here to time our crossing of the Strait of Georgia and explore to this large anchorage to see what has changed in our absence.

Given the calm weather, it was tempting to go all the way across today (Karen’s suggestion), but that would put us in the “crazy zone” of pink AIS targets south of Nanaimo for too many days.

As we made our way south from Texada, we could see a stream of boats leaving Pender Harbour on the AIS. This should mean we will find room!

Sure enough, the anchorages were not super crowded when we arrived around 11am. We poked around and decided to anchor SE of Garden Peninsula (just outside Garden Bay) and trade some boat wakes for better views and breezes. With a forecast for low 70’s and light winds, we did not want to anchor where we might bake. We’ve learned that lesson in the past.

Pender Harbour. Garden bay on the left Gunboat bay in the distance and Maderia PArk MArina on the Right

After lunch we did a dinghy circumnavigation of every inch of the shoreline. Fun to see the houses, boats, marinas and everything else. It’s been a while and there have been many changes.

Pender Harbour looking back to the strait of georgia

First up was Gunboat Bay. Guarded by a rock and a shallow bar, few visitors seem to make their way into Gunboat, which is quite large and rimmed with summer homes, some quite stunning. If you want solitude in the summer in Pender Harbour, this would be the place. We meandered all along the shoreline and found lots of homes that were appealing to us, some quite recently completed.

Leaving Gunboat, we headed into Garden Bay. First we stopped to check out the Seattle Yacht Club outstation, which is quite nice. We have a view of the outstation from our anchorage, and could see the large yachts coming and going.

As we went toward the head of Garden Bay, there are a lot of abandoned long linear docks that used to be recreational moorage. The pub at Garden Bay burned several years ago, and is still just sitting there, charred and roofless. We couldn’t find out what the plans are for this area. The Royal Vancouver Yacht Club outstation, also in Garden Bay, was hopping with little room to be found for anyone showing up later in the afternoon.

Hugging the shoreline, we headed next for John Henry’s in Hospital Bay, which has expanded to include what used to be Fisherman’s Resort. The “Fisherman’s” docks are in great condition, and the marina was quite busy. For fun, we had looked to see if we could make an online reservation and they were booked out for quite a while.

After peeking into Duncan Cove, we crossed over to the smaller shallow pass between Donnely Landing and Calder Island. Lots to see, including (as we went deeper into Gerrans Bay) what looks like a ship salvage “yard”, with a myriad of boats from 150 feet to dinghies, all in a sad state, mostly in the water. We felt bad for those with nice home up on the hill that looked out over this mess.

We passed just off Whiskey Slough public wharf and headed toward the Painted Boat Resort. Boy, it’s shallow in there, lots of shoals and rocks although some shallow draft boats were at the docks.

Next we headed over to Madeira Park to check out where we could tie up the dinghy when going ashore in the next day or two. The dinghy dock, near shore, was busy. There were a few spots for larger boats on transient Dock B, but those were soon taken (and stayed that way throughout our time in Pender Harbour).

All in all, we covered 8.2 nm in about two hours of snooping around, and it was lots of fun. Headline: lots of new homes being built in Pender Harbour, most of which are modern yet appealing. There are issues with the BC government and reconciliation with the First Nations tribes regarding existing and future Sunshine Coast boathouses and docks - apparently still a bit in the air. We saw lots of yellow signs that said: “We will not give up our Marine Assets without a Fight”. 

homes and docks ring the shoreline of pender harbour