Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands of British Columbia

Vancouver island stretches over 275 miles to the northwest from the historic capital of Victoria to the open waters of  Hecate Strait leading north to the Inside Passage and Alaska. We concentrate our cruise to the southern end as we sail into Sidney from Roche Harbor on San Juan Island US entering Canadian customs here. Sidney is an active town. It is Victoria’s ferry connection to the mainland via Schwartz Bay and Taswassen near Vancouver. The Washington State Ferry from Anacortes also lands here daily. There is  an international airport with service to Vancouver and other towns on the island to the north. We will provision here with food and drink items which customs will not allow over the border. You can take a taxi to the Butchart Gardens. This historic limestone mine was made into extensive formal gardens by Jennie Butchart, wife of Robert Pim Butchart who produced Portland cement there from 1904 to 1916. There is a rose garden with hundreds of varieties, a formal Japanese garden, a Mediterranean Garden, an Italian garden, and a sunken grotto where the lime was mined.

If you wish, you may have dinner here followed by a concert at 7pm daily with a variety of music. After the concert, the Gardens stay open until 10 pm.  It is amazing how different it all looks after dark. It’s back to the boat for a good night’s rest. We can head north the next day or you may choose to take a taxi into Victoria for the day. Victoria is the historic capital city of British Columbia founded in 1843. 330,000 people live here in communities spread throughout the hills on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Victoria has many sights to see: the Empress Hotel dominating the east side of James Bay, the Parliament building on the south side of the bay, Fort Street –a six block long antique shop row, or the Royal Museum with its extensive collection of First Nation totem poles preserved here. Don’t miss the opportunity to eat at one of the many ethnic restaurants. It’s a taxi back to the boat for hors d’oeuvres  and a great meal aboard Finnessa. We head north the next morning towards the Gulf Islands and Maple Bay where we may spend our next night. There can be some good sailing after rounding  Schwartz Head passing Schwartz Bay as it opens up to the west and north. We experience our first tidal rapids at Sansum Narrows just before Maple Bay across from Burgoyne Bay where there are floating aquaculture enclosures. The next day we head north, rounding Saltspring Island before heading south. Or we may continue north to Telegraph Harbor on Thetis Island or farther yet to Nanaimo the northern most end of this cruising area through Dodd Narrows, a strong tidal rapids area where there are often large whirlpools. The islands generally lie in a northeast to southeast direction with long open stretches between the island groups which provide great sailing when the wind is blowing the right direction.  There are regular ferries to Vancouver from Nanaimo  should you wish to do a one way cruise ending your time with us here. Heading south we may pull into Ganges on Saltspring Island or Montague Harbor on Galliano Island for the night. Ganges is the largest city on Saltspring and boasts a concentration of 12 artist galleries. We re-enter the US at Roche Harbor clearing customs before heading across the San Juans and to our home port of Anacortes. The Gulf Islands can be less heavily traveled than the San Juans although it takes a day of traveling through the San Juans to get to them.