Mothership Meanderings: Broughton Archipelago—Part 2

February-March 2001

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Alan Wilson

Continued From Part 1

The Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, Canada

For three summers we have travelled north to the Broughton Archipelago to enjoy this extraordinary maze of island-strewn waters.

The Archipelago is a resource-rich area which has supported First Nations’ people for 10,000 years. Remarkable cultures arose and spread throughout the landscape when the glaciers retreated, supported by abundant fish stocks and great forests.

In the 19th century, diseases arriving with immigrants sparked epidemics among First Nations’ people, destroying communities and an ancient way of life. The population of the area peaked again in the early 20th century on the strength of many small logging and fishing communities, populated mostly by non-natives, but most of these towns have now vanished too.

These days the individualist ‘gypo’ loggers are long gone, and logging and fishing are done mainly by multinational corporations based outside the region. Residents are few and far between: a few First Nations’ communities remain, and here and there are congregations of float-homes, seasonal marine resorts, fish farms and temporary logging camps. Mostly it’s just seals and ducks, some whales, and jumping fish in season.

This is just what we’re looking for as each August we try to escape the computer, email, and pressing details of business. Just islands and us, for days on end.

Sylvia Douglas of Minstrel Island Resort is raising an abandoned seal pup.

We head north in our boat, up Johnstone Strait. Like many small boaters, we tend to prefer the backwater routes wherever possible to avoid the shipping traffic and weather in Johnstone Strait. Timing the many tidal passes of these routes is a challenge but the scenery is breathtaking and the waters are calmer than the Strait. There is, however, an 11-mile stretch of the Strait which is unavoidable, north of Kelsey Bay.

Last summer we had quite a blow in this stretch and made slow time after leaving Forward Harbour. The first day we ducked into Blenkinsop Bay, expecting the wind to die down after a few hours, but it howled all day and night and our boat ranged around, straining at the anchor. The next day looked like an improvement but after only two miles we had to duck into Port Neville and sit out another day as the winds came in long, keening gusts.

The first opportunity to leave the Strait is at Havannah Channel, some eight miles north of Port Neville. Hang a right at the Broken Islands (not the famous Broken Group Islands of Barkley Sound) and scoot inside to get out of the weather.

Here you have your first taste of the area’s protected waters, and pass the first of many abandoned First Nations’ sites (Matilpi), as you make for Chatham Channel. Named after one of Captain Vancouver’s ships Chatham, this channel can run with a strong current so check your tide and current tables. Vessels must keep close watch on the range markers to stay in the narrow channel.

As the Channel widens, you’ll see Minstrel Island Marine Resort, the first refueling spot after Johnstone Strait. Minstrel Island has been here in one form and another for many years, a real fixture on the coast, with a fuel float, store, pub, restaurant, bunkhouses and cabins. (Phone: 250-949-0215)

We make it a habit to stop at Minstrel, have a meal and a shower, pick up on local gossip, savor some of the historic atmosphere, and fuel up before heading on.

View from the dock at Minstrel Island, and our boat.

This year we met a special new Minstrel resident, a young seal pup which owners Grant and Sylvia Douglas rescued and were raising by hand. We watched as they filled a clean grease gun with a fishy mixture and pumped it into her tummy.

After leaving Minstrel, pass through the ‘Blow Hole’ into Clio Channel. Bigger vessels should watch the depth, but paddlers will have no trouble.
Clio Channel, aside from some active logging, is gorgeous. Marine mammal researcher, Alexandra Morton, named her daughter Clio after this beautiful body of water which lies between Turnour and Cracroft Islands and leads into Blackfish Sound (the name of Alex’s boat).

Our favorite spot in this area is Potts Lagoon on Cracroft Island, one of the most protected anchorages in the Broughton, with room for several boats in two separate coves. From the inner cove you can kayak through a tidal channel into a lagoon and river marsh which meanders deep into the island. The outer channel can run at several knots so check your tide tables. But it’s a good place to practice moving water skills.

Creative campers have lots of camping choices in the Potts Lagoon area, although you could get stranded at the head of the lagoon at low water. We saw a black bear on the beach this summer, so be sure and practice bear-proof camping (hang your food, cook separately from your tent area, etc).

Islets are a good place to camp to avoid bears and there is one inside Potts where we’ve seen paddlers. Outside Potts, there are many other islets, and gorgeous paddling through rich kelp beds and shallows, with gleaming white shell middens peaking out from the forest here and there.

From Clio Channel you can travel up into the Broughton Archipelago Marine Park through island-studded Beware Passage and past the First Nations village of Karklukwees, which was abandoned along with nearby Mamalilaculla in the 1960s.

Boaters should indeed “beware” this complicated body of rock and water although paddlers have nothing to fear from it. When we transit Beware Passage aboard our boat, we follow the route suggested in Waggoners to pick our way between surface and subsurface rocks. When paddling, however, we’re drawn to those rocks and reefs, to enjoy the marine life that flourishes around them.

Once through Beware Passage, you enter the cosy waters of Village Channel—the area we described in the last issue—with First Nations sites of Mamalilaculla and New Vancouver. Next issue we’ll look at some of the resorts and marinas in the Broughton where you can get services.

Photos by Laurie MacBride and Alan Wilson

Go to Part 3 in the February/March 2001 Issue