Category: Anchorages

Places Water Dog has anchored out

Fury Cove to Pruth Bay and City Of Shear Water

May 27th and 28th Pruth Bay and Shear Water May 29th

Pruth Bay is a dont miss stop with nicely maintained hiking trails with board walks to seven beautiful white sand beaches, dog heaven!

Track Fury Cove To Pruth Bay Then Town Of Shearwater

Left port around 11:30 am. Hoisted anchor and set course north up Queen Charlotte Strait. Light wind on our stern and some current, clear skies, lovely cruise. Left turn into strait that ends at Pruth Bay and the Hakai institute.

  • Pruth Bay Hakai Institute Dock
  • Hakai Institute Info
  • Hakai Institute Main Building

Beautiful resort with ½ a dozen cabins and main house/kitchen with well kept grounds. Now a research facility.  They share there wifi and allow dinghy dock use. Nice. As usual we anchored far away, bit crowded nearer in, from the docks so long dinghy ride.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Brought dogs in and took hike to west and north beach. Wonder sand beaches, clear water, many islets and lots of drift wood. Walked both beaches and it was so beautiful. Dogs had a blast. Back to boat and had burger and cabbage for dinner.

  • Hakai Trail Map

The West Beach trail starting behind the main building takes you to the central beach. Once at west Beach take a right to go to North Beach and a left to go to 2dn through 7th beaches, see map above.

  • Start Of West Beach Trail
  • West Beach Trail
  • Nicely Done Outhouse West Beach Trail

Walked both West and North beaches and it was so beautiful. Dogs had a blast. Back to boat and had burger and cabbage for dinner. Very unique topography here.

  • North Beach Trail
  • North Beach Trail
Holly And Terra Trail To North Beach
  • North Beach
  • North Beach


We were thinking of going to Shearwater May 28th but decided we liked it so much and there was another hike that we decided to stay. Took dogs in for morning “out”, had breakfast at boat and then around 12 or so headed back to shore. Did the south beach hike which goes along 2nd to 7th beaches. Cool hike and dogs of course got to swim and romp and eat dead things.   The trail heads in to and out of each beach are marked with jug’s in the trees and most have a tsunami warning sign, help full is finding the trails from beach. The trails get a bit rougher as you make yoyr way out to 7th beach at the end. We did find a trail heading out from 7th beach but was too steep for Terra so we turned around.

  • Trail To 2nd Beach
  • 2nd Beach
  • Beach Trail Head
  • 7th Beach
  • Trail Off End Of 7th Beach, Getting Steep!

We found some wolf tracks on one of the beaches and a whale carcass. Picture below large paw print on left is Wolf we believe, to the right is Hollie’s “small” foot print a 60 pound lab.

  • Wolf Paw Print?

Lots of eagles about as well with juveniles and adults. Got back around 3:30. Tried to call mom with wi fi calling but not good reception. Called on Sat phone and had a quick hello goodbye and love you call as the delay makes it hard to talk. Tomorrow to Shearwater apparently the best place to stop before prince Rupert to supply up and stay at a marina. Will do laundry if we get plugged in (which is the plan)

May 29th Shearwater, Shearwater Marina amongst new bella and old bella bella (now a coast guard station).

  • Passing Bella Bella On Way To ShearWater
  • ShearWater Sign
  • Water Dog At ShearWater Marina Docks

Not impressed sorry. Great Marine store. Great Grocery Store, Super nice restaurant with out side seating and nice grassy area. Need to get more trustworthy of dog owners to not ruin grass but maybe they know. They should have a welcoming green dog area. We paid for two nights but decided one was enough. We had an enjoyable stay and when we decided go from 2 to one nights they were kind enough to refund the 2nd day no questions asked. Thank you.

We did find a nice short hike on the Spirit Trail through the woods right above town which we took with Rita on Baraka Bashad and Darlene on the Krogen Mona Kai.

  • Spirit Trail Hike

Port Hardy to Fury Cove Cape Caution Crossing

May 26th-27th  Port Hardy to Fury Cove on Penrose Island

Trip Distance 53 nm

Port Hardy To Fury Cove

Predictwind had 5-10 knt SE winds predicted which is almost perfect for crossing Cape Caution but the West Sea Otter Bouy was reporting 5.5′ at 7 seconds.

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=46204

  • Baraka Bashad Cape Caution Crossing

Left at 7am. First couple hours a bit bumpy but sun shining, 4-5 foot swells (Short periods made them bumpy) and averaged 8.5 knots at our good RPM for fuel. Nice easy crossing. No WHALES bummer…  Baraka Bashad (sailboat with Vaughn and Rita), Grand QTR and Mana Kai all had the same destination and they left earlier than us from their port (Blunden harbor) and they were already anchored when we got there. We were invited to happy hour on Grand QTR at five thirty. About 2 hours later Baraka Bashad showed up.  SInce this was a good weather day there was a large crowd of boats shown below with Water Dog (red boat in front) going around Cape Caution.

Cape Caution Crowd On AIS

After we anchored I filled up a paddle board and did a quick paddle while Alex chilled and had a beer. Then we deployed dinghy and took dogs to shore where they swam and had fun. Did not anchor dinghy and tide took it out 10 yards from shore and Alex had to go get it so he went swimming ? 

Holly Inspecting Fury Cove Boats
Nice Dog Beach Fury Cove

We attended the 5:30 happy hour on Grand QTR and then back to boat. Left over Avgo Lemino soup for dinner and to bed around 9:30PM I’d guess.

In addition to having lost local channels on DTV we lost a good number of other channels due to location. Alex starting to worry our smaller dish won’t work that well even when we switch spots …we shall see.
When talking to the gang about places to visit Ocean Falls is a must. August 1st ie BC day they have a big BBQ and invite boaters. Also check out Codville cover (Walk to a lake).

Not sure where we will go tomorrow: 500 miles to Juneau where we pick up friends around June 24th or so…4 weeks …so 20 stops ish?

Union Steamship To Roche Harbour (Via Poets Cove)

September 10th To 13 th

Trip Lengths:

      52 nm Union Steam Ship To Poets Cove Resort 

       10 nm Poets Cove To Roche Harbor US Customs

Got up early for a fairly long leg to head back to the US customs at Roche Harbor.  Stopped at Poets Cove in BC on the way so we could get in early in the morning at the customs dock in Roche Harbor.  We had overcast weather for our three day stay in Roche.  Pretty much had sunshine for the rest of the trip so this late in the season the weather may be starting to turn.

  • Union Steamship To Roche Via Poets Cove 

We ended up pulling in to a open spot at the US customs dock located on the outside of the marina at 10 am.  Got boarded and did get boat searched by officer but only took about 20 mins.  We then headed out and anchored out a few hundred yards in front of the marina. 

  • Water Dog Anchored At Roche Harbor Marina

We then went in to the dinghy dock on west side of the marina on the inside next to the general store and shops.

  • Patty And Holly at Roche Harbor General Store

You will find the old generator plant and coke ovens right above the marina that are worth a look.


  • Old Generator Plant 
  • Old Generator Plant Diesel Engine
  • Old Original Coke Ovens
  • Roche Lady Of Good Voyage Chapel

We then headed west of the marina down Reuben Memorial Drive to visit the Sculpture Park and Micmillin Mausoleum. The mausoleum is to the left of the Sculpture Park down Afterglow Drive where you can follow a number of small trails up to the right on Afterglow.

  • Sculpture Park Entrance
  • Roche Sculpture Park
  • Patty Working Sculpture Park Art

  • Sculpture Park Art

Beginning of trails on Afterglow Drive.

  • Micmillin Family Mausoleum Hike.

  • Mausoleum Gate

The mausoleum itself is cool with a missing collum designed in with Mcmillin  family ashes contained in the base of the concrete chairs circling the table in the middle.

  • Holly At Mausoleum 
  • Roche Harbor Cottages

The next day we hiked over to English Camp and then took the San Juan Bus shuttle back to the marina to cut the hike distance down.  We walked down the nice trail along Roche Harbor Road to Westcott Drive which runs along the bottom of Westcott Bay.  At the end of Westcott Drive you end up at Westcott Bay shellfish Company with the trail head in to English Camp on the left. 

  • Roche Trail Map To English Camp
  • English Camp Trail Map
  • Roche English Camp Hike Start In Roche
  • Roche Black Berry’s, Yum
  • Trail Head At ShellFish Company
  • Bell Point Trail
  • Bell Point Trail Old Stump Natural Art Work
  • Entering English Camp From Bell Point Trail
  • English Camp Sign
  • English Camp Garden

Above English Camp across West Valley Road there are some more nice trails along with a small cemetery containing a few graves of some of the original english soldiers.


  • Royal Marine Cemetery at English Camp

That night we finally got to see the famous changing of the guard at the grassy point in the middle of the marina.  The marina dock guy’s put the show on and do a great job of playing tap’s and lowering the flag.

  • Roche Harbor Changing Of The Guard

Jedediah Island To Smugglers Cove

September 2 nd to 4 th 2018

Trip Length 9 nm

Very short trip from Jedediah to Smugglers Cove anchorage we arrived around 11 am.  

Smugglers Cove is a small all-weather anchorage on the south side of Sechelt Peninsula. Their is access to it by land where you can hike in 4 km from a parking lot off Hwy 101.  

  • Jedediah To Smugglers Cove

The entrance is narrow and we ended up stern tying on the north shore at the first location along the bank that had a stern tie chain bolted to the rocks.  Stern tie chains are located in the first cove we anchored in along all side of the small cove.  Further in past south of France Inlet are even more anchoring spots available.  The walls are steep so you can stern tie up very close to the shore.  We did have a good south west wind pick up that came in over Capri Isle over night so did go ahead and run a second shoreline to back up the 3/8″ poly line.  We are now upgrading to 600′ of 5/8″ poly for next year to sleep better in high winds.  
The park has some nice hiking trails with views accessed at the sound end of the inner cove via dinghy.

  • Smugglers cove Anchorage Map
  • Smugglers Cove Entrance

Water Dog stern tied to shore just inside entrance on north shore.  The stern tie rings go from out location in along the entire edge of the main cove.  Also more rings on the inside coves.

  • Water Dog Anchored In Smugglers Cove
  • Smugglers Cove Inner Harbour

The first day we went to the dinghy landing on the south side of the inner cove and walked the trail to the right which takes you to the entrance to the cove on the south side.

  • Holly On Hiking Trail To Cove Entrance
  • Alex and Terra smugglers Cove Entrance

The next day we went to the left at the dinghy landing and walked over the board walk out to the road access point for the park.  The trail utilizes a board to walk over a large marshy area which contained multiple beaver dams.

  • Terra, Holly and Patty  Board Walk Hike
  • smuggler Cove Board Walk
  • Patty and Terra Smuggler Cove Board Walk

The beaver dams are hard to spot but each one seems to have a drainage pipe installed by the park to let some water by the dam to provide water further down?  Beaver dam below with irrigation cage/pipe in front of it.

  • Smuggler Cove Beaver Dam

Tribune Bay To Jedediah Island Provincial Park

Trip Length 17 nm

Yet another short un-stressfull trip in the PNW to Jedediah Porvincial Park. 

Very cool spot which was purchased from Al and Mary Palmer, owners of the island since 1949. Their house is still there along with the field and orchard on the inland side of the house.  The estate of the late Daniel Culver committed $1.1 million to Jedediah’s preservation which the Palmers sold under market price.  The Island also has some to old-growth stands of Douglas fir and arbutus along the trails which is way cool.

  • Tribune Bay To Jedediah Island
  • Jedediah Island Deep Bay

We went in and checked out Deep Bay Anchorage which looked to small for us and then the small cove directly underneath it so the south.  The small cove, yellow orange dot below, had a couple boats in so we needed to find another spot to anchor.  We then went back around  north of the Island to Cod Fish Cove.   Turned out to be a great choice.

  • Jedediah Island Anchorages

Once we got to Cod Fish Cove we at first stern anchored up to the shore behind us but the wind from the North was kicking up making us worried the stern line might part so we decided to take it in.  Learned a lesson on long stern lines in that if there is a single wrap in the line when you start that it may wrap itself around itself many many times as try to pull the loop back in to the boat.  Had to go in to shore and unravel 300′ of line that had wrapped 40-50 turns upon itself, no fun.  

  • Cod Fish Bay Anchorage

At the north end of Cod Fish Cove is a very nice fairly steep rocky bank dinghy beach.  No mud no fuss.

  • Dinghy Landing Head Of Cod Fish Bay

The island has some nice hiking trails to explore.  As shown below the first day we took the trail from Cod Fish Bay, on the lower right, to the cross hatched area where the fields and orchard are.  Al and Mary Palmers old house is down on the south east corner of the orchard and field to the right once you enter the field area.

  • Jedediah Map

On the path over from Cod Fish Cove you pass a drift wood beach.

  • Drift Wood Beach
    • Patty/Dogs CodFish Bay Trail To Field and Orchard.
    • Field And Orchard

    Pretty cool these guy’s lived here for many years in a very pretty but isolated place.  I can understand why you would want to do it!


    •  Al and Mary Palmers House
    • Holly Pointing The Way Back To Water Dog (On Right)

    At the dinghy landing in Cod Fish Cove you will notice a small trail going off to the left which will lead you to a steep but very nice trail up to Gibraltar Peak.

    • Gibraltar Peak Hike
    • Patty On Mount Gibraltar Hike
    • View From Top Mount Gibraltar Hill

    The next day we took the hike across the field to take a look at Long and Deep Bay’s toward the north side of the island.

    • Hike Past Field And Orchard
    • Hike On Way To Deep Bay
    • Jedediah Deep Bay
    • Back AT Water Dog Cod Fish Bay

    Comox Harbour To Tribune Bay (Hornby Island)

    August 30th To September 1 st

    Trip Length 20 nm

    Another short rip and nice weather for the trip from Comox Harbour To Tribune Bay anchorage on Hornby Island.  Hornby Island has a plethora of hiking trails about a mile away to the west of the anchorage we did not get too.  We ended up doing the hike to the east of the anchorage in Helliwell Provincial Park that was one of our all time favorites.  We also did mot make it too the  Hornby Island Co-Op Ring Side Market but heard that it is well worth a visit. 

    • Comox Harbour To Tribune Bay

    The anchorage is huge, we ended anchoring out a ways from the crowd at the head along the cliffs along the east side ringed with hidden houses along the High Salal Public Trail.  This trail is very cool along the water and the early part runs between houses on private land that the owners have given permission for public access.  Very cool attitude for these land owners, wish more places where like this!

    • Tribune Bay Anchorage Beach At Head Of Anchorage
    • Water Dog In Tribune Bay 
      High Salal Public Trail In Background
    • Helliwell Provencial Park On Way Out

    We started the hike by beaching the dinghy at the head of the anchorage on the beach.  We ended tying up to some rocks on the right side of beach since the beach has a very gradual slope so at low tide there is 40-50′ of beach your dinghy can get stranded on.  We walked through the small Outdoor Education Center to the right of the beach to a trail going along Saint Johns Point Road and too a right on High Salal Drive. 

    • Helliwell Provincial Park Hike Map
    • Tribune Bay Dinghy Beach
    • High Salal Drive

    About a half mile down High Salal Drive on the right is the first entrance to 
    High Salal Public Trail which runs behind the houses on the cliff.  A little further down is another entrance where the trail moves to in front of the houses directly above the bay.

    • High Salal Public Trail
    • High Salal Public Trail

    • High Salal Public Trail

    The view along the trail is spectacular.  The trail  merges with Helliwell Park Trail marked by some park signs when returning back from Helliwell.

    • Helliwell Park Trail End, High Salal Public Trail Start

    • Helliwell Park Trail 

    Once you get out towards Saint Johns Point it flattens out a bit with nice rocky beaches.


    • Helliwell Park
    • Leaving Tribune Bay

      Campbell River To Comox Harbour

      August 28th To 30 th

      Trip length 33 nm

      We decided to head about 33 nm south from Campbell River to Comox Harbour.  Comox has a marina but we decided to anchor out in the harbour.  Up in the north side of comox Harbrour is the town of Courtney which you can visit by dinghy.

      • Campbell River To Comox Harbour

      On the way we encountered some whales with one of them laying on it’s back with both flippers held in the air.  The whale did this for 15-20 minutes and was still going when we left.  We call this our clapping whale.

      • Clapping Whale Sighting

      We first anchored out up inside Goose Spit but it was crowded by local moored boats and the only open space was the channel down the middle of the boats in front of the HMCS Quadra military station.  It seemed no boats where anchored in this channel so we moved over to in front of and just North of the marina as shown below.  Nice holding in 30′ or so of water and the only wakes we had was from the boats going in and out of the marina.

      • Comox Harbour

      Comox has a fairly large transient dock space when you enter from the southern most end of the marina.  Fishermans wharf is known for fishing boats selling catch off the boats but no one was selling when where there. 

      Nice anchorage with view of mountains and Comox (also called Queneesh) glacier. Its shrinking fast and some think if current weather patterns hold it will be gone in 5 years.  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-happens-town-cultural-identity-namesake-glacier-melts-180958140/

      Link to article about shrinking glaciers in BC and photos of Comox glacier 2013-2015

      Story of the glacier

      Most people in the Comox Valley know the Queneesh narrative

      In the version that Everson tells, an old chief is forewarned by the Creator to prepare four canoes for a coming flood. The floodwaters ultimately cover the land completely, leaving the people in the canoes adrift until they’re able to fasten ropes to a giant white whale: Queneesh. At last, as the waters begin to recede, the whale beaches itself on the mountains, and is transformed into a glacier.

      • Comox Marina Fishermans Wharf

      The first day we walked up through the park at the marina and up the hill to the small town of Comox to check out downtown.  The park is nice with a food truck or two and a lot of families enjoying the water park and surrounding area.  Downtown is a couple blocks up the street and has grocery, liqour and HW stores for supplies.

      • Comox Marina Water Park
      • Downtown Comox
      • Downtown Comox

      The next day we took the dinghy up to the north end of Comox Harbour to the Courtney River to the town of Courtney.  We docked next to the boat ramp at the Courtney Marina to walk to the museum there.   The marina is on the port side up the river about a mile and a half up from the when the river start from the bay.

      Going in with a rising tide will help with the shallow depths and outgoing current on this trip.  The water is very shallow, even for a dinghy, on the way up Comox harbour and the markers are not much help.  There was also a pretty good current, and combined with shallow water, can make it tough to make the last part of the trip in too the Courtney Marina.

      • Courtney Marina
      • Dinghy Docked at Courtney Marina

      Once we where at the marina we walked a ways back south on the Courtney Riverway Trail along the water and found a bunch of blackberries to feast on.  We then headed back north on the trail about a mile or so to the Courtney Museum.

      • Courtney Riverway Trail

      The museum has a great assortment of fossils and is well worth the visit.

      • Courtney Museum

      Once we got back to the dinghy Holly helped us pilot through the shallow water going back to the marina.

      • Holly Guiding Crew Back from Courtney

      Teakerne Arm To Squirrel Cove Anchorage

      August 22 nd To 23 rd

      Trip Length 7 nm

      Very short trip over to Squirrel Cove Anchorage on Cortes Island where we are hoping that the smoke from BC forest fires may not be as bad.  There are some nice trails in the Von Donop Provincial Park from the Anchorage.

      • Teakerne Arm To Squirrel Cove

      On the way in you pass by the small town Squirrel Cove on your left as you approach the anchorage at the head of the harbour.  Once we entered the anchorage we decided to anchor out in the first main harbour since it was a bit crowded further in.  Note the Trail Start below for the Von Donop Trail, it was a bit hard to find from the water.


      • Squirrel Cove Anchorage

      • Squirrel Cove Anchorage
      • Squirrel Cove Public Dock

        Once we anchored we took the dinghy in to Squirrel Cove public dock. The small town has a restaurant and well stocked general store.  Down stairs is a HW Store/chandlery that had a surprising variety of stuff available.  We sat outside at the restaurant and had fish tacos before heading back to the boat.

        • Squirrel Cove Restaurant 
        • Squirrel Cove Store
        • Patty And Dogs Squirrel Cove 

        The next day it took a bit of searching in the dinghy but we finally found the trail head for the Von Donop Trail which is marked with a white bucket filled with rocks.

        • Von Donop Trail Head

        • Von Donop Trail Start

        The trail has been well marked by previous visitors with various items you find on the trees as you proceed.


        • Von Donop Trail

        • Von Donop Trail

        If you proceed to the head of the trail at the road you will find the small Salmon Facility.  At this point you can walk in to town if you like.


        • Von Donop Trail, sign in to town
        • Squirrel Cove Von Donop Salmom Facility

        On the way we passed by the Van Donop Anchorage which is accessed through the Ha’thayim (Von Donop) Marine Provincial Park on the north side of Cortez Island.  Was much less crowded there with only two boats present that seemed to be there long term.

        • Squirrel Cove Trail Von Donop Anchorage

          Tenedos To Teakerne Arm Provencial Park

          August 21 st – 22 nd

          Trip Length 14 nm

          We went to Teakerne Arm to check out the waterfall but by this time the smoke had gotten so bad that we did not want to get off the boat and exert ourselves due to the bad air.  You could not even see across the anchorage to the boats on the far side.  Very pretty spot but we ended up just staying a day and not really checking out much so not any pictures etc……..

          We decided to head to Squirrel cove where the BC smoke map showed cleaner air.  

            Grace Harbour To Tenedos Bay

            August 20th-21st

            Trip Length 8 nm

            Our second stop in Desolution Sound Marine Provencial Park is Tenedos Bay where there is a hike to freshwater Unwin Lake where many people swim in the warm water of the lake.  Tenedos Bay was the start of our problem’s with smoke from the BC fires that plagued our trip for the next 3-4 weeks.  This is when we started looking at the BC Smoke Forecast web page with 24 simulations of smoke coverage so that we could start planning our next location to move around the smoke.

            http://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/BSC00CA04/current/

            We ended up anchoring out along the north east side of the bay in about 40 ft of water.  Our first try at anchoring when backing down we could could feel our chain twitching as our Rocna 110 anchor dragged on rock, on the second try a little further north we did get a good set.

            • Tenedos Bay Entrance, gettin smokey!
            • Tenedos Bay Dinghy Landing Unwin Lake Hike 

            The trail starts at the dinghy landing and we took a trail offshoot to the left of the main trail to let the dog’s run in the stream coming down from the lake.

            • Unwin Lake Trail Sign
            • Unwin Lake Trail Start
            • Unwin Lake Trail Stream
            • Unwin Lake Rock For Swimming

            Once at the lake we took a short hike on a trail to the right side of the lake but it petered out pretty quickly and got swampy so we ended up turning back after a few hundred yards.

            • Unwin Lake Trail Right Side Of Lake