Given the convoys of North American cruisers expected this season to overwhelm popular anchorages at the northern reaches of Georgia Strait after years of closed borders, this might be the perfect year for cruisers from the USA and Canada to head for the west coast of Vancouver Island instead.

Not everyone has the time to sail counter-clockwise around the island, taking advantage of prevailing north-westerlies on the outer coast. Instead, many boaters will approach from the south, making their way from Victoria or Port Angeles to Barkley Sound, and take what weather gives them if they wish to venture further north.

Caution: Fog

The possibility of navigating in fog, en route or after arrival, may be the biggest challenge. Fog banks can creep in at any time of the day. June and July typically have less fog than August or September.  With reliable weather forecasts, a chart plotter and a cool head, most cruisers should be able to manage. Radar and AIS are helpful, as is patience — if it is foggy in the morning, wait a few hours and see if it lifts. Don’t count on it burning off as the day warms.

Barkley Sound and the Broken Group:

If the weather does not cooperate in your allotted time, then Barkley Sound, including the Broken Group and the communities of Ucluelet, Bamfield and Port Alberni, offers wonderful cruising opportunities and you won’t be forced to scramble for space as you might in the crowded anchorages of Desolation Sound and the Sunshine Coast.

Starting your journey, it’s a two-or three-day cruise to Barkley Sound from Victoria or Port Angeles, depending on the weather, or a single shot if you are comfortable overnighting.

Barkley Sound and the Broken Group are on the wish list of many cruisers, and with good reason. With many pocket anchorages tucked into dramatic shorelines, as well as commodious ones with space to let out lots of scope, there is a wealth of anchorages to choose from.  In quiet coves, Jim and I have often said: “This anchorage would be packed if this was Desolation Sound.”

There is excellent fishing in Barkley Sound, and the many islets and islands in the Broken Group and Pinkerton Group are as good as it gets to explore by kayak, SUP or dinghy.

We posted a list of our 21 favourite destinations on the west coast of Van Isle, including a few in Barkley Sound to get you started.

Ucluelet

Ucluelet is our favourite large-ish town on the island’s west coast. Most visitors are familiar with Tofino, some 25 nautical miles to the north, at the south end of Clayoquot Sound. Tofino has a thriving tourist industry and is best known as a gateway to area beaches. However, its anchorages are less than ideal, with fast flowing tidal currents that require timing dinghy runs ashore, and its marinas have limited space. It’s a happy place for swarms of tourists, but might not be so alluring for the typical boater.

On the other hand, Ucluelet or Ukee, as it is locally known, seems the perfect place to take advantage of all that the wild west coast has to offer. There are numerous cafes and funky restaurants, easy grocery provisioning and an aquarium. It is less hectic than Tofino, more laid-back, with a youthful culture.

We rented bicycles and cycled to the Amphitrite Point Lighthouse Trail, a not-to-be missed section of the Wild Pacific Trail. A second day was spent walking the Ancient Cedars and Rocky Bluffs sections of the Wild Pacific Trail, with spectacular views and fascinating natural bonsai trees carved by the sea winds. We rested up afterwards, sampling flights of beer on the deck of a craft brewery, a converted church that overlooks Ucluelet Inlet.

There is a new 25-kilometre multi-use trail that connects the trail networks around Ukee and Tofino. A rented electric bike might be the perfect way to spend a day, stopping at the beaches including famous Long Beach along the way to check out Tofino.

Entering Ucluelet Inlet by water, there is an anchorage in Spring Cove, but there is no easy shore access there. Just north of Spring Cove is a fuel dock with gasoline, diesel, lubricants, fishing supplies, water and ice.

About 500 metres farther north is 52 Steps Dock, a year-round Canada Customs dock with a telephone check-in for those arriving from the US. It also serves as an overflow dock for the Small Craft Harbour, with water but no power to the docks.

Note: The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) has posted a list of entry ports where customs services will be restored with the reopening of the Canada-US border during the Covid-19 pandemic. The 52 Steps Dock is not included on the list and there is no indication when customs services will be restored at the dock. Until them, the closest port of entry is at Victoria.

The best and most popular anchorage is just north of the Small Craft Harbour, in 8-12 metres over mud with generally lots of room to put out generous scope. Boaters can tie up their dinghies at the Small Craft Harbour.

We docked late afternoon at the Small Craft Harbour, where, we are told, they will always find room for transient vessels.  You can, as we did, spend a few hours walking the harbour docks, checking out the eclectic fleet of boats and chatting with friendly locals.

Getting there from Victoria

At mentioned, boaters can sail or motor overnight to Barkley Sound in the right weather, but it’s not for everyone. From Victoria, there are a few places to shelter overnight, including Quarantine Cove, Pedder Bay, Becher Bay and Sooke Harbour. After Sooke there is just one anchorage 33 nautical miles away at Port San Juan. Here is Thrasher Cove, an anchorage on the north shore of Port San Juan that is suitable in settled weather and the Pacific Gateway Marina featured in a somewhat dated 2016 post.

Cape Beale, at the entrance to Barkley Sound, is another 33 nautical miles beyond Port San Juan.  No matter from where you start , it is a help to time your trip with favourable currents if possible.

Getting there from Puget Sound

Assuming the CBSA will restore customs services at Ucluelet, American vessels from Port Angeles or Neah Bay, Washington and from communities in Oregon will again be able to check in there. Until then, Victoria is the closest port of entry.

Taking the southern route, Port Angeles is some 52 nautical miles from Neah Bay, a large, splendidly protected anchorage near Cape Flattery. With pandemic lockdowns, it’s possible to anchor at Neah Bay, but transient boaters are not welcome to go ashore in 2022.

Make the trip from Port Angeles in a weather window, It might be a long wait for easterly winds, and gentle westerlies and flat seas are the best you might expect. If the weather turns unexpectedly nasty en route, in some winds it is possible to seek moderate shelter on anchor at Clallum Bay, some 15 nautical miles southeast of Neah Bay.

From Neah Bay to Cape Beale on Vancouver Island is 36 nautical miles, and another 15 miles to the customs dock in Ucluelet Inlet for clearance. If it’s late when you arrive at Cape Beale, US boats can anchor at nearby Dodger Channel, continuing on the next day, as long as they don’t go ashore.

Hopefully this season you will be drawn to take a trip on the wild side, to waters less congested, to where the powerful ocean swell surges beneath you. And maybe you’ll be inspired to venture farther north in the future.


Lynne Picard and Jim Burgoyne
Salish Sea Pilot

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About the Authors

Lynne Picard was new to sailing when in 2008, in Thailand, she stepped aboard Quiver, a Vancouver 27, to sail home to Canada. Three years later, she arrived in the Salish Sea where she and her partner Jim Burgoyne began to build the Salish Sea Pilot, e-guides to cruising the waters of British Columbia and Washington state.

Most of the destinations mentioned above are covered in the Salish Sea Pilot guide to the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

For information about a north to south cruise down the west coast of Vancouver Island, see Lynne and Jim’s video presentation.

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Related Links:

Salish Sea Guides

Read more about the Salish Sea here.

See more “Off the Beaten Path” articles and resources here.

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.