Sailing Vessel Karma

Hilariously named by Captain Vancouver as he was in a bad mood here and disappointed by the mountains not being curated like an English garden, Desolation Sound is a destination sailing and cruising ground for those in the PNW.

This is a highly talked about part of the world for cruisers in Washington. It’s just far enough away and definitely impressive enough to make it a seem like a dream cruise destination. Huge mountain backdrops, tons of protected anchorages, light to no winds ideal for those Nordic Tugs, and strange current activity which makes it warm enough to swim!

After crossing the Georgia Straight and provisioning at Pender Harbour we made our way north. Passing Lund and getting diesel, we then headed for the first official stop in Desolation Sound, the Copeland Islands group just south of Sarah Point. Another stern tie later, we are getting better at this, we were the only boat anchored on the eastern side of the Island Group and we had a lovely, warm, sunny, rocky bay all to ourselves. There isn’t much to do on shore, the only trail marked is about 200 feet long, but we each had a romp around the islands seeing where we could walk. Otherwise the time was spent swimming off the side of Karma and otherwise hanging around reading or playing the piano.

Deciding it was time to enter Desolation Sound proper we set off and even had a light wind to sail us around Sarah Point. This is the corner boats turn to then get that oh so famous Desolation Sound view. Due to actually having wind to sail, we continued past our originally planned anchorage and headed for the classic Predieux Haven. This is the anchorage in the Sound. Good holding in moderate depth, the entrance is a little hidden but you snake your way into a pretty large bay where tons of yachts could, and apparently later in the summer months do, squeeze into. We were there with but 5 other boats all spread throughout the bay. This place definitely lives up to its reputation as being quite the spot. Aside from the crowds that we didn’t experience, I’m not sure what else one could really look for in an anchorage. We swam off the side and watched a lovely sunset from the paddleboard as we explored the different islands and coves.

Desolation Sound Marine Park, managed by BC Parks Canada, has a few different hiking trails and we decided to hike the longer one which snakes past a few lakes and ends at the anchorage we skipped over earlier. As it was early in the season, it appeared we were some of the first people to walk the trail that year which had lots of overgrowth, fallen trees over the trail, and otherwise not always the most clear path. It was a great hike and the lakes were wonderful to swim in, though it was weird to be back in fresh water.

We spent a few more days here paddling around checking out the scenery. When it’s warm outside it sure is easy to sit around and read for a day.

Feeling the need to move again, the much recommended Rosco Bay was next on the docket. But a few miles away across the channel, it sounded like a lovely spot with a nearby lake and a fresh spring fed waterfall which entered the anchorage! The interesting thing about Rosco Bay is you can enter with a 12 foot depth at high tide, otherwise it is separated from the rest of the water with a land bridge. Leaving early to arrive right on time, as Karma draws 7 feet, we approached slowly and just slipped over without any incident, though it did feel strange to drive the boat up over the land according to the chart. Once inside the bay was larger than we thought and we decided to stern tie right next to the waterfall. It was quite the scenic spot with the sounds of the water in the background and the thousands and thousands of non stinging jellyfish bobbing about in the water.

After another warm evening lounging around in the cockpit and swimming over the side, the next morning we went out in search of a lake day. We carried the paddleboard back to the lake and setup camp with towels and books on the shore. Heather went off and did an extensive lake paddle while I hiked the short trail which did a partial lake loop and then read. Another perfect Desolation Sound style day complete, we decided it was time to depart the following morning. Due to the tides, we had to have the anchor up and be inching our way over the land bridge at 5:30am. So up we were and we followed our track exactly as we had came in.

Once out around the corner we watched the sun rise above the huge mountain backdrops as we motored along down to Refuge Cove, what we decided would be our next destination. Not too far down around the corner, this place was recommended by others as a fun stop with a cute little store and from the maps it looked like we would be able to hike to a big lagoon. Entering the cove it looked like a little Disneyland Frontier Land sort of setup with log cabins perched on the hillsides connected by weaving bridges. The anchorage ended up being sort of tucked way in the back, space for one boat, right in between some private docks. We decided that we would finally use this sunny day and calm anchorage to replace our leaking forward hatch with the one gathered in our last week in Friday Harbor from the FreeShack. A few holes drilled and epoxied later we were off to explore on land while the foredeck dried.

We found the store, not quite stocked yet for the season, and had a bit of a look around. It had some character for sure, but much less of a destination than others had made it seem. Talking to the very nice store attendant we learned that essentially all the land is private so there would be no walking or hiking for us from there. Being left waiting for our epoxy to dry, we drank the beers we were going to have at the lagoon on the docks and watched Nordic Tugs come in and out for fuel, then headed back for a mid afternoon funny movie.

A few beers, popcorn, and silly movie later we decided to leave and head across the way to Squirrel Cove on Cortez Island. This did have hikes as well as a tiny town accessible. Anchoring in the middle of the bay by Dual Dragons, we set the hook and finished the hatch install, deciding to bed it down with SikaFlex later on.

Continued in the next post to come!