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Dinghy, Octopus Islands, Desolation Sound

Negotiating Rapids At Hole In The Wall – Octopus Islands Marine Park, Desolation Sound

After a restful time at Toba Wildernest, we departed late morning for Octopus Islands Marine Park on Quadra Island in Desolation Sound. Our departure was timed according to the tide schedule to achieve safe passage to and from the Octopus Islands area. Boaters have to properly negotiate one to three sets of rapids through narrow, shallow passages, depending on one's chosen destination. "Rapids?" You may ask, "How the heck does someone do this in a boat?" First of all the key is to do it properly. The tide fluctuates twice per day, up to 12 feet per cycle, but usually…

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Transiting Rapids at Hole in the Wall – Octopus Islands Marine Park

We Were Surprised – Only a Few Boats Anchored at Octopus Islands! – We timed our departure from our anchorage at Von Donop Inlet, so our arrival at the “Hole in the Wall” rapids would coincide with “slack tide.” Our plan was to get to Octopus Islands Marine Park to anchor for a couple of days. Knowing when slack water, or tide, occurs is important in tidal waters. This is more important when you need to negotiate a narrow pass where water has limited space to move through. With these conditions, the water turns into rapids that can be dangerous to pass through in almost any condition other than slack tide…

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Owen Bay Anchor – Discovery Islands, British Columbia

Hiking to View Hole in the Wall Rapids from Owen Bay We pulled anchor at 9:30 the morning on the third day of our stay at Octopus Islands. We timed our departure to coincide with slack tide at the upper rapids of "Hole In the Wall." This time we will be heading to Owen Bay (See map below) and yet another anchorage. Owen Bay is located on the southeastern shore of Sonora Island, one of the outer islands of the Discovery Islands, British Columbia. The rapids were so “slack” the water was absolutely smooth and undisturbed, we idled through effortlessly into Owen Bay. We spotted two more eagles…

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Shoal Bay

Return to Shoal Bay, Thurlow Island, Discovery Islands, British Columbia

Our Return to Shoal Bay – One of my all-time favorite places on Earth! I tried to capture in photos the magnificence of Shoal Bay, to give our readers an idea of how the atmosphere naturally swallows you up and holds you captive to its charms. One perspective, as we try to describe the character of the bay, is from the government dock, or from the shore looking out towards the mountains. We secured a spot at the end of the Government Dock, with our bow facing shore, putting the snowcapped mountains off our back deck. The enormous mountain range…

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Forward Harbour

Staging at Forward Harbour

Forward Harbour is the spot we staged ourselves for the trip up the Johnstone Strait. Last time we took that trip, it was very choppy the whole way up the Strait, a very uncomfortable ride I won’t forget. When we checked the weather first thing the next morning, we were pleased to see we would have a relatively calm ride through the strait, with Lagoon Cove as our destination for a three-day stay. It rained the whole time we were in Forward Harbour, nothing nasty, just a constant drizzle. I think the humidity in our boat was about 95%. What…

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