West Coast Wonderlust : May long Boston Whaler tour and hike: Quadra Island, British Columbia, Canada

Late Saturday afternoon of May long weekend, I decided to go out to Quadra Island to visit my father while he was laying the foundation for their addition to their newly built house, which has been named the "Quattage". Unfortunately due to work, Aaronhad to stay home for the weekend.

The Quattage's Backyard - under construction

The Quattage is located in whats called Hooleyville. The property use to be the host of huge parties and has a very well known history on Quadra Island. My parents purchased the undeveloped property a few years ago and are slowly making it their own.

Some of the Hidden Treasure in the Yard

Stormy looking for Deer

Beach combing Wall of Coloured Driftwood

Stone Deposit - Find any cool stone you place them here with the date and location

Travel Time

Entering Departure Bay

On Saturday afternoon I headed to the Horshoe Bay ferry terminal to catch the 3:10pm ferry heading for Nanaimo, BC. The ferry takes roughly an hour and thirty minutes to cross to Departure Bay.


Leaving Horseshoe Bay via BC Ferry- Vancouver Skyline in the background

Just outside Departure Bay

HH Survival Suit

Upon arrival I still had another hour and a half drive north up the island to Campbell River. Once in Campbell River I headed downtown to the Campbell River ferry terminal to catch the fifteen minute ferry ride across to Quadra Island. That night, my father and I had a nice relaxing night, chatting and catching up before turning in early so that we could get up early to catch one of the morning sailings over to Campbell River to purchase a Helly Hansen two- piece survival suit from Tyee Marine Fishing and Hunting Gear for the fridged West Coast waters (better to be safe then sorry).

Exploring the Surrounding Water

Looking out towards Cortes Island

Our Boating Exploration - We were all over the place


93' Boston Whaler

Boat Launch at Rebecca Spit

After heading back to Quadra Island we decided to hit the water. after launching Dad's 1993 Boston Whaler-the "unsinkable boat"-from Rebecca's Spit, we headed across to Cortes Island to find some family friends who were staying in Gorge Harbour for the Sea Food Festival that had happened the day before.Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it, but dad has gone for the last couple of years and said it was delicious.

As we were entering The Gorge, I saw a large Bald Eagle circling above. The tall island cliff tightened around us as we slowed the boat to a trolling speed. Gorge Harbour is a popular meeting place for many fancy Sail boats to anchor.

Gorge Harbour Sights

Arbutus Trees

The Gorge

After quickly touring the small harbour and with no sight of our family friends, we headed out past Marina Island and over to the most southern tip of Quadra Island near Cape Mudge to do some afternoon fishing.

Fishing

Unfortunately we had no luck and headed back up between Quadra Island and Campbell River to Quathiaski Cove where one of the ferry terminals is located to grab a quick snack.

Finally we had received word from our family friends of where their location was. I swear every sail boat dad and I passed we would look to see if it was them. This had to be the most extensive game of hide and sneak I have ever played. It turned out they were hiding at a place called Mitlenatch Island Nature Provincial Park . We began heading south once again, but got side tracked by a large school of small fish leaping to the surface of the water, so obviously we stopped to do some more fishing. We hoped to have more luck here in Quathiaski Cove. We trolled for another twenty minutes or so with a couple of false alarms, but still no luck. We reeled in the first line feeling a mild drag, as the hook reached the surface we realized our false alarm wasn't so false after all. It turned out we had a small ling cod hooked on our line.

We slowly reeled it in, netting it and began the unhooking process, which can be challenging with ling cod. They have very nasty teeth. We quickly found out that we had interrupted his lunch. As we were unhooking him, he spit out a half eaten prawn, but it was his lucky day. The ling cod was too small to take home and eat ourselves, so we threw him back to continue his lunch.

Ling Cod

We finished reeling in the second line and headed to meet our friends at Mitlenatch Island.

Mitlenatch Island

Family Friend's Sail Boat

Just as we were arriving we heard our family friends on the VHF radio telling us to switch to channel 69. Finally our incredibly difficult game of hide and seek was over. We rafted onto their sail boat and visited them for a bit. They so kindly gave us a

ling cod they had caught seconds before we had arrived. The tide was finally starting to rise too, so we were able to head back to Rebecca Spit to pull the boat out and headed back to the Quattage to make a wonderful dinner of fresh ling cod and barbequed corn.

Clean the fish

Fillet Time

The Hike

Trail Head

The next day Dad and I slept in. After Breakfast we made our

way to the Haskin Farm Trail, which is located on the the corner

of Smith and Herriot Bay Road. The Haskin Farm trail takes

roughly 2 hours at a slow pace and is about a 3 km round trip.

The trail itself is generally flat and narrow. It contains many cross

roads that appear to be some of the old original logging roads on

Quadra Island. The majority of the trail is located within

the forest, but does eventually lead to a large open abandoned

orchard, which use to be owned by the Haskin Family.

This was a wonderful place for us to let the dogs run around.

Abandoned Orchard

Stormy and Dad

Jack Eating Grass... again

Big and Little Side by Side

After crossing the Orchard, the trail begins to curve down toward

the ocean and the grade becomes more steep and challenging,

but nothing most can't handle.

Driftwood Pile Up

Once we made it through a few

switch backs the trail comes to

an end as it collides with the

driftwood-blanketed beach

entrance with a wonderful

view out to Sutil Channel.

Kait out shooting

After thoughtful

footing over the large chunks of sun

bleached and waterlogged wood you

can make your way onto the rocky beach.

Depending on the tide often you

can do some beach combing and check out

some of the small tidal pools.