CRUISING ADVENTURES: WALLACE ISLAND
Explore Your Own Backyard
Avid sailor and office manager for the Vancouver loft of
North Sails, Sarah Unwin shares one of her favourite cruising spots in British Columbia, Wallace Island.
My husband and I race and cruise on a Spencer 34 named Coho. As we are all doing more exploring in our own backyards this year my Husband, James, and I have been exploring new anchorages. We added a day to the Canada Day long weekend and decided to go to Wallace Island which is located in Trincomali Channel and was originally a resort, some of which is still standing today. We sailed from Vancouver to Silva Bay on Gabriola for the night then caught the tide through Gabriola Pass and caught a great beam reach run down Trincomali Channel.
Wallace Island offers excellent walking and camping that is accessible from the Saltspring Island Government dock by kayak, water taxi or private boat. We chose anchored in the smaller of the accessible coves that are deep enough for sailboats, Conover Cove, where the government dock is located. We spent the day exploring most of the island trails, all of the coves and swimming. Conover Cove is also home to an old cabin where visitors can leave placards with their boat names and where they are from, so bring along some driftwood and art supplies.
When we came back from exploring there was beautiful acoustic guitar music playing in the cove, we thought someone had a great sound system, as it turns out we were treated to an amazing on water concert after dinner. Conover Cove is shallow and you need to navigate reefs at the entrance so what your tides and charts. We truly enjoyed our time on Wallace Island and will be back, I highly recommend packing walking shoes and visiting some of the coves for an afternoon picnic and swim.
