Desolation Sound

Desolation Sound[1] (French: Baie Desolation) is a deep water sound at the northern end of the Salish Sea and of the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada. Flanked by Cortes Island, East Redonda Island and West Redonda Island Homfray Channel and Toba Inlet, its spectacular fjords, mountains, forested mountains, warm waters, aquatic life and wildlife make it a global boating, sea kayaking and ecotourism destination. As well, shellfish farming and harvesting are active throughout the Sound.

Desolation Sound

Refuge Cove, B.C., is the only community in Desolation Sound and is located on West Redonda Island. It serves as a centrally located supply stop for boaters travelling in or near Desolation Sound.

Visitors travelling by car to Desolation Sound can take BC Ferries from Vancouver or Courtenay to Powell River, and drive the short distance northward to Lund. By boat or kayak from Lund, the Copeland Islands (Copeland Islands Marine Provincial Park) and Desolation Sound (which includes Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park), and Malaspina Provincial Park.

Provincial parks

There are three main Provincial Parks in Desolation Sound including Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park , the Copeland Islands Marine Provincial Park and Malaspina Provincial Park.

Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park created by the Government of British Columbia in 1973, under the advocacy of MLA Don Lockstead and the New Democratic Party government, out of an area comprising 8,449 hectares (32.6 sq mi) and over 60 km (37 mi) of shoreline.[2] The park is located at the confluence of Malaspina Inlet and Homfray Channel. Its many inlets, islets, coves, and bays attract many pleasure craft each summer,[3] when it is not uncommon for a hundred boats to share a small anchorage.[4] The sound is home to a wide variety of wildlife and still relatively free from development, although some areas, such as Theodesia Inlet, show signs of clear-cut logging.[4]

Provincial Parks located in Desolation Sound:

Major anchorages

History

Desolation Sound was inhabited by tribes of the K'ómoks prior to the arrival of Europeans and falls within the traditional territories of the Klahoose First Nation, Tla'amin Nation, and Hamalco First Nations. In the summer of 1792, two expeditions led by Captains George Vancouver, Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés y Flores arrived and cooperated in mapping the sound. Vancouver named it Desolation Sound, cryptically claiming that "there was not a single prospect that was pleasing to the eye". [5]

References
  1. "Desolation Sound". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  2. Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park
  3. A Dreamspeaker Cruising Guide, Volume 2, Second Edition, Anne & Laurence Yeadon-Jones, 2006
  4. Exploring the South Coast of British Columbia, Third Edition, Don Douglass & Reanne Hemingway-Douglass, 2009
  5. Robson, Robson (2007). "Hakluyt edition of Vancouver's journals". W. Kaye Lamb, editor, Vol. 2, p 609. Archived from the original on 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.