A Week of Sailing on Canada’s West Coast
Join us as we sail through British Columbia’s remote Haida Gwaii region aboard Outer Shores Expeditions’ Passing Cloud. Photo courtesy of Outer Shores.
On Monday, I’ll be on my way to Sandspit, British Columbia to board the Passing Cloud, a gorgeous 70-foot schooner operated by Outer Shores Expeditions, for a week of sailing through Haida Gwaii’s as part of the company’s Haida Gwaii: Islands at the Edge itinerary.
You might know Haida Gwaii better as the Queen Charlotte Islands. It is situated just above Vancouver Island on the western coast of Canada, and is located 70 kilometres off the mainland. If you’ve ever sailed to Alaska, chances are you’ve glimpsed Haida Gwaii’s stunning shoreline off the port side of your ship as it sails north. To put it in perspective, Sandspit is about 200 kilometres (124 miles) south of Ketchikan, and 750 kilometres (466 miles) northwest of Vancouver, by air.
Sandspit – and Outer Shores Passing Cloud – is a short two-hour flight on Air Canada from Vancouver. Photo © 2011 Aaron Saunders
Sandspit is a very small, remote town in British Columbia: there’s a small civil aviation airport with twice-daily flights on Air Canada Express during the summer months; the usual small-town staples, and a statue of a giant fish called “The Spirit of Sandspit.†The real draw of this voyage, however, can be found in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Haida Gwaii and within the Passing Cloud herself.
Despite the fact that it exists just a two-hour flight from western Canada’s largest city, the islands that make up Haida Gwaii are seldom explored by most Canadians, and could be compared with Australia’s Kimberley region in terms of remoteness. That’s where Outer Shores and the Passing Cloud come in: they can traverse the entire Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve from the sea.
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