Premier Listings for Queen Charlotte Strait
Queen Charlotte Strait is located at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, separating Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, and connecting Queen Charlotte Sound to the north with Blackfish Sound, Johnstone Strait, Discovery Passage and the Strait of Georgia to the south.
The northern boundary of Queen Charlotte Strait is identified by a line extending from Cape Sutil in Cape Scott Provincial Park at the north end of Vancouver Island, to Cape Caution on the BC mainland. The southern end of Queen Charlotte Strait is located north and east of Malcolm Island, close to the Broughton Archipelago.
Marine vessels and cruise ships travelling from Vancouver, Seattle or Puget Sound in Washington State to Alaska via the Inside Passage will traverse the Strait of Georgia, Discovery Passage, Johnstone Strait, Blackfish Sound, Queen Charlotte Strait – in that order – in order to reach Queen Charlotte Sound and Hecate Strait (between Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands and the BC mainland south of Prince Rupert) before reaching the waters of Alaska.
According to Captain George Vancouver, Queen Charlotte Strait was named in 1786 after Queen Charlotte, the consort of King George III, by Mr. S. Wedgeborough, commander of the trading vessel Experiment. Queen charlotte (1744 – 1818) was the youngest daughter of a brother of the third duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. With the royal marriage arranged, she travelled to England in 1761 and married George 111 the very day they met, eventually bearing the king fifteen children.
Location: Queen Charlotte Strait is located between the northern coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, accessed from Port Hardy and Port McNeill on North Vancouver Island.
Port Hardy
Port Hardy is located at the northern end of Island Highway 19, which runs the length of Vancouver Island, from Victoria in the south. Port Hardy is the largest community on the North Island, with many services and facilities, marinas and marine services, sport fishing operations, and a wide variety of outdoor activities.
Port McNeill
The town of Port McNeill is a thriving community on the northeastern coast of Vancouver Island. As well as being the centre of North Island logging operations, the town’s sheltered harbour is also a launching point for sportsfishing enthusiasts who test their skills in the maze of waterways between Vancouver Island and the mainland.
Malcolm Island
Malcolm Island is a picturesque island offshore from Port McNeill, offering scenic beauty, excellent fishing and a fascinating history. Originally established as a Finnish settlement nearly a century ago, the Finnish culture still exists today, and is evident in the neat and tidy houses and gardens that surround the town of Sointula.
Broughton Archipelago Marine Provincial Park is a wilderness area consisting of a maze of several small islands, numerous islets and adjacent foreshore at the southern extremity of Queen Charlotte Strait, off the west coast of Gilford Island. The islands in the marine park are undeveloped and largely undiscovered. Facilities are limited to a day-use recreation site. The numerous remote, solitary islands incorporated in the park are fabulous for exploring by kayak, and provide unlimited and unique fishing and swimming opportunities.
God’s Pocket Marine Provincial Park provides some of the best underwater scuba diving on the Pacific Coast. Most diving takes place in nearby Browning Pass, an area rated by the late underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau as one of the best cold water diving destinations in the world. Gods Pocket is made up of a group of islands, the largest of which are Bull and Hurst Islands, about 20kms due north of Port Hardy.
Cape Scott Provincial Park is a rugged and rain-soaked wilderness at the north end of Vancouver Island, with a network of trails originally cut by enterprising Danish settlers that makes it a paradise for the well-prepared hiker. From the park’s main parking lot, historic trails traverse the upland areas in two directions, either north to Cape Scott or southwest to San Josef Bay. The North Coast Trail extends a further 43.1 km from Nissen Bight to Shushartie Bay. There are more than 35 miles of ocean frontage within the park, composed of rocky headlands and promonotories interspersed with wide, sandy beaches. Cape Scott’s strategic location means that it is a natural gathering place for migratory birds. Cape Scott Park is also home to wolves and bears.
Ferry Services: Three BC Ferry service routes originate in Queen Charlotte Strait:
Inside Passage: Port Hardy to Prince Rupert (Connect to Haida Gwaii/QC Islands)
Discovery Coast: Port Hardy to Bella Coola (Access to the Chilcotin)
Port McNeill to Sointula and Alert Bay(Malcolm Island and Cormorant Island)
North of Queen Charlotte Strait is Blackfish Sound, consisting of countless islands and inlets offering beautiful natural scenery, awesome kayaking and superb fishing in sheltered and tranquil waters. Blackfish Sound connects to Johnstone Strait, a deep and narrow glacier-carved passage extending roughly from Telegraph Cove in the north to Rock Bay in the south. Johnstone Strait serves as an important thoroughfare for marine vessels that include cargo freighters and cruise ships bound for Alaska in the summer months.
North of Queen Charlotte Strait is Rivers Inlet, carved deep into the rugged Coast Mountains the remote and beautiful Central Coast of British Columbia. Rivers Inlet is one of the many famous sport fishing destinations in British Columbia, with an impressive history of producing some of the largest Chinook Salmon in the world. Fly-in trophy salmon fishing lodges and rustic fishing camps are located in Rivers Inlet, while luxury sport fishing cruising vessels serve as floating hotels, providing wilderness fishing adventures of a lifetime.
Premier Business Directory in Queen Charlotte Strait, Vancouver Island – Small Business BC
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Ocean Light Adventures introduces their new vessel for summer 2021. The powerboat Afterglow is a 60ft Monk designed Gulf Commander with 5 staterooms and 3 heads, offering amazing wildlife viewing from all windows and from the spacious top deck. Her crew has 34 years of experience offering natural history and photography tours on the BC Coast, including Haida Gwaii, and specializing in grizzly viewing tours in the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary, and spirit bear and grizzly tours in the Great Bear Rainforest. We also offer whale watching and eco tours, from totems to intertidal treasures, rocky shores to sandy beaches, and spawning salmon to towering trees. We offer five spectacular adventure trips between May and October, each to a different region and each highlighting the awe-inspiring beauty of the beautiful BC coast.
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It’s a Coastal Lifestyle … Live It!
Specializing in marketing and selling local residential, recreational, unique oceanfront and commercial real estate throughout Campbell River, northern Vancouver Island, Discovery Islands, the Outer Islands and the BC Mainland Coast. Our real estate listings include homes to small oceanfront and lakefront recreational lots, private islands, remote island acreages, fishing lodges, wilderness / adventure resorts and vacation homes, oceanfront / lakefront cabins, marinas, remote & timbered acreages, and development investment properties on the west coast of BC and Vancouver Island – BCO has the Coast covered!
The BC Oceanfront Real Estate Team loves to bring people to the coast and introduce people to the coastal lifestyle. All members of the team live an active coastal lifestyle, and they bring that passion for the coast to all that they do. All three agents have their own boats and are very familiar with the many different regions surrounding central and northern Vancouver Island. With a team behind you, you can be sure that someone is always at hand to answer questions and lend assistance.
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Black Bear Resort in the beautiful coastal community of Port McNeill is the newest property on Northern Vancouver Island, offering elegant accommodation on the fringe of a natural forest with beautiful ocean views. The stylish cedar resort boasts 40 tastefully decorated guestrooms each with stunning views of the protected harbour, Malcolm Island, and the coastal mountains of the BC mainland.
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Sea Kayak in comfort based from our ocean-side, or float-house accommodations in the wilderness of the Broughton Archipelago, a kayak paradise. The phrase ‘Walking Softly in the Wilderness’ has always been a guiding principle for our homesteading lifestyle and approach to developing our inn. Paddlers Inn has earned a Gold rating from Green Tourism Canada for our efforts to continually reduce our impact on the environment, while supporting others to do the same. We also offer Acupressure massage on-site. Surround yourself with ocean, beaches, trails, an inland lake, and quiet beauty.
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Orca Dreams offers twenty years experience hosting people from around the world in the wildlife-rich waters of Johnstone Strait and Broughton Archipelago, off the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Orca Dreams now offers Canada’s first whale-watching camp, with BC packages that include 4 days of luxury camping.
Watch surfacing humpback whales, a passing pod of orcas, or a curious seal pass by while sipping your morning coffee from your waterfront safari-style tent. Whale watch from camp, kayak or boat, surrounded by the rich wildlife of coastal BC.
Orca Dreams is situated within the traditional territory of the Mamalilikula-Qwe’Qwa’Sot’Em First Nation, on Compton Island on the edge of Blackney Pass, one of the most wildlife-rich marine ecosystems in the world. Blackney Pass connects Queen Charlotte Strait with Johnstone Strait where the strong currents churn up nutrients from deep below, feeding everything from small herring to the 40-ton humpback whales.
Blackney Pass is also one of the best places in North America to view Orcas – also known as Killer Whales – as they make their way to and from Johnstone Strait and the rubbing beaches of Robson Bight on Vancouver Island.
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Explore BC and Southeast Alaska with Bluewater Adventures aboard our 70′ yachts sailing the BC Inside Passage, the Queen Charlotte Islands, Gwaii Haanas National Park, the Great Bear Rainforest, and Vancouver Island. You’ll see whales, Grizzly, Black and Kermode bears, and experience ancient native villages and Haida culture, primeval forests, wilderness, and amazing coastal wildlife.