Trincomali Channel, Gulf Islands, British Columbia
Last evening we watched “The Devil Beneath the Sea” —an old documentary about the 1958 destruction of the notorious Ripple Rock in a mammoth, engineered explosion. The dreaded hazard lurked beneath the surface in Seymour Narrows, a menace to shipping, until it was blown to pieces. Comforted that the threat had been eliminated, we slept soundly in our cabins as the Sea Bird transited the narrow channel during the early hours.
Sunrise found us safe in the lee of the eastern shore of Vancouver Island, southbound. Following breakfast, many of us occupied the foredeck as we cruised a calm sea under a warming sun. We spotted harbor seals inspecting the Sea Bird before diving to avoid her approach and many more basking on shore. Strings of migrating ducks also headed south, purposefully. We tried to differentiate between the three species of cormorant of these waters. Vancouver Island’s second city, Nanaimo, could be seen before we passed the islands of Gabriola and Valdes. Islands first noted by European explorers during the Spanish Eliza expedition in 1791.
We entered the tranquil Trincomali Channel between Galiano and Valdes Islands through the roiling turbulence of Porlier Pass. Galiano and Valdes were the two Spanish naval officers encountered by Vancouver—to his surprise—in 1792 near the city that today bears his name. The English and Spanish explorers exchanged courtesies and copies of the charts they each had made. They then explored northward together for a few, most agreeable, days. Vancouver acknowledged this fraternal spirit by naming the islands in honor of his counterparts. The origin of the name Gabriola Island remains a mystery.
Lee Moll presented a most interesting, slide-illustrated talk about the geological history of this coast, until we dropped anchor near the small, narrow, Wallace Island Marine Park. Through the afternoon, it was warm, sunny and calm. Some kayaked, admiring the perseverance of a gull trying to swallow an ochre star. Others walked the length of the island, enjoying the delightful peace of the location and clement weather. We were in the rain shadow that protects the southern tip of Vancouver Island and the San Juan/Gulf Islands archipelago from the weather arriving from the Pacific. It is a special eco-region, drier and populated with vegetation significantly distinct from the surrounding coastal rain forest, including madrone or arbutus trees and Garry oaks.
