Best Desolation Sound Anchorages for BC Sailors

Desolation Sound is the most popular cruising destination on the BC coast for a reason: warm water swimming (by BC standards), stunning scenery, reliable shelter, and a sailing season that runs from June through September without the afternoon williwaws that plague the Strait of Juan de Fuca. If you've never been, it belongs on your list. If you have, you know that the difference between a good anchorage night and a great one often comes down to local knowledge.

Here are the anchorages we return to every season, what makes them worth the effort, and a few things the cruising guides don't mention.

Prideaux Haven

If you ask BC cruisers to name their single favourite anchorage on the coast, Prideaux Haven will be in the top three. It's a tightly sheltered collection of islets and passages in the northeast corner of Desolation Sound, surrounded by warm-water inlets and hiking terrain. The holding is excellent — mostly mud — and the shelter is nearly complete from any direction.

What the guides don't tell you: arrive before noon in July or August. By 2 pm on a summer weekend, every reasonable spot is taken. The outer passages that look exposed on the chart are actually fine in settled weather and often allow you to avoid the crowd. The hiking up to the ridge above Melanie Cove gives a view that justifies the scramble.

Approach notes: Enter from the southeast via the channel between the islets. Watch your chartplotter closely — rocks are numerous and some are not charted at all scales. Favour the eastern side of the channel on entry. Depths inside range from 3–12m depending on exactly where you anchor; the north end of Melanie Cove holds 5–8m over good mud.

Grace Harbour

Grace Harbour sits at the head of Desolation Sound proper, just past the entrance to Toba Inlet. It's smaller and trickier to enter than Prideaux Haven, which keeps it slightly quieter — though "quiet" is relative in peak season.

The warm water here is exceptional. Desolation Sound's protected inlets reach 24–26°C in July and August, and Grace Harbour is as warm as any of them. The beach at the head is good holding ground and the surrounding forest is unchanged from a century ago.

Approach notes: The entrance is narrow with rocks on both sides. Come in on the range — a small daymark on the hill ahead aligns with the channel. Enter at slow speed and don't trust your chartplotter alone here; the charting in this area dates from surveys that predate GPS accuracy. There's room for 8–12 boats comfortably; more than that and it becomes a game of Tetris at 0300 when the wind shifts.

Squirrel Cove, Cortes Island

Squirrel Cove is the one provisioning stop worth making in Desolation Sound. The store at the government dock carries basics — fresh produce when the supply boat has been, canned goods, propane, and ice. The anchorage behind the island in the inner cove is snug and well-sheltered, with a dinghy passage through the narrow cut at the south end of the separating island (passable at most tides for a standard inflatable).

What makes Squirrel Cove special beyond provisioning is the tidal lagoon accessible at high water on the northeast side of the cove. A morning paddle or dinghy row into the lagoon as the tide floods is one of those quiet, unhurried pleasures that makes a sailing holiday feel like time properly spent.

Approach notes: The outer anchorage is straightforward. For the inner cove, the transit through the passage between the island and the north shore is best done at mid to high tide — favour the island side of the channel. Holding in the inner cove is good in 4–8m.

Von Donop Inlet, Cortes Island

Von Donop is less visited than the Desolation Sound marine park anchorages and arguably more beautiful. It's a long, winding inlet on the west side of Cortes Island, extending nearly three kilometres into the island's interior. The inlet narrows progressively as you proceed in, and the innermost reaches — accessible by dinghy at high tide — give onto a tidal lagoon with a trail to Squirrel Cove.

This is a good anchorage when Prideaux Haven and Grace Harbour are full, or simply when you want to be alone. On a weeknight in July you may have it entirely to yourself.

Approach notes: Enter from the south. The inlet trends north-northwest; the deepest anchorage is in the mid-section at 6–10m over mud. Be aware that the inlet can funnel significant outflow winds on clear nights — they arrive suddenly and can exceed 20 knots. Set a good scope.

Building a waypoint library

The value of a cruising log compounds over years. A note from three seasons ago about the outflow winds in Von Donop, or the rock that shows at 1.2m inside the Grace Harbour entrance, is worth more than any cruising guide — because you wrote it in the conditions that matter to your vessel.

A good anchorage log entry includes: arrival and departure dates and times, entry depths, holding description (mud/rock/sand), swinging room, outflow or williwaw observations, any hazards not charted, and a frank assessment of whether you'd come back. Five minutes of writing at anchor saves you from reinventing the wheel every season.

My Boat Brain's trip log and logbook let you record anchorage notes, waypoints, and entry depths alongside your actual trip data — so your hard-won local knowledge is searchable next season, not lost in a soggy notebook.