After more than 12 years, it's time for us to return to Desolation
Sound. We have a charter arranged for late August, starting in Powell
River and lasting a week. I'm assuming the mountains, inlets, forests
and scenery are still there. What has changed? Is there still a dock
and store at Squirrel Cove? Is Prideaux Haven still the busy spot in
the area? Have fish farms filled all the interesting inlets? Is Hole-
in-the-Wall still a magical place? Inquiring minds want to know!

Since our last visit (and the arrival of the kids), we've sailed
(and mostly motored) in the Gulf Islands and the San Juans. They're
still interestng and fun, but we decided to head a bit further north
this summer. The last time my wife and I went North of Nanaimo,
Google was probably just an experiment and the newsgroups were full of
people with good advice. I'm hoping only one of those things has
changed. I'm sure that thousands of people have kept Desolation
Sound Yacht Charters in business in the last decade, and a lot
of those people have internet access. Do any of them still read
usenet newsgroups??


Who has been there since 1996 and who has stories to tell?
(Yes, I HAVE ordered the Dreamspeaker cruising guide!)

Are there other newsgroups that I should be reading?


Mark Borgerson

Are the Dreamspeaker series good?
Thanks
Gordon

"Mark Borgerson" mborgerson.at.comcast.net wrote in message
.net...
After more than 12 years, it's time for us to return to Desolation
Sound. We have a charter arranged for late August, starting in Powell
River and lasting a week. I'm assuming the mountains, inlets, forests
and scenery are still there. What has changed? Is there still a dock
and store at Squirrel Cove? Is Prideaux Haven still the busy spot in
the area? Have fish farms filled all the interesting inlets? Is Hole-
in-the-Wall still a magical place? Inquiring minds want to know!

Since our last visit (and the arrival of the kids), we've sailed
(and mostly motored) in the Gulf Islands and the San Juans. They're
still interestng and fun, but we decided to head a bit further north
this summer. The last time my wife and I went North of Nanaimo,
Google was probably just an experiment and the newsgroups were full of
people with good advice. I'm hoping only one of those things has
changed. I'm sure that thousands of people have kept Desolation
Sound Yacht Charters in business in the last decade, and a lot
of those people have internet access. Do any of them still read
usenet newsgroups??


Who has been there since 1996 and who has stories to tell?
(Yes, I HAVE ordered the Dreamspeaker cruising guide!)

Are there other newsgroups that I should be reading?


Mark Borgerson

Greetings Mark,

We've been going up to Desolation Sound almost every summer for the
past 15 years or so. It hasn't changed much at all. The B.C. Parks
system took out the garbage collection barges at Tenedos and Prideaux
Haven. Refuge Cove will take your garbage for a small fee. The
"Cinamon Bun Man" is no longer over at Squirrel Cove. Other than that,
the anchorages haven't changed a bit and it seems to me that they're
becoming less crowded compared to years past. I recall in years past,
getting in a line of boats to fuel up at Refuge Cove where as the past
few years that has not been the case. I think the high price of fuel
has kept a lot of people down in the San Juans. We usually arrive in
the first week of July and in the past couple of years we counted
around five boats at Roscoe Bay in early July where as we have counted
as many as 60 in the past. The anchorages do start to fill up later in
July and into August though.

It's been a few years since we've been up to the Hole in the Wall area.
We went up into Johnstone Strait one year and experienced a definate
temperature change and turned around and went back to Desolation Sound.
Anyway, I think you'll find it's still a great place to go and that
the swimming holes haven't changed a bit.

Ray

In article .com,
says...
Greetings Mark,

We've been going up to Desolation Sound almost every summer for the
past 15 years or so. It hasn't changed much at all. The B.C. Parks
system took out the garbage collection barges at Tenedos and Prideaux
Haven. Refuge Cove will take your garbage for a small fee. The
"Cinamon Bun Man" is no longer over at Squirrel Cove. Other than that,
the anchorages haven't changed a bit and it seems to me that they're
becoming less crowded compared to years past. I recall in years past,
getting in a line of boats to fuel up at Refuge Cove where as the past
few years that has not been the case. I think the high price of fuel
has kept a lot of people down in the San Juans. We usually arrive in
the first week of July and in the past couple of years we counted
around five boats at Roscoe Bay in early July where as we have counted
as many as 60 in the past. The anchorages do start to fill up later in
July and into August though.

Oh, well then. We're going the last week of August. We're chartering
a 35' trawler yacht, and we plan on anchoring early, so we shouldn't
have much problem finding a spot. I generally like to cruise at about
half throttle (4-5 knots) and find that fuel consumption goes way down
if I take the time to enjoy the scenery. The wife and kids like to get
ashore for exploring in the afternoon. I find that comfortable cockpit
cushions, a cold drink and a good book are all I need. I do seem to
spend a bunch of time rowing my camera around, though! ;-)
(click around in the 'consulting' tab at www.oes.to, and you'll find
the picture I'm trying to equal or exceed.)

I expect a hefty fuel bill on return to Powell River, but it will be
nothing compared to our June vacation trip. For that one, we're
driving a 6MPG motor home from Oregon to Yosemite. Last year we
drove it to Yellowstone NP (about 2200miles round trip) and gas
was about $3/gallon. Seemed like I dropped a hundred bucks per
day at the gas stations!

It's been a few years since we've been up to the Hole in the Wall area.
We went up into Johnstone Strait one year and experienced a definate
temperature change and turned around and went back to Desolation Sound.
Anyway, I think you'll find it's still a great place to go and that
the swimming holes haven't changed a bit.

Desolation Sound Yacht Charters has some good descriptive info on their
web site. They also noted that the baker in Squirrel Cove retired, then
passed away some years back.


Mark Borgerson

On Wed, 05 Apr 2006 22:24:21 -0700, Mark Borgerson wrote:

After more than 12 years, it's time for us to return to Desolation
Sound. We have a charter arranged for late August, starting in Powell
River and lasting a week. I'm assuming the mountains, inlets, forests
and scenery are still there.

Yup!

What has changed? Is there still a dock and store at Squirrel Cove?

Busier than ever! Espresso bar at the top of the stairs now. Burgers
still in demand -- good luck getting in for lunch!

Is Prideaux Haven still the busy spot in the area?

Yup.

Have fish farms filled all the interesting inlets?

About the same.

Is Hole-
in-the-Wall still a magical place?

Some folks have taken over that old dock/store on Read Island -- I can't
remember the name of it -- but they've been fixing it up, running a little
bakery, etc. Worth a stop.

Inquiring minds want to know!

Heriot Bay has been taken over and fixed up considerably. I heard they
were going to rebuild the marina over this winter. Nancy's Bakery in Lund
has moved to a much bigger new building, a few steps away. The pub in the
old hotel in Lund has been fixed up nicely too. The Laughing
Oyster restaurant in Malaspina Inlet is excellent. Pender Harbour is
booming, and the Garden Bay Hotel is livelier than ever. Further north,
Big Bay has closed and gone private. Dent Lodge has gotten exclusive and
expensive. Camp Cordero is still going strong. Fishing
in Campbell River has been suffering the last couple of years -- hardly
any boats off Cape Mudge.

I've noticed fewer boats around Desolation the last couple of years too --
higher fuel prices maybe? There's more traffic than ever at popular
spots, but in general it seems less.

Since our last visit (and the arrival of the kids), we've sailed (and
mostly motored) in the Gulf Islands and the San Juans. They're still
interestng and fun, but we decided to head a bit further north this
summer. The last time my wife and I went North of Nanaimo, Google was
probably just an experiment and the newsgroups were full of people with
good advice. I'm hoping only one of those things has changed. I'm sure
that thousands of people have kept Desolation Sound Yacht Charters in
business in the last decade, and a lot of those people have internet
access. Do any of them still read usenet newsgroups??


Who has been there since 1996 and who has stories to tell? (Yes, I HAVE
ordered the Dreamspeaker cruising guide!)

I've been up there the last 6(?) summers. I'll be there again this summer
too.

Are there other newsgroups that I should be reading?

Relatively speaking, hardly anyone reads Usenet anymore. There's a lot of
stuff on the web, but most of it is hard to weed through, not up to date,
etc.

So I've been thinking about starting a web portal/community site for BC
boating. If you have any ideas, email me.

Matt O.

"Call me Gilligan"
M/S Blurocket IV

On Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:46:06 -0700, Mark Borgerson wrote:

Desolation Sound Yacht Charters has some good descriptive info on their
web site. They also noted that the baker in Squirrel Cove retired, then
passed away some years back.

The bakery is still going as of last summer -- a couple of ladies have
been running it.

Matt O.

Hello again Mark,

You'll have a great time. Wouldn't worry too much about your fuel bill
if you run it under hull speed. Get yourself some reference material
on the prevailing currents and plan your travel times to take advantage
of them. There must be more then one bakery up there. The one I was
referring to was the one in the log cabin in Squirrel Cove with the old
man and the two boys talked about in the "Gunkholing" book. That one
has been gone for several years now. You can still buy a hamburger and
cinnamon rolls over at Refuge cove though. We actually met the two
folks who write the "Dreamspeaker" guides last year in Lund. They were
heading up to the Broughtons because that's where everyone is going
now. Good for them, more room for us in Desolation Sound. You
shouldn't have much of a water issue with a trawler like that. We
usually top off our tanks at Powell River on the way up because the
water at Refuge Cove can take on some funny colors in the summer time.
Have a great time.

Ray