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Pocket cruising through history

Explore a little known part of the B.C. coast aboard the historic Columbia III to see the many islands and inlets between Desolation Sound and Bute Inlet.

Explore a little known part of the B.C. coast aboard the historic Columbia III to see the many islands and inlets between Desolation Sound and Bute Inlet.

Your guides, historian Jeanette Taylor and the crew of Mothership Adventures, will take you into a wild and beautiful seascape with a storied past.

The four-day tour, offered by the Museum at Campbell River, runs from the evening of June 3 to the afternoon of June 7. A special feature of the trip is the many shore excursions aboard the Columbia III’s zodiac for hikes to old homesteads and archaeological sites.

For those who wish, there will also be an opportunity to try some kayaking.

“This stretch of coast used to be dotted throughout with Native villages and later by homesteads and little communities based on logging and fishing,” says Taylor. “Now it’s largely a forgotten place, noted for its snow covered mountains, waterfalls and wildlife.”

With no roads to the area, says Taylor, the only way to see it is by boat. Taylor’s recent book, Tidal Passages, documents the people and settlements of these islands and inlets, from the age of European exploration to contemporary times.

“The Columbia III,” says Taylor, “brought medical aid and religion to the people of these islands from 1905 to the 1950s. It’s like a homecoming to revisit places like the Surge Narrows post office.”

The tour starts in Campbell River and makes a circuitous route through the islands, including the bird sanctuary at Mitlenatch Island, Desolation Sound Marine Park, Read, Maurelle and Sonora Islands, Bute Inlet and Seymour Narrows.  Weather permiting, the group will go by zodiac into both the Southgate and Homathko River estuaries.

This tour is open to 10 guests at an all inclusive price of $1,500 per person. Visit mothershipadventures.com or crmuseum.ca or call 1-888-833-8887.