Fifty miles up the coast from Vancouver, just off a marine highway that in summer is busy with cruisers heading to and from popular Desolation Sound, is a maze of islands and channels that caught the attention of Captain George Vancouver in 1792. He was searching for the Northwest Passage.
The channels converge and become a deep, steep-sided fjord that zigzags in a northerly direction, cutting deep into the snow-capped Coastal Range of British Columbia. Vancouver named the fjord (well after the fact) Jervis Inlet for his patron, Rear Admiral Sir John Jervis. It doesn’t reach as far as the North Atlantic, alas. But this is one of the most spectacular cruising destinations you’ll find anywhere and is a favourite of ours.
A good starting point for a venture up-inlet is the tiny village of Egmont, which has a small marina. Not many people live here, but those who do are of the independent kind.