the force
Crew Member
Very nice, my boy will spend all day long in the water if I let him.
How does everyone go about getting into Jervis, boat directly from Van/Port Moody or do folks ferry across to Sunshine Coast and then run up?
Help set me up for boat camping success
- Thread starter the force
- Start date
Very nice, my boy will spend all day long in the water if I let him.
How does everyone go about getting into Jervis, boat directly from Van/Port Moody or do folks ferry across to Sunshine Coast and then run up?
Eden Island
Well-Known Member
I'm 30 seasons in the Broughtons, mostly at anchor. First 10 years was camping on an open 16' boat with my wife - sleeping under a tent fly and cooking with a Coleman. We also 'cruised' Lasqueti, Broken Group, Clayoquot, Kyuquot & Bunsby's and Central Coast [Rivers Inlet to Bella Bella and Klemtu]. Past 20 years is 3 of us aboard a 23, mainly in the Broughtons - can't really call it camping any more.
Happy to share info.
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RiverBoy
Well-Known Member
That shot of your Hourston all alone is absolutely insane.
Dorman Point
Well-Known Member
Due to our small boat, we trailer to Egmont and launch at the Backeddy Marina. There is reasonable parking for the truck and trailer and a pretty good launch. One thing to be mindful of is the marina has improved the launch in recent years but now controls launch times, which they did not in the past. The tide must be at a certain height before they allow one to launch. We learned this the hard way on our last trip when we jumped on the earliest ferry out of horseshoe bay, expecting we’d launch as soon as we got to Egmont, but then ended up waiting 3-4 hours before they would let us. So, it’s worth a call ahead to find out what time they’ll let you launch on a particular day.
sly_karma
Crew Member
The run up from Vancouver is pretty exposed and lacking in shelter for smaller boats, the first decent refuge after Gibsons is Secret Cove. Although the ferry is a cost and can be a hassle, it's less risky in terms of weather and sea conditions. Launching in Secret, Pender or Egmont is a safer, more predictable plan especially if you're limited to specific dates due to work and school commitments.
The run up Jervis to Louisa can be either fast and glassy, or choppy all the way if outflow winds are blowing - early morning start from Egmont usually gets you up the inlet before the blow.
In midsummer the inlet sees lots of cruising boats, but the campsite at Chatterbox is often empty. More of a challenge is getting dock space, but small boats need less of it, and they can scoot into a space by arriving outside the "commuter hour" traffic pattern driven by the tides at Malibu Rapids. The bigger boats need to transit these during slack tides, whereas small fast boats can safely pass through in most tide conditions, bypassing the waiting cruising boats.
The best trip we ever had to Princess Louisa was in a period of midsummer cool, damp days. Rain was sporadic, but over a few days it was enough to get some of the little waterfalls going around the inlet. Wind was zero, like a mirror in there. We had the pick of campsites at Chatterbox so we set up under a massive big leaf maple, and stayed dry for 3 days despite drizzle and showers on and off the whole time. We spent an entire day chugging around the inlet in a 19.5 ft under the canopy, enjoying drinks and appies and those views.
As others have noted, Princess Louisa itself is an RCA, as is just outside the rapids in Jervis proper. But beyond those boundaries there are lings to be had in the underwater debris piles below the towering cliffs. I leave the riggers and accessories at home to save weight/increase range, and to make room for tent and other camping gear, but a couple of jigging rods and a small selection of jigs always seems to make the cut. Downrigger wiring comes in useful to run a small compressor for inflating the air mattress that Mrs Sly insists we bring. I made an adapter for the Scotty receptacle, works like a hot damn.
The run up Jervis to Louisa can be either fast and glassy, or choppy all the way if outflow winds are blowing - early morning start from Egmont usually gets you up the inlet before the blow.
In midsummer the inlet sees lots of cruising boats, but the campsite at Chatterbox is often empty. More of a challenge is getting dock space, but small boats need less of it, and they can scoot into a space by arriving outside the "commuter hour" traffic pattern driven by the tides at Malibu Rapids. The bigger boats need to transit these during slack tides, whereas small fast boats can safely pass through in most tide conditions, bypassing the waiting cruising boats.
The best trip we ever had to Princess Louisa was in a period of midsummer cool, damp days. Rain was sporadic, but over a few days it was enough to get some of the little waterfalls going around the inlet. Wind was zero, like a mirror in there. We had the pick of campsites at Chatterbox so we set up under a massive big leaf maple, and stayed dry for 3 days despite drizzle and showers on and off the whole time. We spent an entire day chugging around the inlet in a 19.5 ft under the canopy, enjoying drinks and appies and those views.
As others have noted, Princess Louisa itself is an RCA, as is just outside the rapids in Jervis proper. But beyond those boundaries there are lings to be had in the underwater debris piles below the towering cliffs. I leave the riggers and accessories at home to save weight/increase range, and to make room for tent and other camping gear, but a couple of jigging rods and a small selection of jigs always seems to make the cut. Downrigger wiring comes in useful to run a small compressor for inflating the air mattress that Mrs Sly insists we bring. I made an adapter for the Scotty receptacle, works like a hot damn.
the force
Crew Member
Thanks for the detail Mr Sly! Yeah, vacay time is not that flexible so likely a good call to play it on the safe side.
Thanks is for the tip on the compressor… be handy for the kids floaties as well.
Last_Call
Well-Known Member
just caught up on this thread as I'm planning my first family boat camping trip in a few weeks. Home base for us will be Thormanby Island and I've got a 1 year old and 3.5 year old girl and wife in the mix so we're looking to start easy and go from there. As others have mentioned, Jedidiah is on our list of options, as is Chatterbox Falls. My boat is a 24' with good sized cuddy that can sleep 2 adults and 2 kids. Electric toilet, fresh water with sink, and BBQ for amenities. Will pack along a paddleboard and hopefully not much more. The kids are both great on the boat so far for commuting / fishing but this will be our first overnighter so want to make sure it's fun for them. I spent a fair amount of time in Desolation but I think I'll wait until next year for that trip with the fam. Looking for 1 nighter options from Thormanby. Is Tribune (Hornby) good for the kids? Haven't been there in 20+ years but I recall it being a nice beach. I haven't explore pender harbour area much so welcome any ideas there. Cheers
VanIsle10
Active Member
We just got back from 2 nights of boat camping on Hornby. We tied up at Fords Cove as opposed to anchoring in Tribune, it was blowing from the south all weekend and there is no real protection in Tribune from that, we also had our mountain bikes so offloading them at dock is much preferred. We took the bikes to tribune on Saturday but we did boat over to Tribune on Sunday and took the dingy to get to the beach. Fords cove is really busy in the summer and almost all spots require rafting up but there are a fair amount of big boats that don’t move to often so rafting wasn’t an issue. Tribune is a great spot to spend the day and/or anchor if the conditions allow it. It does get busy on weekends but it’s a big beach. One logistic that always comes up when boating camping is getting from the boat to the shore when anchored up so it’s always worth having a plan for that.
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the force
Crew Member
I’ll concur with VanIsle based on my one week experience with the kids when they were younger. Great beach, and paddle board will be adequate for ferrying to shore (or pull in drop off and then paddle board in yourself). We did it a few times. However need to watch that wind! There was a couple days we took the boat around from ford and it blew up in the afternoon and was a little less than ideal getting out of there… if your paying attention you can get everyone loaded up before it gets too rough, but you’ll need to do it quick as they roll in pretty good with that south wind. It is exposed, not sure I’d want to spend the night there.
Rain City
Crew Member
We've done Hornby for over a week a couple times now. Anchored in Tribune the whole time. I absolutely love it there. Bring a wagon so when you go to shore you have something to carry groceries and your whining kids in. The walk to the market is short, but not for a 2 year old. When we showed up last year there was a SE forecasted so we stayed on the other side of the island for a couple days in another protected anchorage.
