Destination: Desolation Sound - August 2014

I usually don’t blog about local tours and adventures but Desolation Sound up here in British Columbia is certainly worth a blog entry - and this is for two reasons. The first is that contrary to popular belief of Desolation is only for the big boats, we outfitted our 18 foot bow rider with an inflatable kayak and a stand up paddle board (both could and were used as our dingy), some supplies and trailered our boat to Lund where after an extensive internet search found our five day safe haven of Homfray Lodge only an hours cruise away to do our days excursion from. More on that in a moment. The second reason, well, this is a boaters paradise, more than less safe protected waters that reach temperatures in the plus 70 degree zone, great for cruising and swimming. The coolest temperate we swam in was 72 with the warmest at the Lodge at 75. The lakes in this region, well they are just beautiful and they basically start at the 75 degree mark. So with excellent weather and this incredible mini vacation we are blogging on this as if you are a small boat owner, please do not shy away from this area as the three brothers up at Homfray Lodge are most welcoming and as you can see in the pictures, provide you with very comfortable accommodations. Desolation Sound, named by Captain George Vancouver in 1792 has been described by many a yachtsmen as not only the most beautiful and varied cruising area in British Columbia, but equal to, if not better than, any other area in the world. We were nestled in the Homfray Channel, which runs depths to 2500 feet (the second deepest sounding in North America) surrounded by peaks reaching from 5000 to 8000 feet, amazing. As mentioned Homfray Lodge is owned and operated by three brothers, Dave, Matt and Scott. This is the third year of ownership and second year of Lodge Accommodations. The lodgings are very comfortable with a choice of Ridge Row Cabins and three One and Two Bedroom Cabins (with lofts and kitchens). They have their own Hydro plant and yes they have wifi. Homfray Lodge is on the right side of the channel in that it enjoys the amazing sunsets at around 8:30. Friendly and inviting is how I would sum up our stay at Homfray, in fact as our time went on it felt like we were more amongst friends than lodge owners. If you are a small boat owner and always wanted to see Desolation Sound the brothers at Howfray Lodge can set you up very nicely. Location wise, this Lodge is located about 20 minutes out of Desolation Sound Marine Park and is a great location to do daily trips out from. We did pack light (food and beverage wise) as we knew there great provisioning at Refuge Cove about 45 minutes from the lodge (this includes fuel). We spoked out different directions each day taking as much as we could without spending too much time always being on the boat. We incorporated many hikes to the beautiful lakes as well as included very nice lunch breaks out starting at the famous Hamburger stand in Refuge Cove, The Laughing Oyster in Okeover Arm and then The Cove in Squirrel Cove on Cortez Island. To take advantage of the Lodge’s warm water, great hospitality, accommodations, dock area and fabulous outdoor shower (I did not even use the shower in the cabin) I made sure we returned to the Lodge at about 5 pm each day. We had an amazing time, friends, Brent and Sue, Jan, myself and Zydnea of course. The weather was just amazing and the kicker was the first night at the Lodge, the Powell River Yacht club had a resident bag piper playing as the sunset and the last night in Lund while enjoying an amazing sunset dinner at the Boardwalk Cafe we also had a sunset bag piper play. This was a great mini holiday. We are almost ready to announce our next adventure, stayed tune, we will post this within the next ten days...