Texada Boat Club to Pender Harbour

We have not been to Pender Harbour for many years. We tend to pass up the crowds found here in our quest for more remote anchorages.

However, this year we are going to wait here to time our crossing of the Strait of Georgia and explore to this large anchorage to see what has changed in our absence.

Given the calm weather, it was tempting to go all the way across today (Karen’s suggestion), but that would put us in the “crazy zone” of pink AIS targets south of Nanaimo for too many days.

As we made our way south from Texada, we could see a stream of boats leaving Pender Harbour on the AIS. This should mean we will find room!

Sure enough, the anchorages were not super crowded when we arrived around 11am. We poked around and decided to anchor SE of Garden Peninsula (just outside Garden Bay) and trade some boat wakes for better views and breezes. With a forecast for low 70’s and light winds, we did not want to anchor where we might bake. We’ve learned that lesson in the past.

Pender Harbour. Garden bay on the left Gunboat bay in the distance and Maderia PArk MArina on the Right

After lunch we did a dinghy circumnavigation of every inch of the shoreline. Fun to see the houses, boats, marinas and everything else. It’s been a while and there have been many changes.

Pender Harbour looking back to the strait of georgia

First up was Gunboat Bay. Guarded by a rock and a shallow bar, few visitors seem to make their way into Gunboat, which is quite large and rimmed with summer homes, some quite stunning. If you want solitude in the summer in Pender Harbour, this would be the place. We meandered all along the shoreline and found lots of homes that were appealing to us, some quite recently completed.

Leaving Gunboat, we headed into Garden Bay. First we stopped to check out the Seattle Yacht Club outstation, which is quite nice. We have a view of the outstation from our anchorage, and could see the large yachts coming and going.

As we went toward the head of Garden Bay, there are a lot of abandoned long linear docks that used to be recreational moorage. The pub at Garden Bay burned several years ago, and is still just sitting there, charred and roofless. We couldn’t find out what the plans are for this area. The Royal Vancouver Yacht Club outstation, also in Garden Bay, was hopping with little room to be found for anyone showing up later in the afternoon.

Hugging the shoreline, we headed next for John Henry’s in Hospital Bay, which has expanded to include what used to be Fisherman’s Resort. The “Fisherman’s” docks are in great condition, and the marina was quite busy. For fun, we had looked to see if we could make an online reservation and they were booked out for quite a while.

After peeking into Duncan Cove, we crossed over to the smaller shallow pass between Donnely Landing and Calder Island. Lots to see, including (as we went deeper into Gerrans Bay) what looks like a ship salvage “yard”, with a myriad of boats from 150 feet to dinghies, all in a sad state, mostly in the water. We felt bad for those with nice home up on the hill that looked out over this mess.

We passed just off Whiskey Slough public wharf and headed toward the Painted Boat Resort. Boy, it’s shallow in there, lots of shoals and rocks although some shallow draft boats were at the docks.

Next we headed over to Madeira Park to check out where we could tie up the dinghy when going ashore in the next day or two. The dinghy dock, near shore, was busy. There were a few spots for larger boats on transient Dock B, but those were soon taken (and stayed that way throughout our time in Pender Harbour).

All in all, we covered 8.2 nm in about two hours of snooping around, and it was lots of fun. Headline: lots of new homes being built in Pender Harbour, most of which are modern yet appealing. There are issues with the BC government and reconciliation with the First Nations tribes regarding existing and future Sunshine Coast boathouses and docks - apparently still a bit in the air. We saw lots of yellow signs that said: “We will not give up our Marine Assets without a Fight”. 

homes and docks ring the shoreline of pender harbour