Pierless Blog - 2025-06-15 - Henry Bay to Rebecca Spit on Quadra

Henry Bay to Rebecca Spit via Gorge Hbr

We left the Henry Bay anchorage at 7:30 a.m. to reach the Comox Bar close to high tide.  This is a wide bar between Comox on Vancouver Island and Denman Island.  It is shallow but has a well marked channel to follow through the 1 NM crossing.  Once across the bar, we turned north toward Quadra and Cortez islands.  

Comox Bar

On the way north we passed the Comox ferry terminal that takes travelers to the mainland.  We sailed a short time but the wind died quickly and we were back to motoring.  It was a sunny morning and we enjoyed watching the mountains of Vancouver Island and the mainland slowly slip by.  

Gorge Harbor has a dramatic entrance so we decided to stop in there for a look and to top off our fuel and water tanks.  The entrance is narrow with dramatic rock cliffs.  There are petrographs on the walls as well.

Gorge Harbor Entrance

We motored over to the fuel dock, topped off our fuel and water, then took a cruise around the harbor.  There is active shellfish aquaculture in the bay which is somewhat unsightly, but otherwise it is a large and interesting area with a fair number of homes.  

On the way to Gorge Harbor, we discovered a problem with our waste system pump - it wasn't working.  We decided we should go to Campbell River to pump out our holding tank and install a new pump.  This was neither convenient nor a pleasant prospect...  On the way there we realized the current at Campbell River was running against us at about the speed of our boat under power, so we turned around and headed to Rebecca Spit, planning to head to Campbell River when the current would allow.

I had been to Rebecca Spit last summer on a road trip, so was familiar with the area.  We motored into the anchorage around 8:00 p.m. and dropped anchor.  After securing the boat, we launched the dinghy to go ashore.  
 Piereless at anchor - Rebecca Spit

We walked to the east side of the spit to view the mountains on the mainland.  We had the trails to ourselves - an advantage of being in the early part of the summer season.  Squirrels were feasting on early season cherries, loons were calling with their haunting voices and bald eagles made their presence known with their sharp calls.  The air had been quite hazy the past few days and the haze made it easier to distinguish distant mountains from those that are closer by the degree of haziness.

 Looking East from Rebecca Spit

British Columbia has an active logging industry, so beaches up here have more logs that we are used to in Washington.  Rebecca Spit was no exception.

 Logs at Rebecca Spit

On a positive note, I was able to fix the pump problem the next morning, so we could continue our trip without a detour to Campbell River.

- Brian




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