Pierless Blog - 2025-06-16 - Rebecca Spit to Von Donop Inlet, Cortez Island

June 16:

We had a peaceful night anchored off Rebecca Spit.  I fixed the pump issue in the morning and we raised the anchor at 9:15 to depart and head further north.  After some discussion and consulting of charts, we decided to head for Von Donop Inlet, a marine provincial park.  It is a long, narrow inlet on the NW side of Cortez Island.  The First Nations name is Ha'thayim.  

From Rebecca Spit, it is only about 10 NM to the entrance, but the inlet itself is about 3 NM long with many possible anchorages throughout its length.  It boasts a very large tidal lagoon that can be explored at high tide as well as several small bays to explore or anchor in.  We were looking forward to exploring the area!

On the way to Von Donop we followed Sutil Channel which separates Read and Cortez islands.  The channel is very deep and in places you can be quite near shore and still in deep water.  The farther north we traveled, the fewer signs of civilization were seen.  

Von Donop Inlet Entrance

When approaching from the south, the entrance to Von Donop is not obvious.  We entertained ourselves trying to determine where the entrance was as we approached.  Once abreast of the inlet, you can easily see it opens to the SE for quite a distance.  Most of the inlet is fairly deep, but there is a narrow section
on the way in that shallows enough to require one to pay attention.

We motored the entire inlet to the end to scout out possible anchorages.  There were about nine other boats at the SE end, so we headed back up the inlet and anchored next to a small cove called Mud Bay.  This was a great anchorage for exploring.  We had Mud Bay just around the corner and another cove across the inlet to explore.  

At anchor - Von Donop Inlet

The weather remained sunny and warm.  We rowed and paddled around our anchorage.  There was a profusion of moon jellyfish in the water.  They seemed to keep to the main inlet and were not seen much in the small coves.  

Mud Bay - Von Donop

Crazy oysters!

We were quite impressed by the number of oysters in the inlet and they crazy way they grew on top of one another.  Being a provincial park, harvesting is not allowed, so this may be what oysters do when left to their own devices.

We spent two nights anchored in Von Donop.  On day two, we motored to the end of the inlet and hiked a trail across Cortez to Squirrel Cove.  It was an overcast and drizzly day, so we got a little wet on the walk, but it was otherwise a nice hike through the woods.  The oyster growth was even more spectacular in Squirrel cove with oysters growing on top of one another, building tall stacks of live oysters!

Enjoying the flora along the trail

Fern on Squirrel Cove trail

Small shoreside meadow

Mud Bay Sea Asparagus

Mud Bay

Mirror image on shore

Pierless reflection - Von Donop

At anchor - Von Donop

Von Donop was a definate hit!  I would return here again with no hesitation!
Leaving Von Donop

- Brian

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