Sampling Cortes Island by kayak and on foot

By Keith and Heather Nicol

With the record breaking summer like temperatures extending into October we decided to head to Cortes Island to camp, hiking and sea kayak. We had only been to Cortes once before and that was over 40 years ago when we travelled directly across the island to connect with friends (Colin and Bonnie) who picked us up in Squirrel  Cove enroute to West Redonda Island and Refuge Cove.  We headed over on Monday Oct 3 and caught the ferry from Campbell River to Quadra and then to Cortes Island. With the double ferry crossing we arrived around noon and headed to our camp site to set up our tent and have lunch. From there we headed to Squirrel Cove and paddled past Protection Island to the Lagoon at the far end of the bay (3.3 km 1 way)  The boat launch at Squirrel Cove made launching easy and the back drop on the rugged Coastal Mountains made for a scenic paddle.  Earlier at the camp ground we asked about our friends Colin and Bonnie and if anyone knew anything about them. We were told they lived on Cortes so contacted them and arranged to catch the sunset at Smelt Bay Park. After kayaking we  cooked our supper at a great picnic spot at nearby Manson’s Landing and then headed to watch the sunset. Smelt Bay is a popular spot for sunset viewing and we were joined by many others who watched the sun sink behind the mountains of Vancouver Island. We had a fun time trying to remember  when we had last visited them at Refuge Cove and where we had  all previously lived in Vancouver. 

                                                        Paddling toward Protection Island

The next day (Tuesday , October 4) we headed to Cortes Bay to paddle and again there is a nice concrete boat launch making putting in our kayaks easy. One of the nice things about Cortes is that is seems to have many boat launches scattered around the island which makes putting in kayaks and other water craft easy. Cortes Bay made for a easy protected paddle (2.5 km 1 way) around an island where we saw Oystercatchers and a few seals in the water. Compared to Hornby Island where we had been the week before marine life etc was not in anything like abundance we had seen on the small offshore islands there. From there we did the short (1 km 1 way) hike to the top of Easter Bluff which we fully recommend. But don’t let the short distance fool you..you need to scramble over bare rock in places. We also checked out the gardens at Hollyhock and Bonnie showed us around the local museum – both of which are must do’s. We ended our activities in the afternoon with a hike to Hanks Beach . This is another 1 km (1 way) hike but unlike Easter Bluff is much flatter. It ends at a scenic beach area and is well worth checking out. 

                                                              Sunset from Smelt Bay Park

After checking out of the campground (on Wednesday October 5) we tried to get in a last short paddle before leaving the island but the morning tide was very low and boat launch at Coulter Bay was not as easy to use as the concrete boat launches we had used at Squirrel Cove and Cortes Bay. At Coulter Bay there was a big section of what looked like rocks and mud to negotiate before we got to the water so we decided to save that for another visit and launch there when tides were higher.  We headed to the ferry terminal and caught the 2 ferries back to Campbell River with no extra waiting and decided that fall was a great time to visit Cortes since the summer crowds had gone. We want to get back to Cortes and check out some of the other kayak launch points that we missed and do some of the other hikes that it was to offer. See you on the trail. 

                                                                  Heather at Hank's Beach