The Cortez Island – Smelt Bay leg of our 3-stop tour of Central Vancouver Island had a rocky start. Literally, we were rocked back and forth on the ferry, and it was doing enormous splashes like we haven’t seen before. Cars on the front of the line were getting washed with sea water.
We soldiered on, because the forecast showed that the bad weather will only last 1 day, followed by days of sunshine. We drove across Quadra Island and took another ferry to Cortez Island, then drove to Smelt Bay Provincial Park.
The official information states:
The park offers vehicle-accessible campsites in a beautiful forest setting. This campground is ideal for tenters and smaller RVs. It is by reservations only but if campsites are not reserved, they may be used as first come, first served on a nightly basis. There is no overflow camping available.
Frankly, I was quite disappointed when we pulled into our campsite. Because the campground was carved out of the forest on a hillside, most of the sites were very small and split level. The stairs led to a tent pad just enough for one tent.
Our sites were too small to park 2 cars and a second tent on the upper level, so Grandpa resorted to camping in his minivan. Thankfully, his cot fit perfectly with a chair on the 2nd row removed and 3rd row folded down.
First order of business was setting up the rain tarp and tent.
Then we went to a group picnic shelter for cooking, which was great because there weren’t enough tree cover at our site to tarp the upper level where the picnic table was.
The rain came on full force after dinner, but our tarp kept our tent entrance totaly dry. We retreated into our tent and fell asleep to the sound of… thunder and lightning!
The Beach at Smelt Bay
Thankfully, fair weather returned the next day as promised. We biked down the hill to for about 500m to get to the beach.
The beach was pebbly but at low tide, the sandbars would appear. Clamming and picking oysters appear to be allowed here.
Although the official website said ‘no overflow camping’, signage at a large parking lot-esque area said otherwise. There is zero privacy here, but there’s a pit toilet for the overflow campers, and it’s a stone’s throw away from the beach.
Manson’s Landing
The main draw on Cortez Island seems to be Manson’s Landing. A government dock is available here, so we happily set up our crab traps using leftover salmon parts from our previous camping stay at Elk Falls.
On the other side, the famous Manson’s Lagoon provides some very shallow, protected ocean water for playing in.
After a short walk, we checked our crab traps and had a very successful Red Rock haul. We decided to cook lunch right on the beach of Manson’s Lagoon.
Hague Lake
After wrapping up at Manson’s Lagoon, we headed over to Hague Lake. The parking lot for Hague Lake day use area is here (do not simply type in ‘Hague Lake’ on Google Maps, you will be led to a random spot on the lake).
After a short walk, we came upon a beautiful white sand beach. What was supposed to be a quick stop turned into a multi-hour stay.
We pumped up our paddleboards and went for a ‘quick paddle’.
The winds got pretty strong, so Big Bro couldn’t paddle back. I tethered his board to mine using my SUP leash, which was a no-no but we weren’t prepared with our usual rope. With him teetering on his board behind mine, and me unleashed to my board, I tentatively made our way to the small island in the center of the lake. I quickly check the map to confirm that this is indeed an island that we can go around, and paddled to the lee of the island for some respite and reorganized ourselves.
I put Big Bro on my board, used his leash to tether the 2 boards, and reattached my leash to myself. This way, I can maintain full control of both of us and not have to look over my shoulder every few minutes to make sure he’s still there, and in the unlikely event of falling in, I will stay with the boards and can rescue the kid.
With this arrangement, I was much more confident and could put more power in my strokes. We got back to our beach and rejoined the group, who were just having a grand time on the beach, unaware of the adrenaline we had on the water.
On our last morning, we went to check out the small Cortez Island Museum. They had a few historic apple trees in the yard and we were invited to pick at will.
We hopped back onto Quadra Island and stopped briefly at the Heriot Bay Inn. A brochure said it costs as low as $1000 a night to book out the entire inn with 10 rooms, 3 cabins, and a 2-br suite (mid-week during the winter season)! If it wasn’t so far from Vancouver, we would seriously consider this for a big family gathering. A 3 bedroom Airbnb anywhere near the Lower Mainland would easily cost more than that.
