Capilano Squadron
Capilano Squadron
Sunrise in Secret Cove.
Secret Cove is one of our favourite destination marinas. The staff are friendly, fuel is cheaper than most places and there are many nearby spots to explore and enjoy. It is also possible to reach Secret Cove for a weekend cruise without spending all your time under way.
Secret Cove lies on the Sunshine Coast, just North of Welcome Passage and across from North and South Thormanby Islands. From West Vancouver it is approximately a 40 mile cruise. The marina is well maintained and has a well stocked supply and liquor store right on the docks. Two awesome marine parks lie close to Secret Cove - Smugglers Cove and Buccaneer Bay (click to open Parks Board Sites).
Here is the crew of Kuredu at the Secret Cove docks with the catch of the day - three prawns... This picture was taken April 10, 2004 and as you can see the weather was great!
Smugglers Cove has to be one of the best protected anchorages on the coast and has an inner and outer basin. The inner pond can comfortably hold 10-15 boats if they are stern tied but because of depth issues, most sailing vessels prefer the outer (and deeper) anchorage. Both offer great protection against wind and water conditions. Smugglers Cove does have camping facilities which, because of their distance from public (motor vehicle) access, is usually pretty quiet. The Entrance to Smugglers is narrow but not a problem if you favour the North/West side. The outer anchorage has a few hidden rocks, so check your charts.
A sailing vessel leaving Smugglers Cove.
Buccaneer Bay lies in the natural enclave formed by North and South Thormanby Islands. At all but extreme high tides there is a wonderful sandy beach between the two Islands, which is great for a picnic and the odd game of bocce. The bay is exposed to the North and can get choppy and uncomfortable with a stiff Northerly blowing, but holding is excellent in a sandy and muddy bottom. There is also a fair amount of sheltered anchorage on the Eastern side of the Bay behind some Islets, if you happen to get caught in some rocky water.
The beach on Thormanby.
Our cruise will start on Friday the 6th (public holiday) but it is quite possible to reach Secret Cove on Thursday the 5th after work, if you can sneak a couple of hours off work, as is the plan with the crew of Kuredu. The Squadron will spend Thursday and Friday nights at Secret Cove Marina and Friday Evening will be a pot luck on the docks. I have arranged with Scott, the owner of the marina, to put the Squadron together on their own dock and have provisionally booked the dock, which will hold six larger vessels. If more boats join in, they will move us to a bigger dock. Scott has also agreed to discount fuel for us to the bulk sales price.
Saturday we will move to Smugglers Cove for an evening on the hook. If the weather is as nice as it has been for the past four years over Easter, we will dinghy over to the beach on Buccaneer for a picnic and some games, or you may decide to cruise directly there from Secret, drop the anchor and then move to Smugglers later in the day. I do not expect too many craft in Smugglers but there will be some for sure, so we would have to keep that in mind.
The weather has always been great for our past Easter cruises to Secret Cove and we hope to have the same this year. The typical summer Nor-Westers have not yet settled in at that time and the cruise up the Sunshine Coast should not present a problem. On both the 5th and 6th, the tide will be flooding in the afternoon (approx 10ft tide change, high between 9 and 10 pm), which should give slower vessels a 2-3 kn push. Sunset on the 5th is at 7:45 pm. Lowest tide for the weekend is just under 4 ft, occurring around mid-afternoon each day. Low on Sunday is just before 5:00pm. The tides could not have been more perfect for this cruise.
Please contact me as soon as possible if you want to join the cruise so that I can finalize the docks. If you are unsure about the cruise up the coast or just want to ask questions or make suggestions, feel free to call me at 604-833-0770 (cell).