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North Vancouver Island
Port McNeill
Known as the gateway to the Broughton Archipelago, Port McNeill is a launch point for kayakers, boaters, and pleasure crafts, as well as the departure point for ferries sailing to Malcolm Island (Sointula) and Cormorant Island (Alert Bay). While still a hub for the forestry industry, Port McNeill has become a centre for outdoor recreation and eco-tourism, serving as a base for wildlife viewing, whale watching, bear watching, fresh and salt water fishing, diving, kayaking, and hiking, including the North Coast Trail and at San Josef Bay in Cape Scott Provincial Park.
In town, you will find shops, galleries, accommodation, a museum, full-service marina, and harbour with a year-round Visitor Centre. A stroll along the seawall leads to the School House Creek Trail and a protected fish habitat. Photo opportunities include a 1938 steam donkey and the world’s largest burl, weighing 24 tons and estimated at more than 525 years old. A second burl is located five minutes northbound from town. Also nearby, the 3.5-hectare Shephard’s Garden showcases perennials, annuals, shrubs, and trees, as well as a forest trail to the Nimpkish River.
Alert Bay
Alert Bay is a centre for Kwakwaka’wakw culture and history. The permanent exhibit at the U’mista Cultural Centre showcases the famed Potlatch Collection of ceremonial regalia, taken by Canadian authorities in 1922 during the potlatch ban era and finally returned in 1980. A walk through town brings you to the ‘Namgis Burial Grounds to see memorial and other totem poles (please view from the roadside only). The world’s tallest totem pole is located next to the traditional ‘Namgis Big House and other totem poles and archways are located throughout the island. Traditional dance performances by the T’sasala Cultural Group are held Thursday through Saturday in July and August. The Alert Bay Library-Museum has over 6,000 photographs of local history and displays items of early settlement years. The ecological park features a cedar boardwalk over a marsh with biking and hiking trails. Visit art galleries and gift shops and see the historic buildings along the waterfront; a new boardwalk stretches from the ‘Namgis Burial Grounds to the Anglican Church. Whale and wildlife watching tours are available. Please note that proper permission is needed to visit the historical sites of the Kwakwaka’wakw; this can be obtained by calling the local First Nation offices or the U’mista Cultural Centre.
Sointula
More than a century ago, Finnish immigrants with utopian dreams settled on Malcolm Island in Sointula, a quaint, charming community where old net lofts line the waterfront. Visit the art galleries and stop by the Sointula Museum, which details the history of the community and its transformation from a Finnish commune to the eclectic community of today. Outdoor opportunities include hiking the five-kilometre Beautiful Bay Trail from the Bere Point Campsite or the three-kilometre Mateoja Heritage Trail. Beachcombers delight in discovering the shoreline in Bere Point Regional Park, home to a whale-viewing platform above the beach that the orcas are known to rub. Many other publicly accessed beaches surround the island. Cycle rentals, boat charters, accommodation, and groceries are available.
Port Alice
Built on a mountainside, picturesque Port Alice affords excellent views of Neroutsos Inlet, a waterway renowned for exceptional saltwater fishing, kayaking, and diving. Port Alice is also a gateway to the Island’s wild west coast where you can explore via logging road or boat areas such as Side Bay, Gooding Cove, Brooks Peninsula, and Klaskino Inlet.
Within the village, the wheelchair-accessible Seawalk is a wonderful place to stroll, picnic, watch wildlife, or journey to Walk-out Island at low tide. If you are keen to get out on the water, fishing and wildlife viewing charters are available. Visit the Tourism and Heritage Centre for unique local gifts, and tee off at the a challenging nine-hole golf course.
Nearby, the Marble River Campsite, Link River and Spruce Bay Campsites on Alice Lake, Victoria Lake, and the Port Alice RV Park are favourites for freshwater fishing, camping, swimming, and outdoor recreation. The Marble River Trail features a hiking trail to Bear Falls, and mountain bikers and hikers can experience the Rumble Mountain Bike Trail, offering beginner and advanced downhill and cross-country trails. Explorers love Devil’s Bath, Disappearing River, and Eternal Fountain, rare limestone formations that are part of a karst system that honeycombs the region.
Port Hardy
The largest community in the North Island region, Port Hardy is home to a variety of local businesses and industry. Its thriving cultural activity and strong community spirit attracts travellers and adventurers from across the globe. While the North Island Highway (Highway 19) ends in Port Hardy, the community is also the starting point for northern adventures by plane, boat, and ferry sailings through the Inside Passage to Prince Rupert, Bella Coola and Haida Gwaii.
In town, check out the shops, boutiques, art galleries, and local museum, and visit the First Nation Copper Maker Gallery at Fort Rupert to see master carvers at work. The Quatse Salmon Stewardship Centre has expanded its exhibit gallery, adding many new interactive displays, a theatre, and Corey’s Wall, a display of ocean creatures from around the area that help make up the underwater ecosystem.
Year-round adventures include saltwater and freshwater fishing, diving, kayaking, and hiking, including land-shuttle and water-taxi services to Cape Scott Provincial Park and the North Coast Trail. Port Hardy also offers some of the most exciting caving in the world; ask at the Visitor Centre for information and guides. Other activities include air and boat tours, whale watching, grizzly viewing tours, and picnics at Storey’s Beach or in Carrot Park.
Coal Harbour/Quatsino
Coal Harbour, a 20-minute drive on a paved road from Port Hardy, has gone through several incarnations: a coal-mining town, a seaplane base for the Royal Canadian Air Force, a whaling station (the last one in Canada), and a copper-mining town. Now Coal Harbour is a peaceful
place to fish, kayak, bird watch, and explore. Highlights include a Royal Air Force Memorial, a 6.15-metre (20-foot) jawbone from a blue whale, and a museum at the floatplane base. It also has a growing artisan community encompassing a range of arts.
A quick water-taxi ride from Coal Harbour, Quatsino was first settled in the late 1800s. St. Olaf’s Anglican Church, built in 1896 as a one-room schoolhouse and then converted to a church, is an interesting historic site, along with the old graveyard. The museum displays collections focusing on natural, First Nations, and colonial history, as well as the area’s industrial history. Nature lovers enjoy 654-hectare Quatsino Provincial Park.
Holberg
West of Port Hardy, a gravel logging road leads to Holberg, the access point to Cape Scott Provincial Park and the North Coast Trail. At one time, Holberg was one of the world’s largest floating logging camps; now the logging is land-based. Holberg highlights include the Shoe Tree, an old cedar snag covered with hundreds of shoes contributed by hikers returning from the Cape Scott Trail, and Ronning’s Garden, a two-hectare homestead property established in 1910. Bernt Ronning, the original homesteader, cleared five acres of the rainforest and ordered seeds and cuttings from trees from around the world. The restoration of the garden is ongoing, with new trees and plants sprouting up frequently.
Winter Harbour
Winter Harbour is a friendly fishing and logging village that offers some great activities on land and in the waterways and is especially renowned for sport fishing. The cedar boardwalk presents excellent bird watching opportunities, and the Botel Park Trail grants gorgeous views of Forward Inlet and the Pacific Ocean. Winter Harbour is accessed by boat from Quatsino Sound, by floatplane, and by vehicle via a gravel logging road.
Farther North and East
The North Island region extends northeast to include Broughton Archipelago, a portion of the mainland coast from Bute Inlet to Calvert Island in Hakai Pass, Rivers Inlet, and all the islands in the Johnstone and Queen Charlotte Straits. The marine resorts in the area, many of which are floating communities, are boating destinations. Wilderness adventure resorts accessible by boat and floatplane offer complete vacation packages.
For information on the North Island, visit SeeVancouverIsland.com.
North Island
North Island
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North Central Island
North Island
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