Desolation Sound

The water that warms enough to swim in. Desolation Sound is the destination most Pacific Northwest cruisers point to when asked where they’d go if they only had one summer. Glacial inlets, granite walls, mountain backdrops, and water in the high 70s by late July — a quirk of geography no other cruising area in this range can claim. Prideaux Haven, Tenedos Bay, Roscoe Bay, Squirrel Cove. Refuge Cove for fuel and ice cream. Stern ties are the rule; depth drops away fast off the granite. Captain Vancouver named it Desolation because he was hungry and tired. He would have been wrong about the food today.