Telegraph Cove Resort Marina

Telegraph Cove is a place that earns its reputation. The cove itself is barely a quarter mile wide, notched into the east side of Vancouver Island where the Johnstone Strait narrows between the island and the mainland mountains. What makes it unmistakable is the boardwalk — 800 feet of historic planking that wraps the harbour, with heritage buildings and cottages cantilevered over the water on stilts, most of them dating to the early sawmill and saltery days of the 1920s and 1930s.

The site began in 1911-12 as a telegraph line station, the northern terminus of the Campbell River line. Bobby Cullerne was the first settler, maintaining the cables in that lonely cove and giving it its name. Commercial enterprise followed in 1922 when Alfred Marmaduke Wastell established the Broughton Lumber and Trading Company and a chum salmon saltery. By mid-century the industries had wound down, and the buildings sat deteriorating until 1979, when Gordon and Marilyn Graham purchased the old structures and began transforming them into a resort. They preserved the character of the place — bunkhouses became cottages, the old warehouse became the Whale Interpretive Centre, and the boardwalk became one of the last surviving examples of this kind of stilt-village community in British Columbia.

On New Year's Eve 2024, a fire destroyed a significant portion of the boardwalk, including the Old Saltery Pub, the Killer Whale Cafe, and the Whale Interpretive Centre — which housed the largest hanging collection of marine mammal skeletons in Western Canada. The resort committed to a full rebuild. The marina dock was completed in December 2025, and Telegraph Cove reopened for the 2026 season with accommodation, marina, and outdoor programming all operational. The rebuilt restaurant and pub were expected to open later in the 2026 season.

For cruising boaters, Telegraph Cove remains one of the great waypoints. The marina is small-boat oriented — slips accommodate vessels up to about 25 feet, with gasoline available at the dock (no diesel, no shore power). It is within a short walk of whale watching operators, kayak rentals, grizzly bear viewing tours (Tide Rip Grizzly Tours runs day trips to Knight Inlet via Glendale Cove), and the rebuilt dining options.

The whale watching here is world-class. Johnstone Strait and the adjacent Robson Bight — Michael Bigg Ecological Reserve are among the most reliable places on the planet to encounter northern resident orca. The rubbing beaches inside Robson Bight (closed to the public to protect the habitat) draw orca pods reliably through summer. BC's first commercial whale-watching company, Stubbs Island Whale Watching, launched here in 1980 and operated out of Telegraph Cove for nearly four decades. Multiple operators now offer tours from the cove, running hydrophone-equipped vessels to listen to orca and humpback calls underwater.

The Orca Lab, a land-based research station on Hanson Island at the west entrance to Johnstone Strait, has monitored orca acoustics continuously since the 1970s — its work is what made Robson Bight famous and ultimately led to the ecological reserve designation.

For larger vessels, a separate facility — Telegraph Cove Marina (telegraphcove.ca) — operates at the same cove with 70 slips up to 65 feet, VHF 66, and shore power. Visiting boats over 25 feet should contact that facility.