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Italian-Japanese at Kissa Tanto
Me Time
Far-Coast Escape: Powell River, Lund & Desolation Sound
The literal end of Highway 101: two ferries, cardamom buns, Hawaii-blue water at Savary Island, and glassy Desolation Sound fjords.
Me Time
The literal end of Highway 101: two ferries, cardamom buns, Hawaii-blue water at Savary Island, and glassy Desolation Sound fjords.
The end of Highway 101 sounds like a bureaucratic dead end until you learn the highway also starts at the tip of Argentina, which reframes Lund considerably. You need two ferries to get here, and the second one is when the Sunshine Coast starts to feel like its own country. Lund is a tiny fishing village of cardamom buns and bobbing boats, and the official launch point for Desolation Sound, a marine park with some of the warmest swimming water in coastal North America. Take a water taxi to Savary Island for white sand and Hawaii-blue shallows. Paddle into glassy fjords. Then anchor the trip in Powell River, with its quirky heritage Townsite and lake swims. This is far enough to actually unplug, warm enough to actually swim, and calm enough to actually breathe.
door to door
~4-5 hrs door to door incl. two ferries
from Vancouver
135 km
how long
2-3 nights
best window
July-September
BC Ferries Horseshoe Bay -> Langdale (40 min), drive ~1.5 hrs up Hwy 101 to Earls Cove, then BC Ferries Earls Cove -> Saltery Bay (50 min), then ~30 min to Powell River and ~25 min more to Lund. You pay outbound at the outer terminals (Horseshoe Bay and Saltery Bay); the return legs at Langdale and Earls Cove are free. The Horseshoe Bay->Langdale leg can be reserved online; Earls Cove->Saltery Bay is first-come, so leave buffer between the two.
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