Broughton Archipelago by Canoe: Planning

Planning for a 9 day canoe trip around Broughton Archipelago Marine Provincial Park in British Columbia with my wife, Claire (7 months pregnant) and our dog, Zoa

Broughton Archipelago Marine Provincial Park covers a large area off the North end of Vancouver Island, where a number of channels and inlets open out into Queen Charlotte Strait. The park consists of hundreds of islands forming a complex labyrinth of channels and passages - all with their own characteristics and currents as the tides come in/out. Pair that with Pacific Ocean weather, some big crossings and a remote wilderness setting and you've got a recipe for a big adventure!

I first noticed Broughton Archipelago a couple of years ago after a 7 day trip around Desolation Sound. I was looking for places we could do similar remote canoe trips and Broughton Archipelago found it's way to the top of the list very quickly. With a baby on the way and big adventures about to take a back seat, this seemed like our last opportunity for a while.

Preparation 

Research

There's a lot of info out there on forums, blogs and YouTube, but everything I found was kayaking, nothing about canoeing. So I joined the BC Canoeing Facebook Group to ask a few questions.

I had 3 main takeaways which hadn't really been considerations on previous trips:

1. I needed a marine radio - and a license to use it - to check for large vessel traffic on a couple of the channel crossings, check for weather updates and to expedite a rescue.
2. I needed to study and understand current tables to help plan what time of day we can travel - vs just relying on tide tables. 
3. We can't rely on there being any fresh water around.

There are also 2 big differences on this trip which I haven't had to deal with before, and will definitely make this trip more challenging:

1. Claire is 7 months pregnant. This means our plan needs to stay very flexible since we don't know where Claire's energy/comfort levels will be. We also need to stay more conservative and not travel in challenging conditions - meaning we may need to hunker down and stay put for a few days if weather is bad. 
2. This time we have our dog, Zoa. She's only done 3 days in a canoe before, and only once on the Ocean where she ate a starfish whole and got a very upset stomach. We need to keep a close eye on her and make sure she doesn't get into mischief (common occurrence).

Tides and Currents

I'm used to dealing with tides and timing our travel to correspond with the tide's movement, but I've never had to consider currents before. To be honest, this confused the hell out of me to start with since it often doesn't line up with tides at all. 

You can see all tide and current stations on the Government of Canada website.

Tide heights (m)

Tide Delta (green means less change and should be a better time to travel - not factoring currents)

What I've learned is that, unlike tide charts which are specific to a wide area, current charts are specific to a certain geographical feature, like a narrow passage, and the forecasted areas are very limited. For Broughton Archipelago I was only able to find charts for Weynton passage and Blackney passage (see volume 6). Note that the current times are in UTC-8 - not summer time.

The currents in Blackney Passage seem to peak close to the turn of the tide for our dates - when I would have expected the current to be the calmest and when I would usually choose to travel.

Current chart for Blackney Passage - Date, Turn time, Peak time, Peak Knots

Long story short, for the small areas where we have current charts, we'll go by those charts and try to use the currents to our advantage. Everywhere else we'll have to rely on the tide charts and make our own observations on the currents. 

Communication

In the past I've relied on my InReach to check-in, check weather, send messages or trigger SOS. 

Since accessing Broughton Archipelago requires us to cross a few shipping lanes, I thought it would be a good idea to have a marine radio so we can call Victoria Traffic Services and check for any large vessel traffic before crossing. 

To operate a marine radio, you need a ROC(M) (Radio Operator Certificate - Marine). I did a self study course that I found on the Canadian Power and Sail Squadron website for $125 including 1 hour Zoom exam.

Fresh Water

There is none, or at least we can't rely on there being any. The summer of 2023 has been very dry so far, so finding any running water along our route is uncertain. For that reason we need to carry all our drinking and cooking water for the whole 9 days - about 45L or an additional 45kg in our canoe. 

Route

For route planning, I used the BC Marine Trails website which maps out common camping spots, stops of interest, launch sites, etc. This is a great resource with a ton of useful information. I then mapped everything out on Gaia so I could access the map from my phone and share it with Claire/emergency contacts.

Since we have 9 days, I figured I would plan for 7 days on the water and 2 contingency days. That way we can take a rest day if we're tired, or wait out bad weather. 

The route can be done in either direction depending on the weather. The western leg is more exposed and we'll need good weather to do that portion. 

Gear

As always we're renting a 17.6ft Hellman Prospector from David Middleton in North Vancouver. I've found this canoe to be fast, stable and has tons of space... for the 130kg worth of food, water and gear were taking!

The good thing about the gear is that there's not much difference between a 3 day trip and a 9 day trip. We need a bit more toilet paper,  sunscreen and fuel, but other than that my usual packing list was fairly unchanged.

The only gear I had to buy specifically for this trip was a Marine Radio and a 20L water carrier. The rest we already had. 

Food

Food is, by far, the heaviest (except water) and most complex piece of the puzzle.

I wanted to build in enough variety while ensuring everything was not too heavy, could be cooked on a small stove, and would survive without being in a fridge for 9 days. Here's the food plan

I've planned for oatmeal/granola for breakfast, sandwiches/wraps for lunches, and half fresh meals/half dehydrated meals for the dinners. Everything goes in the 60L barrel except cheese/meat/hummus etc. which goes in a cool bag.

And there it all is. 40kg water, 25kg barrel, 20kg large dry bag, and 45kg worth of other stuff. Not to mention 2 adults and a dog! We're definitely going to be riding low on this one.