Howe Sound

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Howe Sound is a fjord situated immediately northwest of Vancouver, Canada, fronting on one of the city's suburbs, West Vancouver. The sound is triangular shaped, open on its southeast towards the Strait of Georgia. There are several islands in the sound but three which are large and mountainous in their own right. The steep-sided mainland shores funnel the breezes as the daily thermals build the wind to 20 knots plus at the northern end of the sound on a typical summer day.

Bowen Island is most populous and nearest Vancouver, being just opposite the Horseshoe Bay ferry termninal. At the head of this sound is Squamish, a medium sized forestry town.

Gambier Island is the largest of the Howe Sound islands, to the northwest of Bowen, near the Langdale ferry landing. Gambier Island is in the process of some concentrated development along its eastern shores in Brigade Bay and Douglas Bay. Numerous seasonal homes line the shores of the southern bays (West Bay, Centre Bay, Port Graves, and Halkett Bay) along with several local yacht club outstations in both the southern and northern parts of the island. The western shore of Gambier and its adjacent Thornborough Channel is still largely taken up by log booms and forestry activity.

A third, smaller but extremely steep and conical island to the northeast of both is Hat Island, or officially Anvil Island. Anvil Island boasts a number of seasonal homes, primarily in the southern bay formed by a prominent eastward projecting peninsula. The north facing bay of this peninsula is exposed to strong overnight and winter outflow northerly winds.

Keats Island, near Gibson's Landing, has numerous summer homes lining its shores, in addition to a large church camp for children, a large retreat resort and Plumper Cove Marine Provincial Park. The island is serviced by water taxi from Langdale. There is a small core of permanent residents living in Eastbourne.

Between Keats and Bowen Islands lie the Paisely group, a cluster of privately owned islands, each with a scattering of seasonal homes. Further southeast lies Worlcombe Island, also seasonally inhabited.

Just north of Horseshoe Bay lies Bowyer Island, another steep sided island with seasonal homes along its south and west shores.

Uninhabited islands in the northern section of Howe Sound include the Defence Islands, a pair of rocky islands that are part of a First Nations reserve.

Christie Islet and Pam Rocks just south of Anvil Island are recognized bird breeding sites and a great place to view seals sunning themselves. Pam Rocks is a reporting weather station for the marine weather system. Winter northerly gales can reach close to hurricane force here

Between Gambier Island and the Port Mellon mill lies Woolridge Island, privately owned with a single residence ashore.

[edit] Transportation

The Sea-to-Sky Highway, BC Highway 99, runs along the east shore of Howe Sound, linking the Lower Mainland, Lions Bay, Squamish and finally Whistler, British Columbia, approx. 110km North of Vancouver. Pemberton is about 20 minutes beyond at the terminus of the Sea-to-Sky Highway's designation. From Pemberton to Lillooet is known as the Duffey Lake Road, one of only four paved routes out of the Lower Mainland to the Interior. In preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics, this highway is being upgraded to what will ultimately be a four-lane divided highway (with some three-lane sections) all the way from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler. The first section, between Horseshoe Bay and Lions Bay, opened in December 2005. Also following the east shore, and built before and below the highway, is the former British Columbia Railway which was recently sold by the provincial government to the Canadian National Railway Company.

BC Ferries offers regularly scheduled ferry service between Horseshoe Bay and Langdale and between Horseshoe Bay and Snug Cove on Bowen Island. There is also water taxi service to Horseshoe Bay, Langdale, Bowen Island, Gambier Island and Keats Island.

[edit] History

Howe Sound historically has been the domain of the Squamish First Nation, although the waters and the shores of its southeastern end are part of Sechelt territory. Both the Squamish and Sechelt are part of the Coast Salish. It was first entered by Captain George Vancouver in 1792. Captain Vancouver named Mount Garibaldi, the triangular-spired volcano at the head of the sound, for the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was popular with liberal British opinion at the time.

The Pacific Great Eastern Railway between Squamish and Lillooet was constructed 1912-16. Squamish was originally named Newport but the name of the local people quickly became established. Railway connections to North Vancouver were completed in the 1950s, with a highway built in the later 1960s that was the precursor to today's Sea-to-Sky Highway.

[edit] Industry and towns

Squamish is a major deepwater port. It was the original southern terminus of the BCR in the days when it was the Pacific Great Eastern, and had a busy ferry terminal where travellers would disembark from ferries and steamers bringing them in from Vancouver harbour. In the 1960s a road was finally pushed through and the infamous Sea-to-Sky highway was born. This made the former steamer service unnecessary. Once a thriving forestry town, with recent cutbacks in logging along with the closure and dismantling of a major sawmill in 2004, Squamish has become a tourist destination and a commuter community for workers in nearby Whistler and Vancouver. The recently announced closure of the Woodfibre pulp mill in 2006 signals an end to the resource based economy here. Squamish is a world centre for rock climbing, with the 1500' bulk of the Stawamus Chief, a huge rock formation always busy with climbers, along with other formations overlooking downtown and the head of Howe Sound. In addition,the strong winds and flat waters at the upper end of Howe Sound have made Squamish a mecca for windsurfers, kite boarders and keelboat sailors.

Brackendale, just north of Squamish on the way to Whistler is well known for its winter Bald Eagle population. Hundreds of visitors daily roam the river dykes for frequent sightings of these magnificent birds from November to January.

Just south of town along Highway 99 is Shannon Falls, a popular tourist attraction, and Darrell Bay, which is the ferry dock for service to the pulp mill at Woodfibre, across the sound. Woodfibre has no road access. From the early 1900s til 1973 there was a tight community surrounding the mill where most employees lived. By 1975 all employees had relocated, most to Squamish, and the town was dismantled. Over the next 30 years the mill slowly expanded into the former townsite, but it is now slated for closure in early 2006.

Porteau Cove is a provincial campsite and also a location for scuba diving, as artificial reefs have been sunk in the area.

Furry Creek is the location of a new upscale golf course and resort development. Proposals for a new highway from Vancouver via the Capilano River watershed would emerge on Highway 99 at Furry Creek. However, the fact that this route traverses the Lower Mainland's Capilano watershed creates nearly insurmountable political obstacles to its construction.

Lions Bay is an upscale residential community, incorporated as a village, climbing the mountainside from Howe Sound up to the west peak of the pair of summits known as The Lions, which overlook Vancouver on the other side.

Near Squamish is Brttannia Beach, a semi-abandoned gold and copper mining town and port with some highway-based eateries and stores. Britannia Mines was once the largest copper mine in the British Commonwealth. It ceased operations in 1973. Its name does not come directly from associations with Britain, but from the MV Britannia, the old Vancouver-Squamish steamer (A new MV Britannia built in 1983 is in use as a tourboat based in Coal Harbour, Vancouver). Today the mine mill site is a popular B.C. Mining Museum, with mine shaft tours, gold panning etc. The prominent multi-story mine building is currently (2005 - 2006) undergoing restoration with the replacement of hundreds of window panes. The former mine site is also frequently used as a shooting site for a variety of TV and movie productions, most notably the near-cultish X-Files TV series.

Horseshoe Bay is the first residential and commercial district of West Vancouver to be encountered southbound on the Sea-to-Sky Highway. The highway clings to the cliffside above the ferry terminal of the British Columbia Ferry Corporation in downtown Horseshoe Bay, which features restaurants, tourist shops and galleries, a pub or two and recreational marinas.

The peninsula southwest of Horseshoe Bay, British Columbia terminates at Whytecliffe, a ritzy residential area and public park, which is the southern point of Howe Sound's east shore, south of which is the northwestern part of English Bay. Also in the vicinity just southeast is Lighthouse Park. Ferries from Horseshoe Bay, British Columbia go to Departure Bay in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, Bowen Island, and Langdale on the Sunshine Coast, which is the ferry terminal for greater Sechelt.

Just north of Langdale is Port Mellon, another pulp and paper mill somewhat larger than Woodfibre. Port Mellon, which, unlike Woodfibre, produces paper and pulp (and is serviced by road from Gibsons/Langdale) is one of the oldest operating mills in B.C.. The recent announcement of Woodfibre's closure included measures securing the fibre supply for Port Mellon, making its future considerably more secure.

At the southwest "corner" of Howe Sound, just a few kilometres south of the Langdale Ferry terminal is the charming town of Gibsons. Home to most of Port Mellon employees, it is a growing town with picturesque waterfront views and charming restaurants. Gibsons is perhaps best known as the locale for the immensely popular former CBC Television series The Beachcombers. The restaurant featured in the series, "Molly's Reach", remains open for business today.