Discovery Passage, Johnston Strait and Queen Charlotte Strait, BC

North of Campbell River on Vancouver Island, there is a palpable change in the air. The temperatures drop and the population thins out to small towns separated by miles of wilderness. On the water, the hospitable Georgia Basin gives way to Discovery Passage, and then the wild currents and winds of Johnston Strait. To the east, the Discovery Islands are clustered at the head of two large inlets that plunge for a hundred kilometers into the mainland and end in peaks rising to 4000 meters. To the north are Broughton Archipelago (a Provincial Park with ancient Native artifacts), the wide-open spaces of Queen Charlotte Strait, and finally, the tip of Vancouver Island and the Pacific.