Explore Islands, Waterways, Wildlife, and Culture
Vancouver Island tours are a magnet for people who love nature and culture.

At 300 miles long, the Island's diversity runs from dry rocky bluffs with spectacular views to moist rainforest valleys.

Its inside passage includes hundreds of islands, passages, wildlife haul-outs, beaches and channels.

Its cultures are 10,000-plus years old - the world of the Coast Salish in the south and the Kwakwala speaking peoples in the north. More recent culture includes the frontier people of European descent and a vibrant modern culinary industry, from wineries and organic farms to mariculture and wild foods.

Vancouver Island's widlife runs from bears to whales, other marine mammals, and scores of bird species, all of which you may have the opportunity to see on this tour, with the guidance of an expert naturalist.

This multi-day cruise tour of Vancouver Island's inside passage on the 92-foot sailing ship Maple Leaf is an odyssey through both time and nature.

The Key Sights of Vancouver Island’s “Inside Passage”

You'll board the Maple Leaf in Sidney, B.C. With her welcoming and world-renowned crew, you’ll spend several days cruising up Vancouver Island’s diverse coast.

You’ll have a unique, up-close experience of the key sights of Vancouver Island’s “inside passage”:

• Remote Gulf Islands never passed by the ferry
• Spectacular Samsun Narrows where Vancouver Is. cliffs almost meet Saltspring Is.’s remote west coast
• Nanaimo, Georgia Strait and the northern Gulf Is.
• Seymour Narrows and the site of Ripple Rock (world’s largest non-nuclear explosion)
• Johnstone Strait and mainland mountain ranges
• Villages & islands of the Broughton Archipelago

Along the way, Maple Leaf will anchor and crew will take you to explore ashore - in the Gulf Islands, Discovery Islands, and the Broughton Archipelago.

You’ll see the change in landscape as the ship transits Seymour Narrows. As a guest, you’re welcome to relax in the wheelhouse and learn from Maple Leaf's crew how navigation decisions are made.

 

Natural Spectacles

You’ll see a diversity of ecosystems: from the warm southern Gulf Islands to the steep-sloped rainforest islands of the Broughton Archipelago.

Wildlife you may observe includes: seabirds (cormo- rants, sea ducks, eagles, herons, gulls and more), har- bour seals, harbour porpoises, Dall’s porpoises, pacific white-sided dolphins, killer whales and black bears.

 

A Classic Coastal Ship

The Maple Leaf is a classic schooner, built in Vancouver in 1904 as the coast’s most expensive yacht.

She’s been a race-winning society schooner, a tough halibut long- liner, and an award-winning adventure cruise ship. As well as being a piece of coastal history, Maple Leaf is a well-engineered, one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted ship -- a work of art. She has been operating award-winning adventure cruises of BC and Alaska since 1986.

Her chef prepares superb meals and her crew and naturalist are friendly, fun and professional.

 

Part 1 of the Coastal Supervoyage

This trip can be booked independently, or it can be taken as part 1 of the Coastal Supervoyage.

Part 2 of the Coastal Supervoyage continues north through the Great Bear Rainforest.

Together, these two journeys take you the length of the spectacular BC coast, from the warm Gulf Islands to the fjords and rainforests of the north.

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