British Columbia
Desolation Sound
Prideaux Haven, Desolation Sound Marine Park
Monday, September 12, 2011TheCambrians
Cambria in Roscoe Bay.
There's been a change in the weather overnight and a cooler and stronger breeze is coming from the west which would make kayaking more work than fun so, with only one more afternoon to explore Prideaux Haven, we went for a tiki-tour by dinghy before reluctantly upping anchor and making way for Roscoe Bay with Salubrious following closely behind.
Roscoe Bay, formerly known by the more descriptive name of Salt Lagoon, was home to the Christensen family for 16 years dating back to the late 1920s. The original house, which burnt down in 1928 while the father was away at hospital being treated for a logging injury, was located on Black Lake. They later moved a bunkhouse he purchased from a logger to the lee of a bluff on the north side of Roscoe Bay (circa 1930). Though choosing to live in the wilderness, they weren't alone. A logging operation was set up on the southern shore which was serviced by the Union Steamship on Sundays and Wednesdays and they had neighbours in nearby Prideaux Haven, Galley Bay, Refuge Cove and Pendrell Sound. They also had a radio connecting them to "civilization" which was powered by electricity produced from a water wheel in a flume fed by the creek that ran down from the top of the bluff. For food they grew their own vegetables and tended chickens, pigs, sheep and goats and, like so many other Desolation Sound residents, sold the excess to the store in Refuge Cove. But by 1943 war made it impossible to buy ammunition, something the family couldn't survive without, and they eventually moved down to Texada Island, leaving their home and many possessions behind – none of which are present today.
Only four nautical miles, the trip from Prideaux Haven took less than an hour and, once safely through the narrow, shallow entrance, we dropped our anchor opposite the Christensen homestead. Though we've been here several times, it's the Emmens' first trip and we're eager to share the things we love about the place with them from hiking trails to the freshwater lake ... tomorrow!
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