June 18th Thursday

From: Cockburn Bay, Nelson Island            To: Smugglers Cove
Start time: 0630        Finish time: 1500      Distance: 31 km
Tide: Pender Harbour
0144    3.3
0632    4.2
1338    0.8
2958    4.7

I got up at 5:00 a.m. and made myself a cup of coffee and a bowl of oats and set off for the day around 6:30. What a life! I could do this all summer. I paddled down to the other end of the beach to check out an old ship loader. It looks like it was once used to load gravel from a pit that operated here a number of years ago. The rusting structure could be a bit of a hazard and will likely topple over sometime in the near future.

Rusting ship loader

     It was a glassy flat day with a few clouds in the sky as I made my way into Pender Harbour to buy some lunch.

Another beautiful morning for a paddle 

Pender Harbour

As I approached Hospital Bay I got sidetracked by an old biplane on floats, a very unusual piece of history in a not so likely location. After a hamburger and fries I was off again down the coast. It started to rain just as I was entering Smugglers Cove Provincial Park. This is a very cool little cove. I kept thinking I had reached the end of the bay only to find another corner to turn.

Entering Smugglers Cove

Around another corner in Smugglers Cove 

Around another corner and through a passage behind the cabin to find the campsite

It got its name from a guy named Larry Kelly who came to Canada after fighting for the confederates in the Civil War. Using smugglers Cove as his base, he smuggled Chinese railroad workers (who where recently laid off from the newly completed CPR) into the US. Apparently he would tie them to a heavy piece of pig iron, so that he could dispose of any evidence if approached by the authorities. The Cove was latter used by rumrunners to hide out during prohibition in the US.
There where quite a few people here hiking the trails when I arrived but later in the evening I was the only one left and had the sites to myself. I set up camp and ate dinner under my rain tarp and went to bed around 8:30 listening to the rain on my tent as I faded off to sleep.