Smelt Bay Provincial Park

Smelt Bay boasts 24 creatively placed campsites in a wonderful forest setting. Many of the sites are multi-level tiered sites, with privately located tent pads. A beautiful cook shelter is located in the middle of the campground for all park users to share. This park is ideal for tenters and also works well for small RV’s. Larger RV’s will fit in a few of the sites or can camp in the day-use overflow area. Located on the southern peninsula of Cortes Island, the park is named for the capelin fish that spawn ashore by the tens of thousands. Females lay up to 65,000 eggs on the shore in late September and early October, which hatch in 2 to 3 weeks. These small silver-green, sardine-sized fish draw a variety of other marine life to the area, including salmon, seals, sea lions, seabirds and otters. Gulls, Bald eagles, cormorants, herons and oystercatchers can also be seen here. This scenic park features a beautiful pebble beach that extends from the park frontage at the south end of Smelt Bay around the shoreline to Sutil Point. The beach is backed by mounds which are believed to have been built by Coast Salish First Nations as a form of defense. Smelt Bay is the only provincial campground on remote Cortes Island.

Smelt Bay is located on the southwest side of Cortes Island, 15 km south of the Whaletown Ferry Terminal on Sutil Point Road. This park is accessible by boat and by car via a ferry from Campbell River on central Vancouver Island to Quadra Island (approx 15 minutes), then by another ferry from Quadra Island (Heriot Bay) to Cortes Island (Whaletown), approximately 45 minutes. Once on Cortes, follow signs to the park. Boaters can reference marine chart 3538 and 3539 for more information about this area.