British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast isn’t really all that far from the urban sprawl of Vancouver and, although it is part of the mainland, it feels more like a rugged, remote island. There is no road access except by car ferry. A few small anchorages, with names like Smuggler Cove and Secret Cove, hint at a wild and colourful past as you work your way north to the magnificent natural harbour that has been revered for its natural beauty for more than 100 years. With its stunning views and fascinating history, it’s little wonder Pender Harbour is a beloved destination for cruising boaters all along the Pacific coast.

Back in 1891 the Vancouver News-Adviser described this area just north of Vancouver in eloquent terms. “Scarcely any place could be more naturally adapted for holidaying than this beautiful waterfront location, which has the distinction of being the first landlocked harbour on the mainland north of Vancouver deep enough for ocean vessels.”

Pender Harbour was once the winter capital of the Salish nation, specifically the Shishalh tribe, or Sechelt people. In 1800, before European contact, the local population topped 5,000 people – more than it is now. During summer, the Shishalh people fished for salmon, hunted venison and gathered berries, all of which were dried for winter use. Winter was a time to celebrate, and Pender Harbour served as the principal gathering place for many tribes along the Sunshine Coast. Dances and potlatches lasting weeks or months, spiritual coming-of-age rituals and performances by medicine men helped to pass the long, rainy months.

From 1857 to 1870, Staff Commander Daniel Pender of the Royal Navy carried out the challenging task of surveying the BC coast aboard the vessels Plumper, Hecate and Beaver. He was likely the first mariner to blaze the now-standard route followed by modern-day explorers making their way from the south. You round the Francis Peninsula and first see Martin Island. Then to starboard, Charles and Williams Islands guard the entrance to Pender Harbour.

There is certainly a lot more to this beautiful area now than there was in Pender’s day. With Williams Island to starboard, peek inside the first bay on your port side and you’ll find historic Irvine’s Landing, now a marina and pub. Throughout most of the harbour, depths are less than 50 feet, and you’ll want to keep an eye on your chart as you negotiate your way around the Skardon Islands. But then the harbour opens up; Hospital Bay, Garden Bay, Madeira Park and Gerrans Bay offer appealing options for anchorage. The most popular stop is in Garden Bay, where the north shore holds a marine park with a dinghy dock. There is also a pub and restaurant in this bay, as well as a few marinas and yacht club outstations.

At Madeira Park, you’ll find a large public dock where most of the local fishing fleet ties up. While moorage for a larger boat can be difficult to land here, there is always room to secure a dinghy. Seafarer’s Park sits at the top of the dock, adjacent to the boat-launching ramp. From here it is a short walk to a supermarket, a drug store, numerous cafés and a tourist information booth. If Pender Harbour has a downtown, then Madeira Park is it.

Pender Harbour has never been a single community, but a series of unique villages scattered around the sprawling harbour. For the first half-century of their existence, the only communication between these settlements was by boat, or by a few rough trails through the thick forest. While Pender Harbour became locally known as the “Venice of the North,” life in the early years was hardly easy due to the challenging landscape, sliced by fjords and framed by mountains. It took a special breed of person to endure the isolation, handle the rugged terrain and work with the challenging soil. Eking out a living required patience and imagination.

Charlie Irvine (for whom the present-day landing is named) is considered by most to be the first European settler in the area, having arrived in the 1860s. He built a log trading post, then sold his property in 1904 – for the princely sum of six dollars an acre – to an enterprising sailor and fisherman, “Portuguese” Joe Gonsalves and his Salishan wife, Susan Harris. Irvine may have been the first on the scene, but it was Joe and his son-in-law, Theodore Dames, who really developed the area. Together, they built a deep-sea dock, general store, post office and hotel/saloon at the head of the wharf. The Union Steamship Company made the settlement a regular stop early in the 20th century, marking the beginning of Pender Harbour’s real presence on the map. Further up the harbour, and on the opposite side, Joe obtained another 160 acres of land. Many years later, his daughter Theresa named her father’s homestead Madeira Park — now the community’s centre.

Another early settler, Robert Donley, began a chicken ranch on Edgecombe Island, at the mouth of Bargain Bay at about the same time. To market eggs, he paddled canoe-loads of them out to passing steamers for delivery to Vancouver. He also started a herring fishing operation and, finally, a store at Donley Landing in Pender Harbour.

There were settlements of Japanese families in Pender Harbour by this time as well, along with several colonies of Scottish farmers and fishermen. Because of the difficulty in making a living, the area became known as Hardscratch. Business continued to develop though. George Duncan started a blacksmith shop in Duncan Cove, and Harry Dusenbury opened a machine shop, boat repair and sealing operation on Dusenbury Island in 1905. By 1917, there were communities of draft dodgers living in the nearby hills, escaping the Canadian government’s conscription bill to support the first world war.

Then came the yachting set. By the 1920s, the Rogers family of sugar refinery fame had built several summer homes around the harbour, and they arrived in their 50-foot yacht each summer. Their presence, and their properties, were a magnet for high society friends, and the people of Pender Harbour were witness to a steady parade of arriving and departing yachts each summer.

Pender Harbour has also attracted its share of writers. Novelist Bertrand Sinclair originally travelled to Pender Harbour in search of isolation, so he could finish a difficult book. He liked the area so much he stayed, and became known as the Pender Harbour Cowboy – a tribute to his western-themed novels. Sinclair even managed to woo some of his writing friends to move there, including Stewart Edward White, Lee Peck, and Erle Stanley Gardner of Perry Mason fame. In 1941, Elizabeth Smart disembarked from the Lady Cynthia and took up residence in the old Irvine’s Landing schoolhouse, alone. In this tight little community, she immediately became the topic of much gossip. She had arrived with trunks full of evening dresses and, soon after her arrival, was obviously pregnant. It turned out she had left her home in Ontario, travelled the world, lived in Mexico and California and was now carrying the child of a married English poet following a steamy love affair. He visited her here only once. It was this heartbreak which inspired Ms Smart’s celebrated novel, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept.

If you turn into Garden Bay you will find, in the northeast corner next to the Seattle Yacht Club outstation, the humble cottage where Edith Iglauer, author of Fishing with John still lives. It is not difficult to imagine yourself, living in quiet isolation here, coaxing that next Pulitzer prize-winning novel from the depths of the mind.

Sometimes destinations stir deep emotions, provoking response, moving the boater to look beyond the here and now. That’s Pender Harbour. When you arrive today you will see a few modern homes along the shoreline, peeking out along the hills. But it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see it as Staff Commander Daniel Pender or Charlie Irvine did back in the 1800s — a gorgeous, pristine harbour full of promise.

- Ian Cook