A Rejuvenated Port Browning Marina

An enticing Gulf Islands destination

By Marianne Scott

still awaiting the holiday crowds who’d registered for berths. We tied up and stepped onto the new dock lined with fibreglass mini mesh, a favourite dock covering that often replaces plank docks.

“The mesh allows light to penetrate below the docks,” said marina general manager Ryan MacLeod, “and that’s good for the critters and plant life below.” Having once jumped off our boat onto frosty wood planks and landing painfully on my back, I much prefer the non-slip mesh. Its flat surface makes it easier to push carts with supplies for your get-aways and its practicality also makes it simpler for marina crew to maintain.

The extra dock space, added in 2023, will be dedicated primarily to transient vessels while the pre-existing allow visiting vessels to tie stern-to, creating ample space for holiday traffic and rendezvous.

The new docks are anchored by heavy steel pilings and have 30 and 50-amp plugs, as well as fire-prevention standpipes. Like the other Gulf Island marinas, drinking water is at a premium, especially after this year’s dry spring. You may be able to add a few litres to your tank, but filling big water tanks or washing your boat is definitely off the menu. You can, however, get wifi throughout the marina area.

On the way in, we passed four concrete wave attenuators that protect the marina from the strong south-easterlies that can funnel up the bay. Gulls, crows and other avians have used the platforms to drop, break and then devour shellfish, creating the beginnings when a canal was dug across its connecting isthmus in 1902 and 1903. A miniature version of the Panama Canal, the passage provides a two-way short-cut between Bedwell Harbour and Port Browning. A bridge lets traffic flow between the islands and allows boats with a less than nine-metre air draft to cross the Pender Canal at low tide. The canal’s depth is about two metres at low tide and currents can run up to four knots. Unless your sailboat is very small, the Pender Canal is not a safe shortcut.

A PREVALENT JOKE is that in BC, all marinas are for sale—especially those located in isolated spots. Several remote marinas have closed in recent years when the owners aged or died. Knowing the tough conditions of running a successful marina—the harsh salty environment, riparian rights issues, environmental concerns, and most of all, a transient boating season of two-to-four short summer months that must be productive enough to cover the operating costs of an entire year—few investors have taken the leap. The Mill Bay Marine Group (MBMG) is an outlier—the company bought Port Browning in 2015—along with marinas at Port Sidney, Port Renfrew, Kitimat and Mill Bay.

The MBMG has built or improved all their properties. For example, they constructed a heavy-duty breakwater at Port Renfrew protecting boats from the Juan de Fuca’s currents and frequent strong westerlies (The Pacific Gateway Marina, PY October 2017). They also completely rebuilt Saanich

Inlet’s Mill Bay Marina, which had perished during a winter storm (PY August 2017). Where the MBMG has excelled is finding ways to add value to their marinas and thereby improve their revenue streams. Port Browning Marina is an excellent example—it’s become a destination with a large variety of experiences for boaters and their families.

UNLIKE SOME MARINAS that consist mainly of docks, Port Browning Marina is blessed with spacious adjoining grounds that invite people to walk, picnic, sunbathe and bring camping tents. Kids can play and roam in safety. You can bring your leashed dog (with clean-up of course). Frisbees and lawn games can be played and picnic tables are scattered throughout the area. Twin canopy tents with tables and bar- becues are available for groups having joint dinners or potlucks. At water’s edge, you can find a nifty beach. After a cluster of warm days, the water may even be swimmable at low tide. If the bay’s water is too cold for you, you can use the fenced swimming pool with lounge chairs next to the pub.

There’s also a novel addition to the grounds—places to camp in style. Atop a small rise, four white, canopystyle “glamping tents” provide a welcome respite from busy lives. Each has a slightly different layout, but all have queen beds, pull-out sofas and general amenities like dressers, locally made live-edge furniture, mini-fridges, filtered water and coffee makers. Depending on which glamping tent you choose, they sleep four or six persons. They resemble deluxe hotel rooms, but are free-standing, have outdoor

Fly there on our schedule, or yours.

The simplest way to squeeze every last moment of relaxation and exploring out of the remaining days of summer. Quick and convenient scheduled flights connect across B.C. & Seattle, and private flights connect you to marinas, private docks, or remote resorts in just minutes. Wherever you want to be, we can get you there.

seating under canvas with views of the marina, meadow and the bay. It’s a great place to have a drink or snack. If you want to bring more guests than can sleep comfortably on your yacht, here is a solution. Or you can take your glamping family or friends for a day sail or fishing adventure.

The four glamping tents are accompanied by a vintage recreational vehicle. It recalls the late sixties-early seventies highly popular colour: turquoise. The exterior and interior reveal spots of turquoise—even the kettle, toaster and teapot are turquoise. As the RV was designed for travel, it has a galley. It’s a fun, nostalgic place that can host a family of four.

Washrooms and showers are available next to the marina office.

IF YOU’D LIKE to paddleboard or kayak but have no room for these items on your boat, the MBMG has teamed with Pender Island Kayak Adventures, who rents this sports gear just below the security gate leading to the docks. They also rent bikes or e-bikes that can bring you to the Saturday Farmers’ Market (9:30 to 13:00), where local farmers, artisans and food vendors sell fresh produce and other food stuff, crafts, local lamb and cider.

The marina’s grounds are graced with a large group of apple trees— a common fruit found on the Gulf Islands. These apples are harvested by Twin Island Cider, who also collect from other century-old heritage orchards; they turn this mix of ap - ples into some of the best cider I’ve quaffed. If you rent a bike, you can have a taste on their premises. And while you are touring, I recommend you visit the Sea Star Vineyards, a 26acre “Winery in the Woods,” which cultivates its vines on a terraced slope leading to the Salish Sea. They have a beautiful tasting room and a food truck is on the premises during the summer. Check the vineyard and cidery websites for opening hours.

For more prosaic provisions, the Driftwood Centre is a 10 to 15-minute walk from the marina. It features a grocery store, pharmacy, liquor store, hardware store and bookstore, even a do-it-yourself dog washing station. Closer yet is the store located in the marina office; it’s where you can pick up things you might have run out of—toilet paper, detergent for the washing machines next door, or some island-made jams and crafts.

ONE OF THE Marina’s big draws is the pub, popular with both islanders and boaters (a cheerful retirement party was taking place while I ate lunch there). I expected the usual pub fare of burgers, fish and chips and chicken wings and these meals are indeed on the menu. What I didn’t anticipate was the delicious tuna tataki on lentils I devoured, nor the tuna tacos my companions ordered. They were first rate.

The marina’s website has listed the Bridgeman Bistro as well. “Two restaurants under the same roof? I asked. The bistro, I learned, hosts special events—rendezvous for boaters, club cruises, weddings and sizable family reunions. A large, newly constructed, covered outdoor kitchen is flanked by outdoor tables. The attractive inside seating area features long tables for convivial group dining or celebrations.

IN RECENT YEARS, many marinas have called themselves resorts. Not all of them qualify. Port Browning, with its new docks, spacious grounds, glamping tents and excellent food, fits the bill.

History

What’s in a name?

In the North Straits Salish language, Pender Island was called st’ey’əs and Port Browning was named xwal’isən’. But when the Plumper’s Captain George Henry Richards came around in 1859 surveying the southern BC coast, he named the island after his second master, Daniel Pender, who later commanded the Beaver and continued to carry on hydrographic work with great zeal, bestowing British names on hundreds of geographic places.

Port Browning gained its nomenclature from George Alexander Browning, Pender’s second in command. He outstripped Pender, whose name was applied to four locations, by having his name grace seven places. Both Pender and Browning ended their careers at the UK Admiralty hydrographic office. Unlike the royals, aristocrats and admirals whose names frequently appear on our charts but who never set foot in BC, these captains were here in the flesh.

Some Pender Island pre-history

In the 1980s, Simon Fraser University and the BC Heritage Conservation Branch conducted archeological digs at both sides of the Pender Canal, the ditch that had separated North and South Pender until 1902. Several middens were present in the area but had seriously eroded due in part to higher water levels and wave action. The middens’ soil could not be stabilized. During the three years of excavation the archeologists found layers documenting extensive human occupation by Coast Salish people. They found house floors and pits that may have contained posts. The layers were composed of “crushed and burned shell, whole shell, scattered fire-broken rock, humus and charcoal. The midden [also] contained human burials, hearth and rock cairn features, disarticulated and broken human, animal, fish and bird bones, and artifacts.” The archaeologists carbon-dated these cultural deposits and found that Coast Salish people lived here as far back as 5,000 years.