Queen Charlotte Strait / Queen Charlotte Islands

Where is Queen Charlotte Strait? Where are the Queen Charlotte Islands? I've heard the "Queen Charlottes" is a great place to kayak: are the Queen Charlotte Islands and Queen Charlotte Strait the same thing? We often hear these questions in phone calls to our office by those who have heard of the great sea kayaking available in the "Queen Charlottes." So we thought we would take some time to help answer these questions.

Queen Charlotte Strait Sea Kayak Tours

Queen Charlotte Strait is at the "top end" of Vancouver Island. This is the north end of Vancouver Island, on its eastern side, between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland. It's where all the hundreds of islands of the Vancouver Island Inside Passage finally give way to the 150 miles of open water between Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands. And it flows into the other great kayaking areas of Johnstone Strait, Blackfish Sound and the Blackfish Archipelago.

The islands at the southern part of Queen Charlotte Strait are a sea kayaker's paradise. Hundreds of islands, both small and large, and the world's largest summer concentration of killer whales are two of the most compelling features of a Queen Charlotte Strait sea kayak tour.

What's more, the Vancouver Island Range, mountains over 6000' in elevation, form a protective "rain shadow" over Queen Charlotte Strait, giving it some of the lowest rainfall and some of the lightest winds on the British Columbia coast. For these reasons and more, we at Northern Lights Expeditions have specialized our sea kayak tours in this area for all of our 25 years.

All of Northern Lights Expeditions' sea kayaking tours are in the Queen Charlotte Strait area. For more on our sea kayaking tours, click here to go to our Kayak Trips Page.

Queen Charlotte Islands Sea Kayaking Tours

The Queen Charlotte Islands lie sixty miles off the northern British Columbia coast and offer distinctly different kayaking conditions than the Queen Charlotte Strait region, particularly in regard to climate.

We've traveled throughout much of the Queen Charlotte Islands and feel that the Queen Charlotte Strait area has more to offer in terms of fine summer weather and better kayaking routes for less-experienced kayakers. For those looking for the best weather, greatest chance of wildlife encounters and easiest kayaking waters, we think there's no place better than our home area of Queen Charlotte Strait.

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