Middle Rendezvous Island

We are moored in Refuge Cove when the realtor notifies us that our offer on 20+ acres of Middle Rendezvous Island has been accepted. He arrives by chartered boat with papers for us to sign. We are elated. Two days later, with frost covering our deck, we leave Refuge Cove. The air is cold but sunny as Chiron sails up Lewis Channel. Everywhere we look there are beautiful snow-capped mountains. We use one as our bearing to take us to Calm Channel, the Rendezvous Islands …and our new island home.

Let me tell you about Middle Rendezvous Island… The Rendezvous Islands consist of North, Middle, and South Rendezvous. They were originally named the Tres Marias (Three Marias) until 1792 when British Captain George Vancouver and Spanish explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, agreed to meet there in the course of their separate explorations of the Pacific Northwest coast. From that point on, they have been known as the Rendezvous Islands. They are located in Calm Channel on the western edge of Desolation Sound, and are part of a larger group of islands formally known as the Discovery Islands, and informally as the ‘outer islands.’

Middle Rendezvous (pictured above) was Crown Land until 1917, when it was sold to a private owner. There is no ferry service, telephone or other utilities on Middle Rendezvous Island. Transportation is by boat or float plane. Like everyone else out here, we will need to provide our own power and water. Grocery shopping will be done by boat and a trip to the store will depend upon weather and sea conditions. We join a small community scattered over a large area of separate islands… inter-dependence born of necessity. (March 1998)