Grouse Island: A Private Island, All Yours - Private Dock, Sauna, Sleeps 8

A private island, all yours.....

Grouse Island is a private island in Quathiaski Cove, off Quadra Island, BC — a short crossing from Campbell River, with long views across to Quadra Island and Discovery Passage. You get the restored house, the dock above a kelp forest, the wood-fired sauna barge, and the rest is trees, beach, tide pools, and the kind of quiet you can only get when nobody else can walk over.

Three bedrooms, two baths, sleeps eight. Roughly ten acres, all yours during your stay. No neighbors. No shared space. No one else on the island.

THE HOUSE

We didn't build the house — we restored what was already here. Three bedrooms, two baths, woodstove, full kitchen, big south-facing windows out toward Discovery Passage. Comfortable for a family or a group of eight. Modest but comfortable by design — the spectacle is outside.

THE DOCK

A private dock above a kelp forest. The dock takes vessels up to ~40 ft, so if you boat, bring it. Look straight down at low tide and you're looking into the kelp forest that makes the diving what it is. There's a swim ladder, a fish-cleaning station, and seating. The dock is also where the caretaker meets you for orientation when you arrive.

THE SAUNA BARGE

One of only a handful of floating saunas anywhere in British Columbia. Fired with deadfall gathered from the island — which produces the dense, soft löyly that real wood and live steam make and electric saunas can't. From the bench you look out at a couple dozen harbor seals hauled out on the rocks beside the sauna. The protocol: sweat, plunge directly into the cold Pacific off the side of the barge, climb out, repeat.

THE ISLAND ITSELF

Roughly ten acres. The interior of the island was logged only at the perimeter — the Pidcock brothers couldn't reach the middle with their pile-driver winch back in 1909, and it has been left alone since. What's there now is classic Pacific Northwest second-growth: thick moss on the stumps, salal and sword fern at knee height, the occasional Douglas-fir holding court. Trails wrap the perimeter and cut a couple of routes through the middle. A small pocket beach next to the house, tide pools that fill twice a day, and shoreline that's exposed igneous bedrock and oyster shell.

Black-tailed deer swim across the channel from Quadra and spend days at a time grazing the island. Harbor seals haul out on the rocks beside the sauna. Bald eagles work the channel from the snags.

OFF-GRID, BY DESIGN

The whole island runs on a fully automatic solar array, with a small generator for backup. Drinking water comes from a well drilled deep into the hard igneous bedrock at the center of the island — clean, mineral-rich, and unusually good. The mechanical building is built fully underground with a living green / moss roof; you can't see it from a boat in the cove. Off-grid living at its finest. Cell service is reliable on the dock and around the house. WiFi works great if you absolutely have to clock in for work.

PADDLEBOARDS, KAYAKS, AND A ROWBOAT

A small fleet of stand-up paddleboards and kayaks is included with your stay. If you'd like a rowboat — for a quick crossing to Quadra or for fishing in the cove — ours is listed separately on GetMyBoat; book it for the dates of your stay. Rowboat operators must hold a valid Pleasure Craft Operator Card (PCOC), a quick online course Transport Canada offers; check the local PDF guide we provide for the link. The rowboat is not for runs to Campbell River — that's what the water taxi is for.

FIVE THINGS YOU WILL WANT TO DO

1. Walk the mossy forest and the shoreline. Two hours if you take your time. The interior trail network plus the shoreline walk gets you the whole island.

2. Catch your dinner. Campbell River — across the channel — calls itself the Salmon Fishing Capital of the World. The Tyee Club, founded in 1924, has been awarding pins for landing salmon over 30 lbs on light tackle from rowboats since the 1920s, and they fish from the Tyee Pool just across Discovery Passage. The waters around Grouse are part of the same fishery. Troll the channel from your own small boat, have a Campbell River salmon guide pick you up directly from our dock, drop crab pots in Gowlland Harbour, or harvest oysters and clams at Rebecca Spit on the east side of Quadra. At extreme low tides you can hand-pick sea urchins right off the island's shoreline for some of the best uni you'll ever eat. Bring a BC tidal-water license and check current shellfish-harvest openings before you go.

3. Dive Cousteau's favorite cold water. Jacques Cousteau famously called Vancouver Island's coast "the best temperate-water diving in the world, and second only to the Red Sea." Grouse Island sits in the same current-fed waters he was talking about. Dive Campbell River lists the west side of our island as one of their Top-5 local dive sites — a wall that drops fast, with dense life clinging to it. The entire Discovery Passage region is a no-take zone for divers, which means the wildlife has noticed: octopus sit out on ledges, wolf eels watch you go by, ling cod let you get close. Wolf eels, giant Pacific octopus, ling cod, strawberry anemones, opalescent nudibranchs, Puget Sound king crab, masses of sponges. The site is boat-accessible only — which, when you're staying on the island, means you walk down to the dock and you're already there.

4. Explore your own private aquarium. The pocket beach next to the house and the rocky shoreline either side of the dock fill twice a day with cold clear water and the small universes that live in it. At the lowest tides — anything below about a +0.3 m — the pools open up to walking-around depth. Purple ochre sea stars, giant green anemones, sunflower stars, hermit crabs, sculpins, gunnels, chitons, limpets, sea urchins, nudibranchs. Look, don't keep. Touch lightly, lift gently, and put everything back exactly where you found it.

5. Row over to Quadra, and don't come back until dinner. Quadra Island is a five-minute row from the dock. Bakery breakfast at Q Cove, Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre, Cape Mudge lighthouse walk, mountain biking on Heriot Ridge, kayaking Gowlland Harbour, a picnic at Rebecca Spit, an hour at Drift Spa & Wellness. The 10-minute BC Ferries crossing from Quathiaski Cove to Campbell River runs every hour or so during the day, so the mainland is a short hop if you forgot something at the market.

A LITTLE HISTORY

Grouse Island has been a working part of this coast for over a century, and a known place for centuries before that. It was part of the K'omoks people's seasonal territory — Kwesayskin, "island in its bite" — and later held by the Laichwiltach. George Hugh Pidcock bought it from the Crown for $42.50 in July 1909. The Dentons bought Lot 2 from George Pidcock in 1928 and established Island Marine Ways — a boat repair works and fuel dock serving the busy Quathiaski Cove fishing fleet through the 1930s. The cannery across the channel processed millions of salmon a year at its peak. You're staying on a piece of British Columbia coastal history that, until now, has never been open to the public. The full story is on grouseisland.com.

GETTING HERE

By air: Campbell River Airport (YBL) is closest — multiple daily flights from Vancouver, plus seasonal connections from Calgary and Seattle. Comox Valley (YQQ) and Nanaimo (YCD) are within a 1.5–2 hour drive south if Campbell River doesn't work for your routing.

By water: from Campbell River it's a 15-minute taxi to the water-taxi docks, then a ~8-minute crossing to our dock. Our caretaker can arrange Quest Water Taxi on your behalf and will meet you at the island dock for an orientation. If you bring your own boat, launch ramps are at Discovery Harbour (Campbell River) and Heriot Bay (Quadra). Let us know your beam and draft before you arrive.

WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE YOU BOOK

• Boat-access only. Plan ahead — but it's easy once you know the options.
• Sleeps eight in three bedrooms. We don't accommodate extra guests on couches or floors beyond the listed capacity.
• Pets allowed.
• No smoking, no parties. Certain events are allowed with previous written approval, message us with what you are thinking.
• Children welcome with adult supervision. The waterfront has rocks, currents, and tides — children must be supervised on the dock and shoreline at all times.
• Come provisioned. The closest grocery is Tru Value Foods in Q Cove (a short hop by boat); full supermarkets are in Campbell River. The caretaker can pre-stock the house if you send a list before arrival for cost plus a small fee for his time.
• The Island is an adventurer's paradise, but be aware that there are sharp rocks, small cliffs, uneven terrain, deep water and currents, tides and tide pools, underwater hazards etc. Be prepared with good shoes and an adventurous, yet careful, attitude and you will be just fine.

Grouse Island Resort is exempt from STRAA Provincial Registration as per B.C. Reg. 268/2023 Part 1.4.1.a. Listed for rental by a person who has a time share contract within the meaning of the BC Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act.