Weather — North Cowichan
Weather
Reading the sky…
Chart 1 — Maple Bay & Bird’s Eye Cove
Maple Bay Commons
Chart of the neighbourhood · Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Soundings in metres · Depths reduced to lowest normal tide · Opinions reduced to nothing in particular
A guide to Maple Bay for newcomers, residents, and visitors — what’s here, what’s on, and what the water is doing.
▾ scroll down — there’s a lot more belowChart 2 — Conditions
Today in the bay
Pulled live from Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the USGS every time this page loads. If a feed is having a bad day, the card links you straight to the source.
Tides — Station 07315, Maple Bay
Tides
Consulting the tide book…
Ground — past 7 days
Recent earthquakes
Listening to the ground…
Alerts & preparedness
Alerts and preparedness
- Cowichan Alert — the region’s emergency notification system. Free. Sign up before you need it.
- BC Wildfire dashboard — current fires and bans.
- Emergency Management Cowichan — what to do, and when.
- DriveBC — because the Malahat is the only road south.
Chart 3 — Passage: the Malahat
The crossing
Everything south of here goes over the Malahat, and the Malahat is a single point of failure. Curves, grade changes, quick visibility shifts, and no meaningful detour if it closes. Check before you commit to the drive.
The bypass locals actually use
When the Malahat shuts, the answer is the Mill Bay – Brentwood Bay ferry across Saanich Inlet. Mill Bay terminal is about ten minutes south of Mill Bay village; Brentwood Bay puts you roughly half an hour north of Victoria, and it is the sensible route from Swartz Bay regardless of what the highway is doing. It is also just a nicer crossing than the highway on a clear morning.
Mill Bay – Brentwood Bay schedule →
Live sailing conditions →
BC Ferries publishes no feed we can read from here, so those are links rather than live numbers. Check sailing times on the day.
Highway cameras Malahat Summit · Tunnel Hill · Goldstream · Herd Road
Images come straight from DriveBC and are usually a few minutes old. They load when you open this panel.
11 minMaple Bay to Duncan, about 10 km
1 h 15From Victoria, over the Malahat
50 minFrom Nanaimo
20 minTo the Crofton ferry for Salt Spring
Chart 4 — Ashore: getting settled
New here?
The short version: Maple Bay has the water, the trails and the pub. Duncan, eleven minutes away, has everything else. Here is the list nobody hands you.
Do this first
Sign up for Cowichan Alert. It is the regional emergency notification system, run by the CVRD and its member municipalities, free, and available as an app on your phone or desktop. You choose which alerts you want by type, severity and location — everything, or life-threatening only. Fires, floods, road closures. Five minutes now, and you stop finding out about things from Facebook.
Garbage & recycling
North Cowichan curbside: organics weekly, with recycling and garbage alternating every other week. Carts out by 8 am. Collection slides a day later after every holiday, which catches everyone at least once.
Schedules & Waste Wizard →
The MNC Curbside app does reminders.
Schools
Maple Bay Elementary (K–7) is at 1500 Donnay Drive, right beside Properties Park. Secondary catchments are worth checking rather than assuming — School District 79 has a locator tool for exactly that.
Health care
Cowichan District Hospital, 3045 Gibbins Road in Duncan, has 24-hour emergency. The Urgent and Primary Care Centre on Government Street is appointment only — no walk-ins; you call 1-833-688-8722 between 8 am and 8 pm and a clinician assesses you on the phone. That trips up a lot of newcomers.
Groceries
All in Duncan. Country Grocer on Cowichan Lake Road runs 7 am–10 pm, seven days. Thrifty Foods on Beverly, Save-On-Foods on the highway, and 49th Parallel — the Island independent — whose Berkey’s Corner store is the closest to the bay.
No gas station in Maple Bay itself that we can find — fill up in Duncan. The marina fuel dock is for boats.
Library
The Cowichan branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library sits inside the Cowichan Community Centre on James Street, alongside the arena and the theatre. A library card is free and gets you the whole Island system.
The pool & rec centre
The Cowichan Aquatic Centre on James Street is the indoor pool — wave pool, lazy river, waterslides, an 8-lane lap tank, and a fitness centre, about 15 minutes from the bay. The Cowichan Community Centre next door bundles the arena, theatre, gym and library into one stop.
Transit
BC Transit Route 4 (Maple Bay) runs between Chisholm & Maple Bay Road and the Village Green Mall in Duncan — roughly 27 to 30 minutes end to end. Frequency is limited, so treat it as a commuter route rather than turn-up-and-go.
Where the news actually is
The Maple Bay Neighbour to Neighbour Facebook group is the real noticeboard — lost cats, road closures, who has a ladder. This site exists because someone asked a question there.
Neighbour to Neighbour →
Cowichan Valley Citizen →
Six Mountains →
Visitor centre
The Cowichan Regional Visitor Centre on Drinkwater Road, next to the BC Forest Discovery Centre, staffs accredited counsellors who explicitly help people moving here, not only visiting. Locals mention a welcome pack for new arrivals — worth asking when you drop in.
Visitor centre → · 250-746-4636
Forest Discovery Centre →
Who runs what
Maple Bay is part of the Municipality of North Cowichan — parks, roads, garbage, the wharf. Regional services like Stoney Hill park, the aquatic centre and the community centre come from the CVRD. Both run public engagement portals worth watching.
Chart 5 — Provisions
Eat & drink
Four places in the bay, and a short honest list for when you are already in Duncan.
In Maple Bay and Genoa Bay
The Shipyard Restaurant & Pub
The waterfront pub at Maple Bay Marina, in a converted 1950s working shipyard, with a patio and dock access looking over the boats. Daily specials, generous pub plates, live music on Friday evenings. Open year-round, seven days, 11:30 am–8 pm.
6145 Genoa Bay Rd · 250-746-1026 · shipyardrestaurant.com
The Lion Rampant
The neighbourhood Scottish pub, right at the beach, with more than twenty rotating taps leaning hard on Vancouver Island craft, and a serious scotch list. The view across to Mount Maxwell on Salt Spring is the reason to get a window seat. Reviews of the food and service run mixed — the location does not.
6777 Beaumont Ave · 250-746-5422 · lionrampantpub.com
Genoa Bay Cafe
Waterfront dining in the tiny marina village around the point — mussels, snapper, prawns, plus burgers and fish and chips, with local suppliers front and centre. You can drive it or arrive by boat. Hours shift with the season and the official menu page lists a mid-afternoon kitchen break, so call before you go.
5000 Genoa Bay Rd, Unit 9 · 250-746-7621 · genoabaycafe.com
Mariners Market & Espresso Bar
At the marina: espresso, breakfast, sandwiches and wraps, baked goods, ice cream, groceries, ice, and a rack of local art. Practically the village store. May–Aug 8 am–5 pm; Sept–Apr 9 am–5 pm.
Maple Bay Marina · maplebaymarina.com
Maple Bay Store
The convenience store in the lower parking lot at the beach, same address and same owners as the Lion Rampant. Hot coffee and the things you forgot. No hours published anywhere — it keeps beach hours.
6777 Beaumont Ave · 250-746-5452 · maplebaystore.ca
Roadside stands
Honour-system farm stands are a genuine Cowichan Valley habit — the regional farm map tells visitors to watch for ones that are not on the map. Locals mention a flower stand along Maple Bay Road. Bring coins.
In Duncan, worth the eleven minutes
- Hudson’s on First — modern French and European cooking in a restored 106-year-old house. The valley’s fine-dining benchmark. Closed Mondays; no dinner Tuesday or Sunday. 163 First St
- Craig Street Brew Pub — downtown brewpub, house beer, wood-fired cooking, the beef dip people order twice. Note the address: 25 Craig Street, not 45. 25 Craig St
- The Old Firehouse — wine and cocktail bar with a dinner menu, downtown. 40 Ingram St
- Red Arrow Brewing — brewing since 2015, tasting room, a busy events calendar. 5255 Chaster Rd
- Aastha Devotional — family-run Indian with a large vegetarian section. 2680 James St
Chart 6 — Afloat
On the water
Maple Bay is a mariner’s place first. Three commercial marinas, a public wharf, a yacht club that predates most of the houses, and a rowing club that will take you even if you never touch an oar.
The best $35 in the bay
The Maple Bay Rowing Club social membership is $35 a year and you do not have to row. It gets you the club’s signature events — the Polar Bear Swim, Carols Afloat, Coffee at the Club — plus members-only programs like Zumba and conversational Spanish. Dues are due April 1 and are not pro-rated. Fill in the registration form and e-transfer $35 to mbrcpayments@gmail.com. For a newcomer looking for a way in, this is the shortest path.
Maple Bay Rowing Club
Volunteer-run since 1975, rowing the sheltered water of the bay and the race course on Quamichan Lake. Juniors, adult learn-to-row, intermediates and masters; a member of Rowing Canada Aviron and Rowing BC. It turned 50 in 2025. The clubhouse is available for public rental.
Maple Bay Yacht Club
Founded in 1925 and the third-oldest yacht club in British Columbia, with around 700 members. Clubhouse, moorage, a bar pouring local beer and wine, a summer sailing school for all ages, and reciprocal privileges with most Pacific Northwest clubs. Membership is open to anyone 19 or older living in — or moving to — the Cowichan Valley.
6337 Genoa Bay Rd · 250-746-4521 · mbyc.ca
Maple Bay Marina
400 slips, covered moorage, a full-service boatyard with a 50-ton travelift and mechanics, chandlery, yacht brokerage, a float-home community and a fuel dock. Also showers, laundry, wifi, propane filling, a 60-seat picnic pavilion with barbecues, and kayak rentals. Rated five anchors for environmental practice. Functionally, this is the village centre.
6145 Genoa Bay Rd · 250-746-8482 · maplebaymarina.com
The government dock
North Cowichan’s public wharf: 300 feet of dock, first come first served, no reservations. The only amenity is water at the bottom of the ramp — no washrooms, showers or power — and the parking lot holds about a dozen cars. The replacement project is on hold pending budget: $1.2M was set aside in 2024, the estimate rose to $2M, and the shortfall goes back to council in the 2026 budget, with construction anticipated in 2026/27 if approved.
Wharfinger 250-715-8186 · Wharf project updates →
The beach
Maple Bay Beach Park on Beaumont Avenue — a walkable pebble beach with ocean access and one of North Cowichan’s three public ocean boat launches. This is the community’s swimming spot, the polar bear swim beach, and where everyone ends up on a warm evening.
Dogs: the foreshore is off-leash October 1 – June 15, and on-leash June 16 – September 30, which is exactly when the beach is busiest. Worth knowing before you get a talking-to.
Paddling & Sansum Narrows
Multiple launch points around the bay for kayaks and paddleboards, with rentals at the marina. The prize is Sansum Narrows, the channel between here and Salt Spring — current, eddies, and regular Bigg’s orca traffic hunting seals, which is why tours out of here so often turn into whale watching. The Maple Bay Outrigger Canoe Club paddles here too.
Yes, there is a scheduled floatplane
Gulf Island Seaplanes flies from Dock H at Maple Bay Marina straight to Vancouver International — airport code YAQ to YVR, launched in October 2024, two round trips a day through the winter months. It is Indigenous-owned. Book online up to four hours ahead or call 1-604-647-7535; the price is the same either way. There is also float plane service to Ganges on Salt Spring.
You may see Harbour Air listed as serving Maple Bay on other sites. It does not — Maple Bay is not one of its scheduled destinations.
Swimming, in and out of the salt
Do not swim in Quamichan Lake
Quamichan Lake and neighbouring Somenos Lake get recurring toxic blue-green algae blooms, and Island Health keeps a standing advisory at Art Mann Park against swimming or wading. It is a lovely lake for picnics, birdwatching and paddling — grassy lawn, playground, small sand beach, washrooms, boat launch — but it is not a swimming beach, and a newcomer would never guess.
- Cowichan Aquatic Centre, Duncan — wave pool, lazy river, twin waterslides, an 8-lane 25 m tank, steam room and sauna, plus a fitness centre. Mon–Fri 6 am–8 pm, Sat 7:30 am–6 pm, Sun 8:30 am–6 pm. There is a Leisure Access Pass for low-income residents that is genuinely worth knowing about. Current rates →
- Crofton Outdoor Pool — seasonal 20-yard heated outdoor pool with a diving board. 2026 season June 26 – August 28.
- Fuller Lake Park, Chemainus — lifeguarded freshwater swimming with a floating pier and beach volleyball. 2026 season June 28 – August 29.
Chart 7 — Ashore: uphill
On the trails
Two mountains rise straight out of the bay, and nearly every trail on them is shared — walkers, runners, riders, the occasional horse. Yield uphill and you will get along with everybody.
Stoney Hill Regional Park
The signature Maple Bay hike, and the one to do first. A 3.2 km loop over big moss-covered rock slabs and through arbutus, with five lookouts perched above Sansum Narrows, across to Salt Spring and south toward Satellite Channel. Moderate, one to one-and-a-half hours, about 100 m of gain. Trailhead parking holds roughly 25 cars.
Open 7 am–9 pm. Dogs welcome but must be leashed — the viewpoints are steep rock bluffs dropping to the ocean.
Stoney Hill Rd, off Genoa Bay Rd · CVRD park page →
Maple Mountain
The big multi-use network between Maple Bay and Crofton, inside North Cowichan’s Municipal Forest Reserve — shared by hikers, runners, riders and horses, with boardwalks, bridges and genuinely technical rock underfoot. The Cowichan Trail Stewardship Society has been steadily turning a disconnected set of rogue trails into a real network.
Worth knowing before your first walk: the reserve is a working forest as well as a trail network. Six Mountains tracks what is happening with logging in it.
Full loops run long — AllTrails puts a moderately challenging route at about 4.5 hours. Give yourself the afternoon.
Main entrance on Osborne Bay Rd · North Cowichan →
Mount Tzouhalem
Ten minutes from downtown Duncan, a dense web of intertwined trails climbing through arbutus and cedar past rocky cliffs and crags. The classic walk is up to the cross, installed on the hillside for Easter 1976, where a rock lookout opens over the whole Cowichan Estuary, Duncan, Cowichan Bay and Mount Prevost. About 6.6 km return, 258 m of gain, two to two-and-a-half hours. Very popular with birders, too.
Mountain biking
The riding here is genuinely world class
That is North Cowichan’s own phrase for it, and for once the municipal copy is not overselling. Four mountains, more than 170 trails, roughly 180 km of them — and two rise straight out of the bay. People move to this valley for it.
Mount Tzouhalem
36 km
The oldest and most developed riding in the region — twenty-five years of trail building, green through double black. Everyone who rides it calls it Mt Zoo. Ten minutes from downtown Duncan.
Maple Mountain
28 km
Eighteen sanctioned trails with boardwalks, bridges and properly technical rock, including the Xylem climbing trail. The stewardship society has been building with an eye on drawing races like the BC Bike Race.
Non-motorized only, and e-bikes must be Class 1 — pedal assist, no throttle, 32 km/h cap. The free North Cowichan Trails app maps every sanctioned trail and forestry road on both mountains; the municipality’s trails page is the official word on closures and conditions.
Dogs
The field at Andy Hutchins Park beside the tennis and pickleball courts is the off-leash spot most people mean when they say “the dog park.” The beach foreshore is off-leash October 1 to June 15 only. On the old firehall trail, keep an ear out — it is shared with mountain bikers coming downhill.
Courts, and the pickleball hours
Andy Hutchins Park (960 Herd Rd) has 4 pickleball courts and 1 tennis court; Properties Park (1584 Donnay Dr) has 3 pickleball and 2 tennis. Free, unbooked, unlit, dawn to dusk. Non-marking shoes, and share.
Pickleball noise at Andy Hutchins generated enough complaints that North Cowichan ran a formal public engagement. In May 2026 council set hours of play there to 9 am–5 pm, seven days a week, with signage pointing players to other courts. A report on alternative locations returns to council in fall 2026. If you are new and wondering why the signs are so specific — that is why.
Chart 8 — The wider valley
Around the valley
Half an hour in any direction gets you murals, totems, theatre, a farmers market that has been running for decades, and a ferry to Salt Spring.
Hand of Man Museum
The genuinely unexpected one, and it is in Maple Bay: a 15,000 square foot private museum of natural history, cultural arts and conservation holding roughly 40,000 items from around the world. Listed as open daily 10 am–5 pm, though the listing is third-party — confirm seasonally.
6759 Considine Ave · handofmanmuseum.com
Duncan — City of Totems
A self-guided walk past more than 40 totem poles carved by Indigenous artists through downtown Duncan, running since 1985. Follow the yellow footprints painted on the sidewalk; each pole carries a sign about its carver.
Duncan Farmers Market
One of BC’s oldest year-round markets: every Saturday, 9 am–2 pm, fifty weeks a year, with over 100 vendors filling City Square, Craig Street and Ingram Street. Farmers get priority, then artisans, baking, honey, cheese, seafood, wine. Local non-profits can book a free Community Table.
Galleries — two of them
Easy to confuse, so: Cowichan Public Art Gallery shows mostly national and international artists from the heritage Green Door building at 126 Ingram Street (Tue–Sat 10 am–4 pm). PORTALS, the Cowichan Valley Arts Council gallery, is a different place entirely — main floor of the Cowichan Community Centre on James Street, about 30 exhibitions a year, running since 1971.
Cowichan Performing Arts Centre
A 731-seat proscenium theatre inside the Cowichan Community Centre, open since 1978 and run by the CVRD — community theatre, touring professional acts, and home to the Cowichan Symphony. Note the building was the Island Savings Centre from 2008 to 2019 and plenty of people still call it that.
2687 James St · 250-748-7529 · cowichanpac.ca
Chemainus
An open-air gallery of more than 40 large murals across downtown walls, most of them logging, mining, farming and First Nations history. Yellow footsteps mark the route; one to two hours at a stroll, or a comfortable half day with coffee. The Chemainus Theatre Festival runs a full professional season with dinner packages — 2026 brings Godspell, Ladies Foursome, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Peril in the Alps and The Wickhams.
Cowichan Bay
A village of floating homes, sailboats and a 350-foot pier. The Maritime Centre on the pier has dugout canoe exhibits, a ship’s helm children can climb, knot-tying and boatbuilding courses. The main street is a food strip — cheese shop, ice cream, organic bakery, fish and chips — and the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre runs live bird-nest webcams and a marine observation tank.
Ladysmith
Transfer Beach Park is the draw — swimming, beach volleyball, kayak rentals, a spray park, a maritime museum on the dock, and the largest open-air amphitheatre on Vancouver Island with summer live music. Historic First Avenue, all restored Edwardian storefronts, was voted best street in Canada in 2017 by the Canadian Institute of Planners.
Salt Spring, the back way
Crofton is twenty minutes from Maple Bay, and the Crofton – Vesuvius Bay ferry crosses in about twenty more. It is the Island’s back door to Salt Spring and far less trouble than going round by Swartz Bay. Sailings run roughly 6 am to 9:30 pm — check the live schedule, we cannot read their timetable from here.
Golf & playing fields
Three courses within reach: Cowichan Golf & Country Club (par 70, 18 holes, on this site since 1947 — the 11th is reputed to be one of the toughest par-fours on the Island), Duncan Meadows on Highway 18, and Arbutus Ridge at Cobble Hill. The non-profit Cowichan Sportsplex adds an 8-lane track, three ball diamonds, a water-based field hockey turf and a 660 m fitness loop, free to use.
Disc golf
The valley’s course is The Hub at Cowichan Station, about fifteen minutes south of Duncan — 15 holes, free, mostly flat, grass tees and tonal targets, running since 2017. Two things to know: no dogs, and skip the throw on hole 6 when kids are in the daycare playground. There is also a listed course at the Malahat on Ebadora Lane — check it is open before making the drive.
The Raptors
Eagles, hawks, owls, falcons and vultures flying free over your head at a working conservation and education centre — and it is practically local, at 1877 Herd Road, minutes from the bay. Flight demonstrations run daily (three a day in summer), and you can put on a glove and have a hawk land on your fist.
The Raptors → · 250-746-0372
Wine country
The Cowichan Valley is a genuine wine region — cool-climate Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Ortega, with tasting rooms twenty to thirty minutes from the bay. Start with Blue Grouse (pouring since 1993, one of the valley’s oldest), Averill Creek on the slopes of Mount Prevost, Unsworth in Mill Bay, and Cherry Point at Cobble Hill.
Chart 9 — Almanac
The calendar
Three fixed points in the Maple Bay year. Everything else — and there is a lot of everything else — surfaces in the Facebook group about a week beforehand. That is genuinely how it works here.
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Jan 1 · noon
Polar Bear Swim
Probably the longest-running polar bear swim in the Cowichan Valley, hosted by the rowing club and drawing a proper crowd to the beach. Everyone charges in from the club’s boat launch at noon, and there are hot drinks in the clubhouse afterwards. This is the one event on this page that has earned an exclamation mark!
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Jul 1 · 10:30 am
Canada Day parade
Hosted by the Maple Bay Community Association. The parade steps off from Andy Hutchins Park at 10:30, with participants gathering from 9:30. Recent years have brought bagpipers, the local concert band, costumed characters, a helicopter flyover, an antique ice cream truck, free cake and coffee in the rowing club, and a barbecue after.
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Late Jun – early Aug
39 Days of July
Downtown Duncan’s free daily music and arts festival — live acts every single day across three stages, and one of the longest-running daily music festivals anywhere. Fifteen minutes from the bay; go on a whim. Schedule →
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Dec 5, 2026
Carols Afloat — the Christmas sail past
The yacht club’s lighted-boat flotilla at the government dock. In 2025 some twenty to twenty-five boats made the run on a windless night. Bring a boat or watch from shore; everyone is welcome. The club’s visitor dock closes that day for it.
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May & September
Regattas
The yacht club runs the Thetis Island Regatta in May and the Maple Bay Regatta over the September long weekend, with club races every few weeks year-round and a popular summer youth sailing program. The rowing club hosts its own regatta on the Quamichan Lake course — the date is not published, so watch their site.
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Every Saturday
Duncan Farmers Market
9 am to 2 pm, fifty weeks a year, downtown Duncan. Closed only for a fortnight after Christmas.
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Summer Tuesdays
Duncan Night Market
Shop, eat, connect — the Duncan Community Lodge (the Moose Lodge) night market runs every Tuesday, 5–8 pm, early June through late August. Local food, live music and artisan stalls.
Chart 10 — Soundings from shore
Community & links
Maple Bay Community Association
The residents’ association for the bay. It hosts the Canada Day parade and barbecue, led the push to designate an approximately six-acre park on the old Herd Road fire hall lots, and petitioned council over the growing number of derelict vessels anchored in the bay — which council took up in December 2025. It has no website; the Facebook page is the way in.
Quamichan Lake Neighbourhood Association
Formed in 2016, the QLNA advocates for the natural environment, scenic character and rural feel of the Quamichan Lake neighbourhood, and for collective stewardship of the watershed — its boundary is the watershed itself, the land that drains into the lake. It was heavily involved in North Cowichan’s Official Community Plan update through to adoption in 2022, and has campaigned for a tree-protection bylaw, protection of Garry oak savannah and Coastal Douglas Fir, larger riparian setbacks, and lake remediation.
qlna.org · quamichanlna@gmail.com
Neighbour to Neighbour
The Facebook group that functions as the village square: lost dogs, power outages, recommendations, and the occasional properly good argument. This site exists because someone asked there whether a site like this existed.
Government
- Municipality of North Cowichan — your local government
- Connect North Cowichan — public engagement portal
- Cowichan Valley Regional District
- Plan Your Cowichan — CVRD engagement
- North Cowichan on Maple Bay
Emergency
- Cowichan Alert — sign up today
- Emergency Management Cowichan
- BC Wildfire map
- DriveBC
- Emergencies: 911 · Hospital non-emergency 250-737-2030
Local news
- Cowichan Valley Citizen — the main regional paper
- Chemainus Valley Courier
- Lake Cowichan Gazette
- CHEK News
- The Discourse Cowichan Valley
- Six Mountains — logging in the Municipal Forest Reserve