Sooke Basin, British Columbia, Canada 01

Sooke Basin is a small (10 km²) body of water on the southern end of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

in southwestern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. It is connected to the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

by Sooke Harbour, a 4 km long narrow natural harbour.

Geography

Sooke Basin is a salt water body located between

Sooke Sooke is a district municipality on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada, by road from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. Sooke, the westernmost of Greater Victoria's Western Communities, is to the north and west of the Sooke Ba ...

and

East Sooke East Sooke is an unincorporated community south and east of Sooke, British Columbia, Canada. It consists of over 500 houses (and one volunteer fire department) along with the headquarters of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCMSAR) ...

. The shores of Sooke Basin are mostly rock, but along the north shore there are beautiful sandy beaches. Scattered around the remainder are occasional muddy and pebbly beaches.

Islands

Three small islets form the Goodridge Islands, located in the southeastern portion of the basin.

Coves

Sooke Basin, British Columbia, Canada 04

Roche Cove, a small shallow

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

is located on the east end of Sooke Basin and is the focal point of the 143-hectare Roche Cove Regional Park. The narrow mouth of Roche Cove, spanned by a small bridge, makes for interesting passage as the tidal currents can be quite strong. The mouth is passable by small powerboats at mid and high tides. Roche Cove is located at the boundary between Sooke and East Sooke. Anderson Cove, a small shallow cove is located on the southeast of Sooke Basin. The entrance to Anderson Cove is quite narrow and shallow but is passable with local knowledge at mid and high tides. The shores of Anderson Cove are dotted with expensive

homes. The only public boat launch in the Sooke Basin and its coves is located in Anderson Cove. Coopers Cove is formed by the Goodridge Peninsula, the location of a former sawmill and the site of a proposed resort. Goodridge Peninsula was formed when the main portion, previously an island, was connected to the shore of Vancouver Island.

History

Sooke Basin is named for the

T'sou-ke Nation The T'sou-ke Nation of the Coast Salish peoples, is a band government whose reserve community is located on Vancouver Island, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. In February 2013, the T'sou-ke Nation had 251 registered members, with two r ...

of the

Coast Salish peoples The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coa ...

, the native inhabitants who had a thriving community and are believed to have been living in the general area for several thousand years before the arrival of the first European explorers. The first known European entry into Sooke Basin was by the Spanish, during the 1790 expedition of

Manuel Quimper Manuel Quimper Benítez del Pino (c. 1757 – April 2, 1844) was a Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official. He participated in charting the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Sandwich Islands in the late 18th ce ...

in '' Princesa Real'', with Juan Carrasco as pilot. The Spanish gave Sooke Basin the name Puerta de Revilla Gigedo, in honour of then Viceroy of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...

, Güemes Padilla Horcasitas, Count of Revillagigedo.

Communities

The northern half of the Sooke Basin is contained within the jurisdiction of the municipality of

, while the southern half is located in the

portion of the

Juan de Fuca Electoral Area The Capital Regional District (CRD) is a local government administrative district encompassing the southern tip of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The CRD is one of several regional ...

References

* {{coord, 48, 22, 45, N, 123, 39, 30, W, region:CA_type:waterbody, display=title Bays of British Columbia Greater Victoria Juan de Fuca region Ports and harbours of British Columbia