Portage Bay

What is the perfect anchorage? There may be many opinions on this, but the choice of Portage Bay should be a fairly good one by any measure. This bay is conveniently located along the main cruising route just north of Petersberg on the south side of Frederick Sound. There is plenty of room with just about any desired anchoring depth available.

The only real issue is a shallow entrance that can be interesting to navigate with a strong tide. In full flood we have seen three knot currents, but have still successfully entered and exited without much difficulty. Mid-channel, about halfway up the bay, we had 33ft under the keel of the Nordic Quest on a zero low tide.

There is a fair amount of tidal current in the channel, but holding is excellent. Based on experience our advice is to anchor further in to the bay. Nearer the entrance the currents in the center channel can be stiff. The result can be a bit of noise from the current streaming past, the anchor shifting with the tide, and general loss of sleep.