Mudge Island is a small island located between Vancouver Island and Gabriola Island. Officially the northern most island of the De Courcy group, and part of the southern Gulf Islands. Mudge is approximately 0.8 km wide and 4 km long.
The island is named for William Fitzwilliam Mudge, an officer on HMS Plumper under the command of Captain George Henry Richards. Richards surveyed and named many of the islands and other features in the area in 1858 (Wikipedia)
There is a full time population of around 65 to 80 people that was until covid and 2020 which saw an explosion of people moving to Mudge we are now around 120 to 150 and the population easily goes to 300 plus in the summer and over long weekends.
Mudge Island can only be accessed by boat or float plane, there is no ferry service to the island, and there are no stores. However there is internet service, power, cable and telephone which is something that makes Mudge unique. The island has a private marina that is available to members of Moonshine Cove Marina. Other resident and visitors arrive and depart the island by boat generally by using a number of public accesses. The island has a network of gravel roads which allows access to most parts of the island.
Mudge has some of the most interesting waters around it, on the northern tip is Dodd Narrows.
Currents can ebb and flow thru the Narrows at up to 9 knots, causing many whirlpools and back eddies. A new park for Mudge Island was created at Dodd Narrows in 2016 and it is a favourite spot for many Mudge Islanders to view the rushing waters, to watch boaters of all shapes and sizes navigate the narrow channel or to see boats jockey for position as slack tide approaches. Word quickly goes out around the island when a pod of whales is spotted approaching Dodd.
Lying between Mudge and Gabriola is False Narrows and as it’s name implies there is a reef running thru it that has caused much distress to unwary boaters.
Another favourite spot on Mudge is the park at the south end of the island, usually referred to as South Beach or Link Beach. Looking east from the beach you have a great view of Valdez Island, Gabriola Pass and the mountains of the mainland. Looking west you see the village of Cedar on Vancouver Island.
Mudge and its surrounding waters is a beautiful place, a little piece of west coast paradise.
