Raven Marine’s guide to Canoe Cove:
If you've ever called us to book a haul-out or get your engine looked at, you've probably heard us say "we're out at Canoe Cove." For those of us who work here, that's just shorthand, but for anyone who hasn't made the drive down Canoe Cove Road yet, that little phrase doesn't quite do the place justice.
Canoe Cove Marina isn't just an address. It's one of the most storied corners of the BC coast, and after a decade of working here, we still think it's one of the best places on the Saanich Peninsula to own a boat.
The story of Canoe Cove goes back to January 1920, when Prohibition rolled across the United States and suddenly created a very lucrative business opportunity for anyone with a boat and a taste for risk. A small fleet of fishing vessels began using a quiet, sheltered bay on the north end of the Saanich Peninsula, then known simply as Canoe Bay, as a staging point for smuggling Canadian whisky across to San Juan Island and into Puget Sound.
By the end of that decade, the rum-running had wound down, but the marina it left behind had taken root. Word got around about the protected anchorage, and a British immigrant named Hugh Rodd settled in the Cove in the late 1920s. He and his brother set up a boat-building operation and spent the 1930s turning out wooden pleasure craft. Rodd also built himself a home on the property, a proper English-style manor with locally quarried stone walls, leaded glass windows, and hand-hewn fir beams. If you've ever had a meal at The Stonehouse Pub & Restaurant, you've eaten inside Hugh Rodd's house.
In 1958 the property changed hands and Canoe Cove Manufacturing was born, continuing the boat-building tradition. Wooden hulls gave way to fibreglass in 1964, and the company went on to build a well-regarded line of powerboats that turned up all over the Pacific Northwest. That same era saw the marina install the first Travel Lift on Vancouver Island, a 12-tonne unit in 1965 that was only the second of its kind in all of BC. The boat lift operating at the Cove today can lift 75 tons, and is one of largest on southern Vancouver Island.
The current owners came into the picture in 1964 as investors and took over the marina outright in 1974. In the 50-plus years since, the facility has grown into a bustling hub of marine industry specialists, service centers, restaurants, boat-owners and customers.
Canoe Cove sits at the northern tip of the Saanich Peninsula, tucked into a natural inlet that keeps it remarkably calm even when the rest of the Strait is kicking up. That sheltered position is part of why it attracted rum-runners a century ago, and it's still one of the reasons boaters choose to keep their vessels here.
The marina has 380 berths, including 140 boathouses, and can handle boats up to 65+ feet . Moorage is largely permanent, meaning there's a real community feel to the docks, but visitor moorage is available. If you're thinking of stopping in on a cruise, or just to sit down and eat, there are two good restaurants. The Fox and Monocle is the upscale option, with a dinner menu that punches well above what you'd expect from a marina, I would highly recommend the steak Tartar with pickled bull kelp. The Stonehouse Pub, in Hugh Rodd's original stone manor, is the more casual pick and has a loyal local following, and a great burger.
What makes Canoe Cove worth a visit even if you don't own a boat is the sheer number of businesses that have built up around the marina over the years. There are now more than 20 operations on site, and the mix is genuinely interesting.
On the service side, you'll find specialists covering just about every corner of yacht maintenance: fibreglass repair, rigging, aluminum fabrication, diesel engine service, generator work, canvas and upholstery, and full mechanical and electrical repair. If something on your boat is broken, there's almost certainly someone at the Cove who can fix it.
For buying or selling, Fraser Yacht Sales operates out of the Cove with certified brokers handling Azimut, Jeanneau, Lagoon Catamarans, and more. Nordic marine surveyors & Total Boat Marine Surveyors handles insurance, pre-purchase, and appraisal surveys. Quadrant Marine Institute runs a trades training program right on site for anyone pursuing the Marine Service Technician apprenticeship, which means the next generation of marine technicians is learning their craft a few hundred metres from where we're turning wrenches ourselves.
For activities, the Cove offers kayak rentals, boat charters, and eco-tours — making it an easy half-day destination even for people who just want to get out on the water without the overhead of owning a vessel.
And for anyone who
Raven Marine has been operating out of Canoe Cove for more then a decade. Our shop, and our chandlery are located at 2300 Canoe Cove Road and stocked with hardware, paint, pipe, electrical supplies, and safety gear for all your parts needs.
We offer full mechanical and electrical service, haul-outs and yard work, maneuvering systems, plumbing, solar installations, canvas fabrication, detailing, Starlink installs, and yacht shipping. We're dealers for MTU Detroit Diesel, Northern Lights, Fischer Panda, ABT Trac, Sidepower, Torqueedo, Wesmar and many more. Our team is ABYC certified and has been working on boats of every size and type for decades.
Canoe Cove is a good place to keep a boat. It's a better place to get one properly looked after. If you've been thinking about stopping by, the drive down Canoe Cove Road is worth it even just to see what a hundred years of West Coast boat culture looks like when it's all in one spot.