ABOUT ALDER BAY RV PARK & MARINA: Alder Bay is located halfway between Port McNeill and Telegraph Cove, off of Beaver Cove Road from Highway 19. This is a huge, well-organized and maintained campground in a beautiful setting. It is conveniently located near to Port McNeill’s gas stations, grocery store, and post office (plus MacKay Whale Watching Tours) and the ferry terminal which goes to Cormorant and Malcolm Islands daily, AND Telegraph Cove with restaurants, the historic town, and Tide Rip Grizzly Bear Adventure Tours.
Alder Bay RV Park & Marina offers guided kayak tours, fishing charters, and whale watching tours from the marina within walking distance of the campground. Boating, kayaking & canoeing, and fishing are extremely popular here. Roxy’s Diner, a food truck with dining on several outdoor patios overlooking the Bay, is between the Marina and the Campground.
The Campground offers laundry and shower facilities, restrooms, propane tank fill-ups, garbage & recycling disposal, on-site rental RVs are available, boat moorage, boat ramp, boat engine flush station, kayak launch, a beach, a playground, office, dump station, ample parking, a wood shed with firewood, and two potable water stations all on a picturesque bay surrounded by dense trees and overlooking Malcolm and Cormorant Islands.
It was a very nice campground and we would camp here again, but be careful which site you reserve. All campsites do not have full hook-ups and all campsites do not have good views – some sites are small, some sites are right on the playground, some sites have a view of nothing but RVs crammed together. We were lucky to have site #68, reserved online, sight unseen. It was a large campsite on a small hill with views of the bay and the islands. Other good sites are #69, #67, #66 (large sites with views, full hook-ups with 30 amp service); #36 (large site, nice water view, full hook-ups with 15 amp service); #21 thru #28 & #30 thru #35 (smaller sites with nice water views, full hook-ups with 15 amp service). Others throughout the park may also be good (or bad), we did not drive through and check them all out.
There are 14 “cottages” at the top of the hill overlooking the islands. The cottages are really wonderful tiny houses. There are 16 tent sites with no hook-ups; some are on the water. There are 12 RV sites with no hook-ups, either right on the water or on the edge of the busy boat ramp/boat parking area. There are 4 additional no hook-up tent sites and 3 additional no hook-up RV sites located just outside of the campground entrance. All the other campsites not mentioned above are on terraced hills above the boating/office/food truck area. Those campsites numbered from #21 to #108 vary from large to small, view or no view, hook-ups with 30 or 15 amp service, staff trailers, long term RV sites, and RV rental sites.
When we were there, it was very quiet at times but most afternoons (weather permitting) the noise from the kids running around the playground and screaming could be heard from all sites. Still, our site was large and we were happy with it and our neighbors were fine. We paid $339.68 (Canadian currency) for six nights, but only were there for five nights because we wanted to spend another night at Marble River. Check-in time was 1 p.m. Check-out time was 11 a.m.
Alder Bay RV Park & Marina: 1 Alder Bay Road, halfway between Port McNeill & Telegraph Cove, BC Canada V0N2R0; phone (250) 956-4117; e-mail stay@alderbay.com; website www.alderbay.com.
- 2022 – 08/08-08/13