Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre

Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre We are an active community-based working not-for-profit maritime museum. It's all here in the quaint seaside village of Cowichan Bay, British Columbia.

From a condemned fuel loading dock to a museum, the pier now houses "Galleries" rich in maritime history. With a reputation for excellence, the Maritime Centre offers hands on courses in traditional boat building techniques and restoration. Skillfully hand-crafted models of historic ships are housed in the museum at the end of the pier. Activities are for any age, sea-farer or land-lubber alike. JOIN US in celebrating our history. . . become a member, volunteer or simply participate!

Racing Seagulls again in the bay. If you have a dinghy or a 10’ tin boat! Tony has some loaner seagull motors to get you...
06/19/2026

Racing Seagulls again in the bay. If you have a dinghy or a 10’ tin boat! Tony has some loaner seagull motors to get you on the water. First come gets to pick…

06/18/2026

If anyone has been saving us your country grocer receipts we would love as many as we can dropped off this week! Lots of big expenses coming our way for the festival and as a non-profit every penny counts!

06/17/2026

Don’t mind us, just spreading the word about our upcoming Wooden Boat Festival⛵️

Cowichan Wooden Boat Festival Speaker SeriesRobert Lawson: “Dorothy Early Days and the Boat Racing of Cowichan Bay Pre-W...
06/17/2026

Cowichan Wooden Boat Festival Speaker Series
Robert Lawson: “Dorothy Early Days and the Boat Racing of Cowichan Bay Pre-WWI”
2pm-3pm June 27th at the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre
Robert Lawson is a lifelong wooden boat lover, very skilled craftsman, and avid historian. He has been one of the main driving forces behind the restoration of the Dorothy, Canada’s oldest sailboat (1897), which was recently completed by the Ladysmith Maritime Society and the Maritime Museum of British Columbia. Now that the Dorothy is in the water, Robert is the ongoing caretaker and historian of the boat. This year Robert will be doing a presentation at the festival about Dorothy’s early history sailing around the Salish Sea during the turn of the 20th century, and will be showing some very cool and rare photos of that time, as well as going into the history of Cowichan Bay's sailing regatta leading up to the First World War. If you would love to hear about some incredible local history or are interested in the Dorothy, you will not want to miss out on this presentation

NEW EXHIBIT – just in time for the Festival!Did you know that wooden boats were built and repaired for 150 years here in...
06/17/2026

NEW EXHIBIT – just in time for the Festival!
Did you know that wooden boats were built and repaired for 150 years here in Cowichan Bay?
See what may be the only remaining boat built at the Cowichan Shipyard.
Learn about Giovanni Ordano, trader, shipyard owner and entrepreneur extraordinaire.

We have nothing but gratitude for the incredible folks at Nesika! When they heard that we were 10 days away from our Ann...
06/16/2026

We have nothing but gratitude for the incredible folks at Nesika! When they heard that we were 10 days away from our Annual Wooden Boat Festival and still had no sponsors they were quick to step up as a Silver sponsor for the third year in a row! Our sponsors are the reason we are able to host a fun, free and family oriented event for our community as a small non-profit.

We are lucky to have folks like Tom and Jeanne from Nesika who are generous and community minded that will step up to the plate to help us make this beloved event come to life year after year

Nesika Insurance Services Inc. is a 100% Canadian, family-owned and operated insurance brokerage. They have been providing clients with quality service for over 40 years! “Nesika” is Chinook jargon for ‘together’ or ‘looking after our own’.

"We take this meaning to heart in all of our dealings with our clients. At Nesika we strive to ensure that all of our clients feel like they are family, not just a policy. We do our best to ensure that all of our clients have a positive experience working with us and can rest assured that their insurance needs are being take care of by an expert who truly cares."

Cowichan Wooden Boat Festival Speaker Series Mark Reuten: The Story of the Tyee1pm–2pm June 27th at the Cowichan Bay Mar...
06/16/2026

Cowichan Wooden Boat Festival Speaker Series
Mark Reuten: The Story of the Tyee
1pm–2pm June 27th at the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre
Mark Reuten is the Victoria-based shipwright and instructor behind Nomad Boatbuilding. Mark has decades of boatbuilding experience and is a master in all aspects of building small traditional craft, from drafting to construction and finishing. Mark also runs an extremely informative and entertaining YouTube channel where he posts tons of very detailed instructional and build videos. This year we were lucky enough to have Mark lead the traditional boatbuilding course at the centre, in which we did a brand new design, “The Campbell River Tyee,” a traditional human-powered salmon fishing boat that was designed and built in the 1920s by Ned Painter of Painters Lodge. Mark will be doing a presentation on the history of this incredible boat, as well as his own journey to Campbell River to “take the lines” off some original examples that are stored in the museum up there, developing the plans and going through a rundown of the process of building the boat at the centre. So if you are interested in traditional boat building and local maritime history, or are interested in taking next year’s course, don’t miss this presentation!

Experience the Joy of Zimbabwean Music with MachikichoriJoin Machikichori playing at 2 pm at the Cowichan Wooden Boat Fe...
06/16/2026

Experience the Joy of Zimbabwean Music with Machikichori
Join Machikichori playing at 2 pm at the Cowichan Wooden Boat Festival on June 27, 2026 and discover the vibrant rhythms, melodies, and traditions of Zimbabwean music under the guidance of instructor Ted Wright. Machikichori is a 7 piece marimba band.
Ted's passion for Zimbabwean music began in 1993 with Victoria's Marimba Muzuva and has since led him on numerous journeys to Zimbabwe, where he has studied and performed with many of the country's leading traditional musicians. His deep connection to the music and culture brings an authentic and engaging experience to every class.
An accomplished musician and educator, Ted teaches marimba, mbira, chipendani, and gumboot dancing. Ted is also the organizer of Nhemamusasa North, Western Canada's premier Zimbabwean music and dance gathering. This year's event will take place July 27 to August 2, 2026, at the Ecovillage in Shawnigan Lake, bringing together musicians, dancers, and cultural enthusiasts for a week of learning, community, and celebration.

Boats of the 38th Annual Cowichan Wooden Boat Festival! Come view June 27th! Gleniffer Built 1912 - Hong KongJust prior ...
06/15/2026

Boats of the 38th Annual Cowichan Wooden Boat Festival! Come view June 27th!
Gleniffer Built 1912 - Hong Kong
Just prior to World War One, a very successful business developed importing teak-built yachts from Hong Kong. Many of these were brought out to Vancouver on the decks of freighters. One thriving ship-building company was W.S. Bailey and Co.,
founded in Hong Kong in 1897 by W.S. Bailey, a consulting engineer and importer of steam engines. In 1900, E.O. Murphy, former chief engineer in the C.P.R. liners Empress of India, Empress of China and Empress of Japan, joined Bailey as a
partner. For years, their busy shipyard in Kowloon Bay turned out steel steamers and vessels of all kinds. It occupied six acres, with 450 feet of sea frontage. It employed upwards of 2,500 men. Notable amongst the vessels built by W. S. Bailey and Co. is the pleasure yacht, GLENIFFER. She was delivered new to Vancouver in 1912 for owner Stuart Cameron. Her length is 40 feet, beam 9’
6” and ten tons. She is carvel planked in 1” Burma teak, with a canoe stern. Wide clear ceiling planks are 5/8” teak, ribs are 1 3/8” by 1 -7/8” teak copper fastened with rivets and bronze drift bolts. Her keel has a large section of scarfed in lead. She has several custom cast bronze fittings, such as her bow apron stem
cap with fairleads. Original power was a Loew-Victor 4-cylinder gasoline
engine manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio. Later, this was replaced by a 6-cylinder Kermath, then a Chrysler Crown. Her current engine is a Nissan Chrysler SD 33 diesel. There are two 50-gallon stainless fuel tanks aft. Gear shifting at the helm is done with the original brass wheel. She can also be steered from the aft cockpit with her old cast iron removable hand tiller. Throughout her life on the B.C. coast, GLENIFFER was very active in the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Later owners
included the Commodore, R.M Maitland, followed by J.C. McPherson, then Ken Mair. Today, she is kept cruising from her boathouse on Saltspring Island, B.C. by long time owner Thomas Geoffrey Burnett, a coastal towboat Master with
the Canadian Merchant Service Guild

Address

1761 Cowichan Bay Road
Cowichan Bay, BC
V0R1N0

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

250.746.4955

Website

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