Blubber Bay is an unincorporated settlement on the northern end of

Texada Island Texada Island is a large island located in the Strait of Georgia of British Columbia, Canada. With an area of , it is the largest island of the Gulf Islands and the third largest island in the Strait of Georgia after Whidbey Island in Washington ...

at the bay of the same name in the northern

Gulf of Georgia The Strait of Georgia () or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada, and the extreme northwestern mainland coast of Washington, United Sta ...

on the

South Coast of British Columbia The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada along the Pacific Ocean is in the pr ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The ferry from Powell River docks at Blubber Bay, which sits beside quarry offices, pits and workings which stretch up the hill. The north rim of the bay has the disused workings of BC Cement Company with dock, work area, and various pits stretching out to the headland. There is a museum and archives and a small store located above the ferry landing.

Geography

Texada Island is one of the

Northern Gulf Islands The Gulf Islands is a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia. Etymology The name "Gulf Islands" comes from " Gulf of Georgia", the original term used by George Vancouver in his ma ...

, and lies across

Malaspina Strait Malaspina Strait is a strait in the northern Gulf of Georgia- Sunshine Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It separates Texada Island from the upper Sunshine Coast- Malaspina Peninsula area on the adjacent mainland. The strait and the pe ...

from the town of

Powell River, British Columbia Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, which is part of the larger Georgia Strai ...

;

Georgia Strait The Strait of Georgia () or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada, and the extreme northwestern mainland coast of Washington (state), Wash ...

lies along its western shores. Texada's other main community is

Van Anda Van Anda, formerly spelled Vananda, is an unincorporated settlement on Texada Island in the northern Gulf of Georgia in British Columbia, Canada. As of 2023, it has a population of approximately 362 people. The surrounding region incorporates ...

, on the island's east coast, which was an

iron mining Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

company town.

History

Blubber Bay was where

Captain Cook Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...

first contacted the

Tla'amin Nation The Tla'amin First Nation (Comox language: ɬəʔamɛn), formerly Sliammon Indian Band or Sliammon First Nation, is a First Nations self governing nation whose lands and traditional territories are located on the upper Sunshine Coast in southwes ...

. Blubber Bay was a

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

station in the heyday of that industry on the British Columbia Coast, where

blubber Blubber is a thick layer of Blood vessel, vascularized adipose tissue under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds, penguins, and sirenians. It was present in many marine reptiles, such as Ichthyosauria, ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. Description ...

was sliced up (

flensing Flensing is the removing of the blubber or outer integument of whales, separating it from the animal's meat. Processing the blubber (the subcutaneous fat) into whale oil was the key step that transformed a whale carcass into a stable, transpor ...

) and rendered (

try pot A try pot is a large pot used to remove and render the oil from blubber obtained from cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and pinnipeds (seals), and also to extract oil from penguins. Once a suitable animal such as a whale had been caught and kille ...

) from captured cetaceans. In 1970 there were 35 families living in a small

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

owned by Domtar Chemical Company,

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

ing limestone for concrete manufacture.

References

* Populated places in the qathet Regional District Mining communities in British Columbia Company towns in Canada Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Texada Island Whaling stations in Canada Whaling in Canada {{BritishColumbiaCoast-geo-stub