The settlement at the top of Highway 101, built around a terminal with ten parking stalls and boarding by order of arrival.
Where Earls Cove sits, and the other places we attend
around Egmont. Every name on the map is a link.
Highway 101 ends here
Earls Cove is a locality at the north end of the Sechelt Peninsula, on Jervis Inlet, about 136 kilometres from Vancouver. BC Geographical Names records it as official, adopted 15 February 1983, at 49.75194 north and 124.00917 west. The Sunshine Coast Regional District's evacuation guide counts it as one of four communities in the Egmont and District zone and places it "at the northern terminus of Highway 101".
The BC Ferries terminal is the reason the place exists. Its official address is 16550 Sunshine Coast Highway, Madeira Park, roughly 27 kilometres north of Madeira Park itself and about 90 minutes by car from Langdale. Route 7 crosses to Saltery Bay, about 9.5 nautical miles, in about 50 minutes. The vessel is the MV Malaspina Sky, built between 2006 and 2009, rated for 462 passengers and crew and 125 vehicles. She entered service on this run on 19 February 2009 as the Island Sky and was renamed at a ceremony on 24 October 2019. There are 16 sailings a day.
On 14 April 2026 there was no substitute
All 16 sailings were cancelled that day for an electrical and maintenance issue. BC Ferries said medical travel would be prioritised, and stated the reason no relief service could be arranged:
Alternative service is unavailable on the Saltery Bay/Earls Cove route due to lack of safe and accessible embarkation points for water taxis in Earls Cove.
BC Ferries, reported by Coast Reporter, 14 April 2026
Sailings have also been lost to crew shortages on 24 December 2022, 30 April 2023, 2 to 4 September 2023 and 18 December 2023; to a vehicle stuck on the Earls Cove ramp on 9 March 2023; to maintenance on 16 December 2023; and to a ramp fault at Saltery Bay on 3 September 2024.
Ten parking stalls, and a queue on the highway
BC Ferries advertises "Limited free parking at terminal (10 spaces)" and boarding "based on order of arrival at the terminal", with check-in closing five minutes before each sailing for both vehicles and foot passengers. Those two rules together put the waiting line on the road. In August 2026 Coast Reporter reported the queue backing up near the Ruby Lake area, more than a kilometre from the terminal. Residents described driving in the oncoming lane to get past it, drivers using private yards as washrooms, and Canada Post unable to complete deliveries. One account referred to volunteer firefighters on a local road who could not get out to calls. Flaggers had been withdrawn from the queue about two years earlier, and the Ministry of Transportation was said to be preparing a traffic plan.
The settlement is an official name and the cove is not
The community asked for the plural rather than the possessive because more than one family named Earl lived in the district, and the name is described as coming indirectly from an early pioneer, Mr. Earl. The water body called Earls Cove was rescinded as a geographic name on 21 June 2023, and the older singular form, Earl Cove, was rescinded on 3 April 1959. Both spellings stay in daily use: BC Ferries and the regional district write Earls Cove, while Coast Reporter headlines write Earl's Cove.
What the regional district records about the residents
The evacuation plan is blunt about the houses behind the terminal:
The Earls Cove residential areas are quite remote, and many are without internet and with poor cell phone service although recent work has been completed to improve service.
SCRD, Evacuation Route Plan for Egmont and District, version 2.0, 12 April 2023
The same document notes that elderly residents are locally known, that some have chosen a deliberately reclusive lifestyle, that door-to-door notification may be required, that there are few permanent families with children, and that the population rises and falls with ferry travellers and tourists. Timberline RV Park is the tourist accommodation it names here. Earls Cove is one of the four communities served by the Egmont and District Volunteer Fire Department, whose hall is at 5592 Egmont Road. The official community plan lists an Earls Cove water service area as one of four regional district supply zones in the plan area; sewage everywhere here is on-site. Road routing on 12 September 2026 put Sechelt Hospital 53.9 kilometres and 52 minutes away.
What a check at Earls Cove covers
The gate, the driveway and the point where it meets Highway 101, after weekends when the queue has stood across it
Doors, windows and outbuildings, with the locks tried rather than looked at
Heat on and holding, or the system drained and the shut-off confirmed closed
The septic tank lid and the field, including wet ground above the tank after heavy rain
The well pump and pressure tank, or the regional district service connection and its shut-off
Propane tank level, regulator and fittings
Trees leaning over the roof and over the service drop after a southeast blow
Mail and parcels accumulating, given the reported delivery failures in August
A dated, photographed record of each item above, filed the same day
Most household policies say an unoccupied dwelling must be looked at by a competent person at fixed intervals through the heating season, commonly no more than four consecutive days apart, unless the water has been turned off and the pipes drained. The interval and the wording differ between insurers, so read your own policy before deciding how often a visit is needed.
What it costs
A scheduled check at Earls Cove is
$55 a visit, plus
$10 travel. The travel charge is the same
everywhere between Gibsons and Egmont. There is no minimum term and no joining fee.
See the full price list.
Where these facts come from
Every figure, date and quotation on this page was taken from one of these. They are
listed so you can read them yourself.
