The most accessible and popular of British Columbia’s great scenic fjords, Jervis Inlet punches 60 kilometres into the Coast Mountains a day’s cruising north of Vancouver. It deserves to be called the “Royal Fjord” on two counts: the long zigzagging watercourse is comprised of four segments all with “royal” names—Prince of Wales Reach, Princess Royal Reach, Queen’s Reach and Princess Louisa Inlet; and second, the inlet possesses a scenic majesty that has made it one of the prime boating destinations on the Inside Passage. Author Earle Stanley Gardner was so moved by the beauty of Jervis Inlet that he penned “There is no scenery in the world that can beat it. Not that I’ve seen the rest of the world. I don’t need to.”

Almost deserted now except for Young Life’s Malibu Club youth summer camp, Jervis Inlet was once the home of large Sechelt Nation villages and later, of innumerable homesteads, logging camps and fishing communities, and even the occasional hangout of golden-age Hollywood stars. That colourful past comes to life again in this new book by Ray Phillips, who grew up in the area and descended from local pioneers.

Featuring original photos and the rough-hewn memories of some of those early inhabitants, along with personal accounts by the author and his father, The Royal Fjord makes fascinating reading and fills an important gap in the written history of the BC coast.