Canada
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
2,600km²
Area
1,392km
Coastline
974m
Highest point
402
People
14°C
Warmest sea
August
94km
To the mainland
When to go to Moresby Island
Good all year round.
The sea is warmest in August (14 °C) and coolest in March (7 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Second largest island of the Haida Gwaii archipelago in British Columbia, Canada
Moresby Island is an island in Canada. It belongs to Haida Gwaii. It covers 2,600 km², with 1,392 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 974 m. About 402 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 94 km away.
Getting there
- Sandspit Airport (YZP)airport on the island, with scheduled flightsCar hire in SandspitDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Ferries1 ferry terminals on the island
- 94 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Moresby Island.
- 1beaches
- 1lighthouses
- 1ferry terminalsMoresby Island (Alliford Bay)
- 1marinas
- 5named peaksMount De la Touche, Newcombe Peak, Tasu Mountain and 2 more
- 1ruins and archaeological sites
- 5campsitesHekate’s Retreat RV Site & Camping, Mosquito Lake Recreation Site, Grey Bay Campsite and 2 more
- 4hotels, guesthouses and apartments
- 1restaurants, cafés and bars
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Moresby Island in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Moresby Island, each with its own numbers.
20beaches and covesCoastya
16mountainsPeakyas
11lakesLakeyas
Highest point
1,164m
Mount Moresby
prominence 1,164 m · according to Peakyas
Largest lake
7.1km²
Skidegate Lake
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
21.3°C
Skidegate Lake
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
14.3°C
Dawson Cove
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
20 beaches
on Coastya, the beach atlas
- Anvil Covecove14.0°C
- Cecil Covecove14.0°C
- Ikeda Covecove14.0°C
- Kwoon Covecove14.0°C
- McEchran Covecove14.0°C
- Murray Covecove14.0°C
- Newberry Covecove14.0°C
- Puffin Covecove14.0°C
12 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗
16 mountains
on Peakyas, the mountain atlas
- Mount Moresbyprominence 1,164 m1,164m
- San Christoval Range
- Mount De la Touche
- Tasu Mountain
- Mount Moody
- Mount Oliver
- Mount Russ
- Mount Laysen
8 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
11 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Skidegate Lake7.1km²
- Mosquito Lake6.1km²
- Upper Victoria Lake2.3km²
- Moresby Lake1.6km²
- Lower Victoria Lake1.6km²
- Emerslund Lake1.1km²
- Heather Lake0.69km²
- Takakia Lake0.61km²
3 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 254 m above the sea. 47 % of it is below 200 m.
- 12 %0–50 m
- 36 %50–200 m
- 41 %200–500 m
- 12 %500–1,000 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
100 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 6 |
| Night low (°C) | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 4 |
| Sea (°C) | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 241 | 152 | 171 | 141 | 100 | 104 | 88 | 115 | 165 | 233 | 239 | 231 |
| Wet days | 23 | 19 | 23 | 20 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 24 |
| Sun h/day | 0.7 | 2.8 | 4.4 | 5.9 | 6.9 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 4.3 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 0.7 |
| Wind (km/h) | 20 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 20 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | −0.3 | −0.3 | −0.2 | −0.2 | +0.4 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | −0.1 | +0.8 | +0.6 | ±0.0 | −0.2 |
| 2021 | +0.2 | −0.4 | −0.2 | −0.7 | −0.5 | −0.3 | +0.7 | +0.5 | ±0.0 | −0.9 | −0.3 | −0.3 |
| 2022 | −0.8 | −0.2 | ±0.0 | −0.3 | −0.3 | −0.3 | ±0.0 | +1.0 | +1.0 | +1.5 | −0.2 | −1.2 |
| 2023 | −0.4 | +0.1 | −0.5 | −0.9 | +0.5 | +0.9 | +1.2 | +0.9 | +0.4 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +0.9 |
| 2024 | +0.8 | +1.0 | +0.8 | +0.9 | +0.7 | ±0.0 | +0.8 | +0.8 | +1.0 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | +0.3 |
| 2025 | +0.9 | +0.1 | +0.5 | +0.8 | +0.5 | +0.1 | −0.1 | +0.4 | +1.1 | +0.7 | +0.5 | +0.4 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
United States
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q31772) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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