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Canada CanadaHaida GwaiiIsland

Moresby Island

2,600 km² rising to 974 m out of the Hecate Strait.

When to go

Moresby Island seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
N 20 km

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.

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days

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.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

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
  • 11lakesLakeyas
  • 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

  1. Anvil Covecove14.0°C
  2. Cecil Covecove14.0°C
  3. Ikeda Covecove14.0°C
  4. Kwoon Covecove14.0°C
  5. McEchran Covecove14.0°C
  6. Murray Covecove14.0°C
  7. Newberry Covecove14.0°C
  8. Puffin Covecove14.0°C

12 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗

11 lakes

on Lakeyas, the lake atlas

  1. Skidegate Lake7.1km²
  2. Mosquito Lake6.1km²
  3. Upper Victoria Lake2.3km²
  4. Moresby Lake1.6km²
  5. Lower Victoria Lake1.6km²
  6. Emerslund Lake1.1km²
  7. Heather Lake0.69km²
  8. 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.

Moresby Island2,600 km²
Mallorca3,685 km²
Long Island3,529 km²

100 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)666811131616141186
Night low (°C)433479121211854
Sea (°C)887891113141311108
Rain (mm)24115217114110010488115165233239231
Wet days231923201717161819222524
Sun h/day0.72.84.45.96.96.66.45.84.32.71.20.7
Wind (km/h)201818161413121314182020

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
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.

Cecil Cove, Haida Gwaii
Brett Hodnett · CC BY-SA 2.0
Mount Moresby - panoramio
tasugringo · CC BY-SA 3.0

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q31772) · CC0
Outline© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsCoastya, 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

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit