Sutil Channel

File:Locmap-SutilChannel.png

Sutil Channel at the northern end of the Strait of Georgia extends deep into the Discovery Islands.

Sutil Channel is a channel, or strait, in British Columbia, Canada, located at the north end of the Strait of Georgia, between Quadra Island and Read Island to the west, and Cortes Island to the east. It connects to several channels to the north, including Calm Channel and Hoskyn Channel. Sutil Channel is one of the larger waterways of the Discovery Islands.

The southern boundary of Sutil Channel, where it joins the Strait of Georgia, is defined as a line between Francisco Point, at the southeast end of Quadra Island, to Sutil Point, the southern end of Cortes Island. Sometimes Cape Mudge instead of Francisco Point is mentioned as the southern end of Quadra Island. The boundary between Sutil Channel and Hoskyn Channel is a line between Rebecca Spit on Quadra Island and Read Point on Read Island. Wide in the south, Sutil Channel narrows in the north, and merges with Calm Channel at the northernmost point of Cortes Island in the vicinity of the Rendezvous Islands. Settlements on the shore of Sutil Channel include Whaletown on Cortes Island.

Desolation Sound, which strictly defined does not directly connect to Sutil Channel, is sometimes used loosely as all the waters north of Cape Mudge and Sarah Point, including Sutil Channel and Discovery Passage.

Sutil Channel was named around 1864 by Captain George Henry Richards in honor of the ship Sutil used by Dionisio Alcalá Galiano in exploring the region in 1792. A group of small islands in Sutil Channel called the Subtle Islands are named for Galiano's ship as well, translated to English.