Hunter Island is an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 on the coast of the Canadian province

Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...

 of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. It is located inshore from Queen Charlotte Sound, about 130 kilometres (80.8 mi) north of the town of Port Hardy

Port Hardy, British Columbia

Port Hardy is a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada located on the north-eastern coast of Vancouver Island. Port Hardy has a population of 3822 at last census...

 at the north end of Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

.

A number of small islands lie to the south of Hunter Island, including Stirling Island and Nalau Island. South of these, across Hakai Passage, is Calvert Island

Calvert Island (British Columbia)

Calvert Island is an island on the coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located east of Queen Charlotte Sound in the Central Coast region, about north of the town of Port Hardy, which is at the north end of Vancouver Island....

. To the east Fitz Hugh Sound

Fitz Hugh Sound

Fitz Hugh Sound, sometimes spelled Fitzhugh Sound, is a sound on the British Columbia Coast of Canada, located between Calvert Island and the mainland. Fitz Hugh Sound is part of a group of named bodies of water around the opening of Dean Channel, one of the coast's main fjords, where it...

, part of the Inside Passage

Inside Passage

The Inside Passage is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific coast of North America. The route extends from southeastern Alaska, in the United States, through western British Columbia, in Canada, to northwestern Washington...

, separates Hunter Island from the mainland and King Island

King Island (British Columbia)

King Island is an island on the coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located south of Dean Channel and about east of Bella Bella.. A number of other islands separate King Island from the open sea of Queen Charlotte Sound....

, which is mostly within the inland reaches of Dean Channel

Dean Channel

Dean Channel is the upper end of one of the longest inlets of the British Columbia Coast, from its head at the mouth of the Kimsquit River. The Dean River, one of the main rivers of the Coast Mountains, enters Dean Channel about below the head of the inlet, at the community of...

, one of the largest coastal fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

s. Queens Sound

Queens Sound

Queens Sound is a sound on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, lcoated between Hunter Island and the Goose Group islands . Cultus Sound is to the south, and Kildidt Sound to the south of that....

 lies to the west, between Hunter Island and the Goose Group archipelago. Also on the west side of Hunter Island is Cultus Sound

Cultus Sound

Cultus Sound is a sound on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located on the west side of Hunter Island and just inshore from Queen Charlotte Sound. Its name is derived from the Chinook Jargon term cultus, meaning "bad" or "worthless", which is a reference to it being the most...

, so named because it is the most treacherous of the three approaches to Bella Bella (cultus means "bad" or "worthless" in the Chinook Jargon

Chinook Jargon

Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...

). To the southwest is Kildidt Sound

Kildidt Sound

Kildidt Sound is a sound on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located on the southwest side of Hunter Island. Cultus Sound is to the north, and Queens Sound north of that....

. To the north Hunter Island is separated from Denny Island

Denny Island (Canada)

Denny Island is an island on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, just east of the community of Bella Bella, aka Waglisla, on Campbell Island. Denny Island is the location of Old Bella Bella, now mainly abandoned but home to Canadian Coast Guard and Fisheries & Oceans bases, and the...

 by Lama Passage

Lama Passage

Lama Passage, sometimes referred to as Lama Pass, is a strait on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Inside Passage shipping route...

, and from Campbell Island

Campbell Island (British Columbia)

Campbell Island is an island in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located west of Denny Island and north of Hunter Island, near Milbanke Sound. The Inside Passage waterways of Lama Pass and Seaforth Channel meet at the northern end of Campbell Island....

 by Hunter Channel. Fitz Hugh Sound

Fitz Hugh Sound

Fitz Hugh Sound, sometimes spelled Fitzhugh Sound, is a sound on the British Columbia Coast of Canada, located between Calvert Island and the mainland. Fitz Hugh Sound is part of a group of named bodies of water around the opening of Dean Channel, one of the coast's main fjords, where it...

 and Lama Pass are part of the main Inside Passage

Inside Passage

The Inside Passage is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific coast of North America. The route extends from southeastern Alaska, in the United States, through western British Columbia, in Canada, to northwestern Washington...

route.

Hunter Island is 34 kilometres (21.1 mi) long and ranges in width from 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to 16 kilometres (9.9 mi). It is 334 square kilometres (129 sq mi) in area. The island reaches 899 metres (2,949.5 ft) in elevation.

Protected areas

Just south of Hunter Island in Hakai Pass is the Hakai Luxvbalis Conservancy Area. At more than 1200 square kilometres (296,526.2 acre) of land and sea, it is the largest provincial marine protected area on the British Columbia coast.

Hakai Provincial Recreation Area, 50,707 ha in size, includes the southern part of Hunter Island and the northern part of Calvert Island, as well as numerous smaller islands in the area.