After-Party Day 4 – Princess Louisa Inlet (Chatterbox Falls)

This morning we went for a walk to see Chatterbox Falls. It is so beautiful here with moss hanging from the trees, cliffs 4000’ high, and lush green foliage. The falls are gorgeous but there is a large warning sign not to climb the hill to get to the top of the falls. Twelve people have died trying to do so.

We took the dinghies out for a little tour of the bays and through the inlet. We checked out the mooring bouys in a bay near MacDonald Island and decided that we want to come over here for our last night. It is so isolated and quiet there.

After exploring a little, Bob decided it would be fun to take the dinghies through the Malibu Rapids. I wasn’t too sure about that and neither were Al and Sue or Larry and Cheryl. We headed over there to take a look and decided to go for it. Our dinghy is so small compared to the larger boats that we knew it wouldn’t be fairly easy.  We had a blast!  The others followed us through the rapids and all had a great time.  After gathering on the other side and cheering for ourselves, we headed back through toward the marina.

Seaplanes are used a lot to get visitors in to the Princess Louisa Inlet. Everything is so remote up in the islands that they are a very common mode of transportation.

We did some kayaking today and enjoyed the serene setting as we paddled up next to the shore and steep cliffs. It is so pretty here to see it from a kayak is so different than from the boat. I hoped to see some critters along the shore but the tide was out and I suspect the animals were inland. We did see some seals swimming around.

 

Tonight we invited everyone over to our boat for a movie night. We decided on Zootopia since some had not seen it. We popped popcorn on all the boats and brought it over to Synnova. We had a great time and everyone loved the movie.

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After-Party Day 3 – Princess Louisa Inlet (Chatterbox Falls)

We left Pender Harbour about 7:00am and headed for Princess Louisa. We had great weather all the way and the water was very smooth. As we traveled up the channel we noticed one place where the depth was 1700’ deep.  It is amazing to see the mountains on each side of us and to know the depth is just as far below. This map shows the depths in one particular area.

As we approached the Malibu Rapids we were all a little nervous. It is recommended to go through them as close to slack tide as possible because of the current and whirlpools in this area. Bob led us through last time in the Nordic Tug and was quite comfortable that the boat could handle it well. This time we have a larger boat that isn’t quite as maneuverable. We knew she would do fine but the stress level was up until we actually got to the rapids and saw that it would not be a problem. We followed Al through the rapids then Jack and Larry followed us. On our left as we went through the rapids is Malibu Camp – the northwest’s Young Life camp. It is a beautiful camp for teens which we toured the last time we were here.  Our captains all did great and we continued on through one of the most beautiful areas we have ever seen.

The following map shows the rapids we traveled through and then the inlet that leads to Chatterbox Falls at the end.

The sunlight on the hills around us creates some lovely shadows and added beauty to the setting. This photo was during the late afternoon and you could see the sun shining into the channel between two mountains.

This evening we gathered out on the seaplane dock and ate our dinners together. I made gingerbread with fresh whipped cream for dessert. We had so much fun laughing, reminiscing and just enjoying each other’s company. Bob managed to shock himself (for the 2nd time!) on the bug zapper we brought with us and his reaction required a replay so that I could capture it for this blog.

After-Party Day 2 – John Henry’s Marina (Pender Harbour)

We got up early this morning to cross the Strait of Georgia to get to Gorge Harbour but discovered the winds were 25-30 knots. Yesterday’s winds were a little less and it still was a rough ride. As we discussed our options we decided it made no sense to try to cross the strait only because we had a reservation somewhere. If any of us had been by ourselves we would not have gone so it only made sense that as a group we should make the same decision. We checked with the marina office and they were able to make room for all of us for another night. Since we were unable to cross the strait because of the weather, other boaters who wanted to come our direction also were unable to travel so their slips became available.  We decided that since the weather is going to be so bad for several days we needed to cancel our stops in Gorge Harbour, Octopus Islands, and Tenados. Instead, we decided a return trip to Princess Louis Inlet would be a great choice. We were there three years ago and loved it. The following map shows how close we are to Agamemnon Channel which leads north to Malibu Rapids and then Princess Louisa Inlet. We would not have to go out into the Strait of Georgia at all.

Since we were here for another day I went up to the office to catch up on some of my work and got a nice early morning picture of these seagulls.

Two of our yacht club friends joined us for the night. They were hoping to head home but because of the winds decided to come to John Henry’s for the night and hope for better weather soon. We had a great time visiting with Robert and Marie Porterfield and later sharing a meal together.

We took our dinghies over to the grocery store to get provisions and then checked out some bays and inlets along the way. We love it here at Pender Harbour and were not sorry to spend an extra day here.

We spent much of our day reading our books. We had beautiful weather and it was nice to have a day without having to go somewhere.

The wind really came up tonight and this picture hints at what it might be like out in the Strait of Georgia.