Princess Louisa Inlet

We left Galiano Island and headed for Pender Harbour for a night before continuing on to Princess Louisa Sound. It was glorious leaving Pender Harbour. We got a sail in and with the brilliant blue sky, the low cloud added great atmosphere to the view in front of us.

The snowy peaks were never far away, peeking at us over the lower green mountains, and reminding us of just how cold it still is around here!

We then headed down the narrows and popped out into the Strait of Georgia which had barely a ripple it was so flat. We motored much of the way to Jervis Inlet, sailing when we could. However we had to maintain our speed to precisely time our crossing of the Malibu Rapids into Princess Louisa Inlet. Although more powerful motor boats cross at other times, we were allowing a window of only 15 minutes to cross at the slack tide, just after 6pm.

To get to the rapids you travel down a long fjord. We did have a little bit of favourable wind and got a sail in, but it was definitely more motoring than sailing! We were thrilled to come across a pod of small Pacific Dolphins. A similar colouring to orcas, they zip around at high speed like maniacs. A couple very briefly came over to say hello, but at this time they were hunting. Milling around there was a lot of splashing and herding of whatever they were feeding on.

We soon passed them by but all of a sudden at high speed they started to come back in our direction. I was hoping they had finished feeding and were coming to play around the boat however it appeared that their prey had tried to make a break for it. Within moments a frenzy of splashing indicated they had trapped them again; I would love to have seen what was going on under water. Or maybe not! We left them to it, the circle of life in motion.

The scale and beauty of the scenery as we continued down the Princess Royal Reach was breathtaking and makes you realise how small we are in this big big world. Cloud sat on the mountains tops and was layered down the slopes but every now and then we would get glimpses of the snowy peaks. There are waterfalls absolutely everywhere, seemingly just appearing out of the cloud or trees, testament to the snow melt as spring slowly takes hold in this piece of wilderness. Above is a photo of Dean and I as we travelled down today in spring, and below is us on a beautiful autumn day in 2015!

And here is Dean in the same spot all these years later. It could be a different landscape, but both are as beautiful in their own way.

A vast amount of water enters and leaves the inlet via only a tiny channel so there is a tidal flow of about 9 knots and it is extremely quick to change, so as I have mentioned, we opt for safety and cross very conservatively. I am sure the tourist boats probably aim for a more swift crossing for the thrill of the experience! You normally have an audience of people from the lodge to watch your crossing.

Entry to Malibu Rapids

We arrived at the rapids slightly before we were due to cross, so circled until the precise planned time. The channel is very tight and there is only room for boats to cross in one direction at a time. You can’t see the other side due to a sharp turn, so we radioed our intent to cross, and with no reply entered the rapids. The flow was still slightly in our direction and we reached over 9.5 knots going through. We had one observer (we could see) at the lodge to mark our crossing and thankfully the careful planning ensured it was uneventful, and in a blink of an eye we were through. No other boats made the crossing in either direction, and we weren’t surprised, since the season has not really yet opened.

We only had a couple of miles to travel down to McDonald Island where we could pick up a mooring. If you cannot pick up a mooring, since it is so deep, the only option is to anchor and stern tie to the shore, and being close on dark, we weren’t keen for that and were grateful there were no other boats around.

As soon as we settled, we were circled by inquisitive seals. They always seem curious to what we are about and you see a set of big eyes moving through the water but if you show them too much attention they just quietly sink below the water with barely a ripple.

When we got up the next morning the seals were feeding because they were very active and there was a lot of splashing. After breakfast we dropped off the mooring and motored up to Chatterbox Falls. Honestly you don’t know which way to look. Up at the snowy mountains, the gushing waterfalls, is that a seal that popped its head up, what sort of bird is that, oh man look at those reflections……I have sooo many photos. I have posted some on my Instagram page if you are interested, otherwise I’ll just have the video at the end here which maybe helps capture how beautiful this place is.

We only planned on a few hours here before returning to our previous mooring so tied up on the public dock. A yacht was already in residence but it is a large dock, and there was plenty of room.

As I brought her in Dean and Peter were ready to tie us up. To do this you need to be off the boat because as is the style up here, there are no cleats, you need to feed your rope around the railing and tie it off. Unfortunately Peter landed heavily as he jumped off and his foot went through the wooden dock straight into the water. A bit of blood and bruising but fortunately nothing broken, well apart from the dock!

Chatterbox Falls

A carpet of moss and lichens covered almost every inch of the forest. There is a short walk to the bottom of the waterfall. There is no official path to the top, and there is a sign warning you that 13 people have died trying to climb up. I wasn’t even remotely tempted, as I was already being covered in fine spray this far away, and in these low temperatures didn’t wish to get any wetter.

Any trees that die get totally covered by moss and lichen. Look at this knobbly tree.

We did start to walk up a non maintained track to a trappers hut estimated to be 2 hours away, but the fallen trees covering our path foiled my attempt. Although we had seen no evidence of bears, they are known to be around here, so when I turned around, we all did, to stay together.

I had a bit of an explore in the kayak before we headed back to the mooring. I got to stalk a few birds to take some photos. Some were cooperative.

And some not so.

Before we left Dean and Peter took RTP for a spin and left me on the dock to take some photos of them.

Then Peter expertly brought RTP back to the dock to get me, and away we went.

Dean took this photo of me as we were leaving Chatterbox Falls, and you can see snow falling on the mountains behind me.

Once back at our mooring I had another paddle with seals following me the whole time. They would sink into the water if I got too close, only to reappear on the other side of me. I was glad they chose to keep their distance, as I have seen seals jump up on peoples kayaks and I was a little concerned I could be tipped over. And that water was icy!!

Peter then rowed he and Dean ashore and I met them there so we could go for a walk. There is a short circuit walk that we decided to do. Clearly the trails are not maintained over winter and there were fallen trees all over the place. Unlike the other walk we attempted, this one had no hills so it was easy to make our way around the many obstacles. As you can see, they were still pretty significant though.

We popped out in a pretty viewing area that had some seats where you could take some time to reflect on the gorgeous surroundings, before continuing on back to the start.

While not too terrified to not do things, I am still very wary of bears. So imagine my reaction on seeing this bear, before I realised it was only a plastic head stuck on a tree!!

We woke at 6am as we needed to catch the morning tide change, so it was cold and dark but thankfully not raining like when we arrived. I made us all a warm drink and we dropped off the mooring at 0620 to make a 0654 crossing. This time the tide was still slightly against us and our speed dropped to 4.5kn, as we once again made an uneventful crossing in the predawn light.

The rain soon set in but we had enough wind for a very gentle sail down the Princess Royal Reach. The dolphins were still working the area so came for a brief hello before charging away again. Once the rain started it was cold and wet all the way back to Pender Harbour where we were destined to stay for a few days due to a nearby gale.

Join us for a video of our visit, it does run for a few minutes. It begins with crossing the Mailbu Rapids, then there is footage around the inlet, then you’ll see our predawn crossing at the end.