Princess Louisa Inlet

Location:  Powell River/Westview Harbour, BC

Close up view of Chatterbox Falls, Princess Louisa Inlet

At the end of the last blog, we were in Anacortes, waiting for boiler parts.  We did a lot of boat chores, then decided to head out to Hunter Bay on the east side of Lopez Island for the weekend.  The forecast was windy and rainy so it was a good time to stay aboard and do more boat chores.  

Seal on the docks, Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes, WA

Sunday it cleared up enough to launch the dinghy and take a trip to the county dock and a walk along the island shores.  We found a fender floating near shore so we rescued it.

Puddy helping me with my boat chore of extending our dinghy cover.
Our old dinghy was 10 feet long and the new one is 11.5 feet long.
I added a piece of Sunbrella to our existing cover so that it would fit the new dinghy.

On Monday we got a call saying our boiler part had arrived and was ready for installation.  Tuesday morning we headed back to Anacortes.  We tied up at the marina and I walked into town to pick up a few packages at the post office and to get some sandwiches for lunch.  We have discovered that package and mail delivery to “General Delivery” at any U. S. Post Office works really well.  Just show up with an ID and tell them you have a package/mail to pick up.  

Costica, the Kabola distributer, came down to the boat and installed the new burner that afternoon.  He and Dave did some tests and made some adjustments, and, we are pleased to say, it has been running like a charm.  The factory will do some analytics on the original burner to figure out what the issue was.

Tuesday afternoon, as we were walking to the hardware store, we found four large fenders near the marina dumpsters.  All were good, inflated with no rips, tears or holes, just a little dirty.  We loaded them into a dock cart and hauled them back to the boat.  If purchased new, fenders this size cost about $150 apiece so we felt like we found a small gold mine.  

Our four "new" fenders on the bow waiting to be stowed.

Wednesday morning we borrowed a pair of marina bikes and peddled around town running errands.  We picked up a spool of 3/8” poly line to use as a stern tie, dropped our main engine workshop manual at the office supply store to have it spiral bound, then stopped at West Marine, the pet store, the cherry stand, the auto parts store and the hardware store.  That was enough biking around so we returned to the marina for lunch and to finish our laundry.  After lunch, a few more errands, some boat chores and a trip to Safeway to get some groceries.

Dave riding on a marina bike.

Thursday morning we left the Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes, hopefully for the last time this summer.  We are finally heading north.  Our first stop was the anchorage on the north side of Jones Island.  We anchored in the middle of the cove, had lunch and then launched the kayaks for a paddle along the shore and a walk around the east side of the island.  

Dave paddling his kayak, Jones Island, WA

We surprised a raccoon eating clams along the shore.  Jones Island, WA.

B hiking on Jones Island and Seabiscuit anchored in the cove.

Sunset, Jones Island, WA

Friday we crossed the U.S. / Canada border and cruised into Ganges.  We tried a few of the local restaurants and did some major provisioning at the local market, Saturday farmer’s market and the liquor stores.

Fiddler at the Ganges Saturday Market.  There are chalk circles marked on the pathways
for buskers.  Each busker can spend a defined period of time in each circle then must move on.
It seems to work and gives a variety of artists the opportunity to perform.

Our bounty from the Ganges Saturday Market:  scallions, beets, swiss chard, asparagus,
mushrooms, lettuce, strawberries, raspberries and some basil plants.

Sunday we left the Ganges Marina about 9:30 to time for slack water at Porlier Pass.  Porlier Pass runs between Galiano Island and Valdes Island and is one of the passes leading from the Gulf Islands into the Strait of Georgia.  Currents can run up to over 9 knots and create lots of turbulence so it is important to go through as close to slack water as possible.  Our destination for the day was Page’s Resort and Marina in Silva Bay, Gabriola Island.

On our voyage from Ganges to Silva Bay we rolled over the 15,000 nautical mile mark on our trip log.

View of the Porlier Pass light house from the stern.

We tied up at the docks early afternoon and got busy with boat chores.  I worked on adding lines to our “new” fenders and culled a bunch of old, smaller fenders out of our forward locker so that there was room to store the “new” ones.  Dave worked on installing partitions around the new heater fan coils under the dining bench so that we can move our spare parts back up from the steering flat.  For supper, we walked over to the restaurant/pub at Silva Bay Resort.

Deer grazing on Galiano Island.

Sunset, Silva Bay, Galiano Island, BC

Float plane in Silva Bay.  We saw this plane taking off and landing numerous times
during the day.  A guy at the pub said the pilot had made 24 trips in and out of the bay that day.

As with most boats, we listen to the VHF radio during our voyages.  We typically scan several channels including 16 plus the Coast Guard working channels, VTS channels and local marina channels.  On our way south down the Ganges Channel, we heard an interesting call come over the radio.  The call was to the Coast Guard from a sailing vessel near Active Pass.  They reported that they had seen two drones in the water.  The sail boat provided a detailed description:  “one was orange and one was green, both with protrusions out the top, probably for the propellers.  Both were traveling about 3 knots, in F1 formation, following the ferry near Active Pass.”  The Coast Guard took the information and said they would check into it.  Later that morning, we heard another call on the radio, from Coast Guard to Coast Guard.  They had received a phone call regarding the drones that were reported earlier.  It turned out that the drones were a pair of crab trap buoys being pushed by the current.

We left Silva Bay early Monday afternoon and crossed the Strait of Georgia to the BC mainland.  The crossing was a little lumpy with short, choppy waves and winds blowing 15 – 20 knots.  We entered Secret Cove about 16:30 and anchored in the south arm of the cove.  The anchorage was calm with no other boats around and we enjoyed happy hour and supper on the stern. 

The anchorage in the south arm of Secret Cove, BC

Tuesday morning we left the Secret Cove anchorage about 6:30 and headed towards Harmony Islands.  As we were pulling around the east side of the islands and preparing to anchor, I switched on the windlass to lower the anchor chain out of the hawsepipe.  Our windlass started to rotate continuously and wouldn’t shut down.  Finally the breaker tripped.  We positioned the boat to anchor along the mainland coast in about 25 feet of water and let the anchor free fall into the water.  Dave did some troubleshooting and decided the issue was the on/off switch on the windlass.  We dug our spare switch out of storage and he replaced the old one.  That didn’t solve the problem so out came the windlass manuals.  Dave decided to investigate the windlass control box.  He opened the box and found that the relay contacts inside were burned and extremely dirty.  He cleaned the contacts, re-assembled the box and we did some testing.  Everything worked so he put it all back together and we added some windlass parts to our ordering list.

Dave working on the windlass, Harmony Islands, BC

Looking north from the stern as we were leaving Harmony Islands, BC.

We hoisted anchor about 10:45 Wednesday morning and began our journey to Princess Louisa Sound.  In order to get into the sound, it is important to time for slack water at Malibu Rapids which is narrow, with a blind S turn and currents that can run up to 9 knots.  We arrived a little early so we waited outside the entrance with 3 other boats until slack.  Once you get past the rapids, the head of the Princess Louisa Inlet is about 4 miles further in.  The granite walls along the inlet are steep and over 6000’ high with lots of waterfalls coming from the snowfields above.  Chatterbox Falls, which comes down ~1800 feet, is at the head of the inlet, just to the north of the park dock.  According to the guide books, this is “the “holy grail” for cruising people from all over the world” and it is easy to see why.  There was space for us on the inside of the park dock near the plane float so we tied alongside.  We stayed for three days and kept busy walking up to Chatterbox Falls, taking the dinghy out for a spin, hiking in the woods near McDonald Island and kayaking around the coves.  We set up the bimini and the deck chairs on monkey island which gave us a great spot to watch the boats and sea planes come and go.  We wanted to swim as it was warm in the inlet but the ranger’s bulletin board advised not to as the “Lion’s Mane” jellyfish were abundant and can cause skin blisters.

View from the stern as we cruised north toward Malibu Rapids and Princess Louisa Inlet.

Entering Princess Louisa Inlet via Malibu Rapids at slack water.  The totem pole, flag
and ramp belong to a youth camp located on the west side of the rapids.

Chatterbox Falls at the head of Princess Louisa Inlet.

Float plane coming in to the dock, Princess Louisa Inlet.

The forest near Chatterbox Falls, Princess Louisa Inlet.

The forest near McDonald Island, Princess Louisa Inlet.

Waterfall on the east shore of the cove, Princess Louisa Inlet.

Dave helping a pilot turn around her float plane, Princess Louisa Inlet.
That's Seabiscuit's starboard bow in the lower left corner of the photo.

Heading south out of Princess Louisa Inlet toward Malibu Rapids.

Saturday morning we left the dock along with two other boats to catch the 7:45 slack at Malibu Rapids.   The cruise south was uneventful.  We arrived at Harmony Islands about 12:30 and were greeted by two bald eagles sitting in a tree on the south point of the south islands.  We anchored up along the mainland on the east side of the islands.  We spent the afternoon reading on the stern, doing boat chores and watching other boats cruise and anchor among the islands.  

Freil Falls (left) and a landslide (right), BC mainland coast near Harmony Islands.

Two bald eagles in a tree on the south point of the south island, Harmony Islands, BC.

This morning, Sunday, July 2^nd, we cruised to Powell River / Westview Harbour in Malaspina Strait.  We are planning to stay here for two nights to get some supplies, do laundry and take advantage of the internet.

Until next time...