July 1-3 2014 – Malibu Rapids and Chatterbox Falls

HAPPY CANADA DAY !!!!!

Up at 4 am for a 4:30 am departure so we can hit Malibu Rapids at slack around 8:30 am….

..... a STUNNING sunrise.

  

IMPULSIVE at daybreak ....

As we worked our way up Jervis Inlet towards Princess Louisa Inlet, the snow packed mountains that feed all the waterfalls are STUNNING .....

We approach the entrance to Malibu Rapids, at the Young Life Malibu Club .... 

 ..... glide through the rapids past the beautiful camp....

 ....and up the inlet to our anchorage at the falls.

The scenery is BEYOND BEAUTIFUL ….. as we had heard it would be. 
The weather was perfect ...
 Hot and sunny.

The waterfalls that cascade down the rock faces into Princess Louisa are many, and they come and go at various times of the day and night .... as the heat of the day thaws more of the snow pack, the falls become more plentiful.

"Princess Louisa Inlet was named for Queen Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, Victoria Maria Louisa.  It was missed by Captain Vancouver who initially thought it was a river.  The original name for Princess Louisa Inlet, given by the early First Nations of the area was Suiuoolot or Suivoolot (sway-we-lat) which means a place of warmth and sunshine."  

Peter Vassilopoulos (Cruising to Desolation Sound)

Time for play !!!

And as always, dinners on the back deck with friends !!!

Hiking up to the falls .....

George (beside Eleanor) and Will (in front of Cameron) gave us a tour of the Young Life Camp,  Malibu Club .... 

I had attended a women's camp a number of years ago with my Bible Study group (and a couple hundred other women !)  It was a fabulous experience.....

As author Earle Stanley Gardner wrote ... "No one could see Princess Louisa Inlet and remain an atheist."

A couple of fun-filled days in one of THE most beautiful spots in the world .... and we follow IMPULSIVE cruising back out past Malibu .... 

... and on to Blind Bay.

June 30, 2014 – Egmont

Not a lot at Egmont other than WILD currents (which makes docking interesting) 

and the Back Eddy pub (tons of laughs over dinner) !!

.... bison sliders

... and LOTS of hummingbirds !!

Tomorrow is a 4:30 AM  departure for Malibu and Chatterbox Falls .....

June 29, 2014 – Garden Bay, Pender Harbor

We met up with Cam and Nancy Cleveland on IMPULSIVE at Garden Bay …. 

A beautiful RVYC outstation.  

After hitting the pub deck for live jazz and a late lunch, we kayak’d, paddleboarded and dingy’d around the bay, doing a little exploring.

  

Holly filled up the paddleboard ...

And I got to give it a go .... knees to standing !!!

The “twin overhead CAM” rescue team had to be called in to rescue Holly and I on the kayaks as we got into a little bay with a wicked current and could not paddle our way out…. 

Thankfully they were able to find us and drag us back to calmer water.

  

A couple of young avid fishermen on the dock were lamenting that they had forgotten their fillet knife so I offered them the use of my Grandpa Berg's knife ... and they offered us one of their fish !! 

We traded a dozen Stella and a bottle of nice red wine and we had ourselves a delicious salmon dinner plus some fillets for the freezer !! ... and everyone was happy !!!

The next morning, Cam and I went for an early morning walk up to beautiful Garden Bay Lake .....

Then off to Egmont and the start of Princess Louisa Inlet & Chatterbox Falls .....

June 28, 2014 - Secret Cove

June 28, 2014 - Our departure to Secret Cove

May I just start this blog by explaining that we were (correction .... I was !!!) having technical difficulties getting up and running .... seems to be a search engine problem (Google vs Google Chrome)... go figure !!!

That combined with being out of cell and satellite coverage for the majority of this last week .... 

is why the blog is a bit behind.

But "now that I have your attention" .... I WILL try to keep up !!!

So here we go .....

With Eleanor, Holly and Su and Daisy dog aboard, we pulled out of Coal Harbor on
Saturday, June 28th  at 8:30 am.

The view of the city from the harbor is beautiful .... especially that time of the morning.

With the entrance to Secret Cove being shallow and  narrow at low tide, we opted to hold over in Buchaneer Bay for a few hours, soak up some sunshine and wait for favorable tides .  We pulled out our kayakas and the BLOWUP paddleboard that Su managed to get for the trip.  

(It’s AWESOME btw !!!!! )

We dropped anchor and enjoyed the blow up toys for a few hours …. Breezy but very pleasant. 

Then it was on to Secret Cove where we met up with Nancy and John Rea ..... 

enjoying appies and wine on the back deck!

We dingy’d around Secret Cove (said HI to Barry and Helen on LAZEE GAL) and into Smugglers Cove where there was a sailboat regatta …. Never seen so many sailboats all rafted together !!!  

Smugglers Cove a beautiful, very little cove next to Secret Cove .....

Tomorrow we connect up with Cam and Nancy Cleveland and Sadie, on IMPULSIVE, 
at Garden Bay, Pender Harbor .....

Summer 2014-Inside Passage

Summer of 2014 – The Inside Passage

A trip up the Inside Passage to Northern BC requires the 3P’s …. 

Planning, Preparation and Provisioning! 

I think (HOPE) we have anticipated all that we will need, prepared the boat for anything and everything and picked beautiful spots to see and invited people to see them with us.

We joined the Talbots on Northern Ranger for appies, wine and PLANNING …. Duelling computers and routes were combined to form our route up the Inside Passage.

Destinations were chosen based on what we had read in books & on blogs and special places people had told us about based on their adventures and experiences.  As well, Pacific Coastal Airline routes were considered, which will allow for friends and family to join us at various spots.

Preparation of the boat began with Darren in Anacortes.  He was responsible for getting Sea Level II all cleaned, waxed and “ship shape” for the trip and as always, did his usual AWESOME  job !!

The life raft was inspected and repacked this year, fire extinguishers were all replaced and all the usual inspections on electronics and other safety equipment were carried out and passed without issue.  Our new ditch bag was readied …..

Provisioning included trips to good old Costco (did you know Kim Crawford is $10.99 per bottle at the US Costco’s ??  $10.99 !!!!!!!  So I picked up “a few” of those  J  

The freezer was stocked , the cupboards were restocked and of course, the fuel tanks were topped up …..

A few days prior to departure, Cam and his crew moved the boat from Reed Point to RVYC Coal Harbor to make our loading up and our departure just that much easier … 

THEN …. before we knew it, it was June 27^th and we were spending our first nite with Eleanor, Holly, Su and Daisy moored in Coal Harbor, anticipating an early departure in the morning.  

Our ultimate destination for this leg of the trip ….

PRINCESS LOUISA INLET and CHATTERBOX FALLS