Tzoonie River and Sechelt Rapids

After breakfast this morning, I pulled my crab pot to find the same four crabs still in it. No new ones. I should have removed them last night, as they ate half the chicken I put in there as bait! But I was still excited to get crabs on my first try. One Dungeness and three Red rock. I had to throw two of the Red rock back as they were females, and you are only allowed to keep the males. Bill and Mike departed at this time (7am), but I told them I’d be cleaning and steaming the crabs, and be underway in another 30-40 minutes. I finished cleaning up, and then caught up with them in Secret Cove, the next cove on our route. After Secret, we continued on, turning into Pender Harbour to tour around there for a little while. It’s a beautiful area with some nice homes. And a few interesting boats. We were heading for Sechelt (Skookumchuck) Rapids, and considering they are the world record holder for running at 16.5 kts on a large tidal exchange, it’s highly recommended to enter these only at slack current. Slack would be right around 4pm, so we were timing our arrival there to be around 3:30p. Another suggestion as sometimes the times are not always accurate, and being there a little early you can watch and go through when the current ceases for a short time while the tides change. Coming up the Agamemnon Channel, we passed several fish farms and Earls Cove. Not far beyond Earls, we turned into the Sechelt Inlet and headed for the rapids. We were there around 3. I was about a mile a head of Bill and Mike, and while the current through the rapids was at 7mph, I watched a local boat pass me up on plane and go through the rapids. So I added power and followed his track. Now, I never felt unsafe or scared, but let’s just say it was exciting. I was making about 10-12mph over ground, with current coming 7mph at me. The channel there is narrow (thus why such a fast current), with a lot of whirlpool and swirls in the middle. Also, there was around a 2-3 foot over fall near half way through. Or more like a slight swell, caused by the water flowing around the surrounding islets and changing depths. I really wish I could have recorded a video to upload, but needless to say, I was pretty busy just handling the boat. Lol! I got through that without a scratch, and the current slowed down to maybe 3 or 4 mph, but it was a good mile before it was less that 2mph. And since the tides were changing, eventually I ended up with a tail current. Bill and Mike at the time had swung into the Egmont area to check out the fuel dock for later, and to continue waiting until closer to 4 for the slack water. They ended up coming through the rapids around 3:30 and came through with a 5mph ebb in front of them. They said it was exciting also. 
We continued on and turned north on the Tzoonie River. I arrived at the Tzoonie Delta at the end, dropped my crab pot, and got anchored. Bill and Mike came in about 30 minutes later. We are all anchored here for the evening.
A few other notes. We passed under two groups of the longest overhead power lines we’ve ever seen. Bill figures the first one was about a mile across. On the shore, under the power line towers, are large red ball signs. We figure that is to warn pilots of the overhead lines. We could see several areas of logging scars on the mountains. (Areas that have been logged.) We are next to a small logging operation here at the Delta, and passed a small tug towing a very long log boom on the Tzoonie River.Read more