Princess Louisa Inlet

We were up early this morning, to make sure we got to Sechelt Rapids during slack water. Bill left the anchorage first at around 6:20a, then I left at 6:30 and Mike was soon after me. Just before Sechelt Rapids, Bill spotted a floating fender and pointed it out to me. If you read my previous blog at Dale Hollow Lake, you know how I like picking up extra fenders for my boat. This one was pretty nice, just needs to be cleaned up some. I’m already using it! We had several Tugs towing a long log boom ahead of us, and also a faster barge tug with a truck. When we arrived at Sechelt Rapids, there was still around a 2mph flood current we’d be driving into. The Tugs with the logs stopped and were holding off waiting for no current. Bill and I proceeded through. Mike was still about a half mile behind us, and I believe followed the tugs through. So this time these rapids were pretty tame coming through. I took a slightly different route through the rapids than I did coming through the first time. You can see that on one of my photos. After the rapids, it was just smooth sailing up the Prince of Wales Reach and Princess Royal Reach, until we turned off for Malibu Rapids and the entrance to Princess Louisa Inlet. The Malibu Rapids can run at speeds of around 9 kts when maximum tide change. I was running about 3 miles ahead of Bill and Mike by the time we neared Malibu Rapids, and since I had seen and heard several other boats enter the rapids, I continued on. The rapids were only running at around 4 mph when I arrived, so I went on through. Pretty tame even at that speed on an ebb current. And it is only for a very short distance. After I passed by the rapids and entered Princess Louisa Inlet, I stopped at the Young Life Malibu Christian youth camp. They enjoy giving visitors a tour. It is a great youth camp and brings back some memories of my youth in Methodist fellowship, and also of a time when I worked as a youth counselor at a Sky-Y camp in Arizona. My tour guide was an intern, and was actually from Mississippi. (Most staff are Canadians.) After touring the camp, as I was leaving their dock, Bill and Mike came through the Rapids, which were now starting to change direction, but with very little current. We traveled the 4.5 miles up to the long dock at Chatterbox Falls, where we docked for the night. A quick short hike up to the Falls, before returning to the boats and planning our next stop once we leave here. Coming up the Reaches, we saw a few waterfalls. After entering Princess Louisa Inlet, we saw many waterfalls. For a video entering Malibu Rapids, please see my youtube channel with this link: https://youtu.be/q2nwub0W2fERead more