We’ve entered a well-needed break from stoic challenges. So we can share some fun stuff.

Princess Louisa Stars and Fireball. Clear night skies and no moon equal great star watching and the Summer Triangle and Milky Way appeared before our eyes around 11 pm. One night we slept out on the upper deck to watch the stars throughout the night.

Baby Seals: Princess Louisa Inlet is a breading ground for baby seals and we love watching them around the boat.

Very Dry and Warm: PLI was about as dry and warm as we have ever seen it. The waterfalls looked parched, flowing much less than usual. Some were completely dried out. So when the weather predicted a 24 hour rainstorm, we decided to hang out a bit longer and we were rewarded with a good rainfall. The trees rejoiced, the waterfalls refilled and the whole area smelled delicious.

Even the Captain and I went out to Kayak in the rain.

Sechelt Inlet Exploration: Yesterday we left PLI and cruised to Egmont before deciding to travel south through the Sechelt Rapids (aka Skookumchuck Rapids) and hopefully anchor near the cute town of Sechelt at the south end of the inlet. After a stop at the Backeddy for a yummy lunch we refilled the water tank and headed south. Passing through the Skookumchuck Rapids is serious business. Figuring out when slack tide was a bit complicated because our phone app “Aye Tide” had slack tide occurring 10 minutes earlier than the tide/current information in our Garmin Chartplotter. So we did it the Wylie Blanchet way, by observing it, watching two tugs go through and then passing through with visual confirmation of the near-slack current. As we passed through the rapids the kayakers at Rapids Rock waived at us while waiting for the current to get back into the “fun” zone (for them). We feature the Skook in the Curve of Time Podcast episodes 3 and 4: Adventure at the Skook and Finding Dad. On another fun note over 2000 people have listened to the podcast so far! Now we just need a contact with a movie/video producer so we can upgrade to streaming on Amazon, Disney, Paramount, or Max. So good readers, we would love your help if you know anyone who might meet with us!

Sechelt Inlet was described to us as a “little PLI” and it is. It has two “side” inlets: Salmon Inlet and Narrows Inlet. Like PLI, those two side inlets go back into the BC Coast Mountain Range, but not as far, so unlike PLI there aren’t a lot of waterfalls. We got to the little town of Sechelt pretty easily, but late in the afternoon. Unfortunately it is just too close to the Georgia Strait so the wind was strong (20+ knots), and there was no dock space or anchorage for large boats, sooooo . . . Even though it was ate in the day we reversed course and headed north back up Sechelt Inlet until we got to Narrows Inlet and poked our bow in to take a look. It was exactly what we needed. As we approached the Tzoonie Narrows Rapids (“Tzoonie” is the native name for the river at the head of Narrows Inlet), it didn’t look difficult so we went right through. There is very little information on the area and the depths on the charts are rough “estimates” which is extremely hard for the lawyer brain of the Captain. If the chart says something, he assumes it must be true, but sometimes that’s not true at all, especially for the less traveled places like Narrows Inlet. We really need to use the charts for advisory purposes and move slowly around any possible anchorages to confirm the actual depths. I found a couple of spots that were just fine for me, but the Captain was still uncomfortable. We ended up near the head of the inlet and anchored, but were extremely tired after a long day.

This is a lovely area. Sitting on the upper helm last night the Captain heard repeated crashing noises in the forest which he described as either a bear or a troll. We are going with bear although, we haven’t seen one yet.

Last night the stars twinkled brightly in both the sky and the reflection in the water, but we were too tired to stay up and enjoy them much. After a good night’s sleep last night however we expect to do some quality star watching tonight. Also we have been told that the bioluminescence in the water has been incredible around Egmont (abut 10 miles away), but we didn’t see any last night in Narrows Inlet. Hopefully, we will see some tonight and maybe some big shooting stars!

The stars were beautiful last night in the expansive sky of the inlet and we even saw the bioluminescence! This morning we go up early to head back out through the Skookumchuck and the Captain timed it perfectly at slack. We have definitely earned our Sk Rapids Merit Badge.