Princess Louisa Inlet
Returning from Alert Bay and an afternoon of whale-watching, we passed through Seymour Narrows in the middle of the night, to re-enter Strait of Georgia. At dawn, we passed Nelson Island, at the mouth of Jervis Inlet, from which had been quarried the stones used for the foundations and stairs of the Parliament building in Victoria. We woke up cruising Jervis Inlet, a beautiful U-shaped fjord carved by glaciers during the Ice Age. The depths of the inlet reach 2,400 feet, deeper than anywhere else around Georgia Strait. Low stratus clouds and a light drizzle added to the sense of mystery.
Forty miles up the inlet, we reached the Malibu Rapids, at the entrance of Princess Louisa Inlet (named for Queen Victoria’s mother). Shortly after 10 am, the tide was just beginning to ebb, and we had to struggle against a current that can reach nine knots. Passing outside of Malibu Rapids with his long boat in June 1792, also at ebbing tide, Captain Vancouver decided it was just a powerful glacial stream, and he never entered Princess Louisa Inlet. After a week of coastal exploration, his supplies were running out, and the men were eager to return to the Discovery.
The serene beauty of Princess Louisa Inlet is breathtaking. At the end of the inlet, the 120-foot Chatterbox Falls are the most spectacular of many falls surrounding the short and narrow bay. The land around the falls had been purchased, in the 1920’s, by James Macdonald (“Mac”), who spent most of his life in his log cabin and, later, in his boat house. He gave it, in 1953, to the Princess Louisa International Society, which in turn passed it on to the Province of British Columbia, in 1964. The Princess Louisa Provincial Park is surrounded by peaks of 7,000 feet, covered with snow all year round. The water in the inlet is 1,000 feet deep, and the cliffs, reflected on the calm surface, seem to stem from deep below the surface of the earth. Scattered among the conifers, a few maple trees were turning brown; their 11 point leaves, on the Canadian flag, represent the Provinces and the Territories.
After lunch, we walked through the deep and lush forest to the slippery foot of Chatterbox Falls, under the guidance of the Sea Bird’s naturalists. Others toured the head of the inlet by kayak. We then boarded the Zodiacs for a tour of Princess Louisa Inlet back to Malibu Rapids, where we watched the Sea Bird sail through the narrows, as shown in the photo above.
This was to be our last evening on the Sea Bird, the end of a week of adventure in beautiful wilderness, during which we shared common values with many new friends. Captain Duke invited us to a farewell cocktail party and dinner as we sailed back down Jervis Inlet. The Captain gathered the crew and introduced each member. They had done a superb job, and we all heartily expressed our gratitude.
Returning from Alert Bay and an afternoon of whale-watching, we passed through Seymour Narrows in the middle of the night, to re-enter Strait of Georgia. At dawn, we passed Nelson Island, at the mouth of Jervis Inlet, from which had been quarried the stones used for the foundations and stairs of the Parliament building in Victoria. We woke up cruising Jervis Inlet, a beautiful U-shaped fjord carved by glaciers during the Ice Age. The depths of the inlet reach 2,400 feet, deeper than anywhere else around Georgia Strait. Low stratus clouds and a light drizzle added to the sense of mystery.
Forty miles up the inlet, we reached the Malibu Rapids, at the entrance of Princess Louisa Inlet (named for Queen Victoria’s mother). Shortly after 10 am, the tide was just beginning to ebb, and we had to struggle against a current that can reach nine knots. Passing outside of Malibu Rapids with his long boat in June 1792, also at ebbing tide, Captain Vancouver decided it was just a powerful glacial stream, and he never entered Princess Louisa Inlet. After a week of coastal exploration, his supplies were running out, and the men were eager to return to the Discovery.
The serene beauty of Princess Louisa Inlet is breathtaking. At the end of the inlet, the 120-foot Chatterbox Falls are the most spectacular of many falls surrounding the short and narrow bay. The land around the falls had been purchased, in the 1920’s, by James Macdonald (“Mac”), who spent most of his life in his log cabin and, later, in his boat house. He gave it, in 1953, to the Princess Louisa International Society, which in turn passed it on to the Province of British Columbia, in 1964. The Princess Louisa Provincial Park is surrounded by peaks of 7,000 feet, covered with snow all year round. The water in the inlet is 1,000 feet deep, and the cliffs, reflected on the calm surface, seem to stem from deep below the surface of the earth. Scattered among the conifers, a few maple trees were turning brown; their 11 point leaves, on the Canadian flag, represent the Provinces and the Territories.
After lunch, we walked through the deep and lush forest to the slippery foot of Chatterbox Falls, under the guidance of the Sea Bird’s naturalists. Others toured the head of the inlet by kayak. We then boarded the Zodiacs for a tour of Princess Louisa Inlet back to Malibu Rapids, where we watched the Sea Bird sail through the narrows, as shown in the photo above.
This was to be our last evening on the Sea Bird, the end of a week of adventure in beautiful wilderness, during which we shared common values with many new friends. Captain Duke invited us to a farewell cocktail party and dinner as we sailed back down Jervis Inlet. The Captain gathered the crew and introduced each member. They had done a superb job, and we all heartily expressed our gratitude.
