We left Lowe Inlet around 8:00a.m. this morning in order to arrive at Watts Narrows at high slack tide (around 11:00a.m.) Watts Narrows is a short but narrow passage from Grenville Channel that connects into scenic Baker Inlet. There’s a dogleg turn near the inner part of the entrance that makes it difficult to see any opposing traffic. It’s not imperative to go through Watts Narrows at high slack, but … Read more
Today’s 54nm cruise up to Lowe Inlet was long and gray and filled with heavy rain. We had the current with us most of the way, so that was a plus, but otherwise, picture windshield wipers going nonstop and waterfalls every couple miles. We all got anchored in Lowe Inlet just fine, but took only one photo the entire (rainy) day…and it didn’t even have the waterfall in it. Here’s … Read more
Another gray, drizzly, but beautiful day! Today was just 27nm from Bottleneck to Khutze, so we did not leave super early. We cruised past Butedale, which looks as if nothing much has changed since last year. We turned into Khutze Inlet and made our way to the head of the bay where there were….no other boats! After the rain slowed down a bit, we all headed out in dinghies to … Read more
We woke to light drizzle and some fog, with a little bit of blue sky in the distance. Our plan to transit Jackson Narrows at high tide made for an uneventful experience. Jackson Passage is a beautiful (and shorter) route from east to west, but often avoided due to Jackson Narrows, but at high slack transiting the narrows is easy. We made our way north in Finlayson Channel and up … Read more
We left the docks at Shearwater and headed out for Seaforth Channel. We expected to have some swell eventually, but swell never really materialized and conditions remained calm the entire route. We turned north into scenic Reid Passage up to Perceval Narrows and since we were a bit early, we had a couple knots against us going through (no big deal). It rained all day as we made our way … Read more
We left Codville Lagoon just before 8:00a.m. and arrived at Shearwater around 10:00a.m. We hadn’t been able to get any response from the marina regarding our moorage requests, and calls on 66A went unanswered. We all found space on the dock though, just like a regular first-come-first-served situation, and it all worked out. (We later learned that the radio base station volume had been turned all the way down and … Read more
We finally got the “heavy rain” that the forecast has been promising for the past two days. It all came at once — last night! There was (finally!) a break in the rain in the morning as we pulled our anchor and left the bay, and the sun came blazing through. Our cruise up Fitz Hugh Sound and Fisher Channel was calm and uneventful. We arrived at Codville Lagoon with … Read more
Today was Cape Caution day. We often talk about the “Gates” of the Inside Passage – segments that give boaters pause, and often limit their progress north toward Southeast Alaska. Beginning in Puget Sound, where there is the highest density of boaters, these include Johnstone Strait, the Strait of Georgia, the rapids in BC, Cape Caution, and finally Dixon Entrance. Cape Caution is the first of these gates that is … Read more