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Roche Harbor (San Juan Island), WA to Princess Louisa Inlet, British Columbia
and return to Sidney and Victoria, BC

The Marina at Roche Harbor from our Balcony (Click on the image to enlarge.)

From Thursday (April 22nd) thru Sunday (4/25) we were at the Northwest Selene Rendezvous at Roche Harbor on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. More than 40 Selenes were on the docks and around 120 people attended. The late April PNW weather ranged from drizzling to bright and sunny with temps in the mid-high 50s.

There were seminars, a daily “trawler crawl” to allow everyone to visit the assembled boats, a potluck dinner one night (with most of the 40 boats contributing), a cocktail party, a group dinner in the pavilion - and all of this in a wonderful setting.

The week before the rendezvous our friends Mark and Roseanne Tilden of Gig Harbor, WA, owners of Selene 59 Koinonia (their second Selene), had invited us to join them for a post-rendezvous cruise up into British Columbia, holding out the tantalizing prospect of visiting Princess Louisa Inlet which has long been on my “must-see” list. After a nano-second of consideration, we replied with an enthusiastic “yes” and so, on Monday after the end of the rendezvous, we went aboard.

Unlike our eastern boats, Koinonia has a fully enclosed flybridge and cockpit. This makes these spaces usable year-around and in the most inclement weather, particularly because the FB is also heated!

Our first destination was Sidney, British Columbia where we cleared into Canada via a phone on the customs dock.

We then proceeded to Ganges, BC, arriving just before 1:00 PM. The two other Selenes which we will be travelling with over the next few days had arrived shortly before we did. Both are Selene 53s: Duesie, owned by Dave and Karen Pabst; and Horizon, owned by Larry and Vickie Rhodes.

Heather and Roseanne provisioned at Ganges and we stayed overnight at Ganges Marina, with the three boats having a potluck dinner aboard Koinonia.

The weather had been mild, temps in the mid-high 50s with winds 10-15 kts, mostly overcast and calm seas. About two hours after we arrived at Ganges, however, the wind picked up and we had intermittent moderate to heavy rain showers with gusty winds sustained at 25-30 kts. with a peak gust of 49.3 kts at about 5:00 PM!

Tuesday dawned fairly calm, with winds 10-15 and a fast moving low overcast with openings to blue sky as the front moved thru.

Crossing the Straits of Georgia, enroute from Ganges to Garden Bay in Pender Harbor, BC, with Selene 53s Duesie and Horizon in trail

The route from Ganges to Garden Bay ran up the east coast of Vancouver Island, along a route bounded by several islands to the east, thus keeping us in protected waters before transiting east thru Porlier Pass into the Strait of Georgia. The Environment Canada forecast for the strait called for winds from the SW at 15-20+ and the expectation was that, because of the high winds last night, that there could be considerable wave action. The reputation of the strait is similar to that of the Gulf Stream: frequently benign but fierce and miserable when wind and wave action are opposed.

Our course across the strait would be about 80 degrees. We entered the strait with loins girded for the worst, to be confronted with 15 kt. easterly winds and “seas” of less than one foot - my preferred cruising conditions. As the day wore on waves never got to be more than 2-3 feet, from the south, and it was a totally comfortable eight-hour run to Garden Bay in Pender Harbor, on the BC mainland. We were on the dock at the Garden Bay Marina at 3:20 PM. Temp was 57 degrees under scattered clouds and winds whistling out of the east at 4 kts.

After a bit of shopping and, for Mark and I, ice cream at John Henry's store in Garden Bay, Roseanne, Heather, and Willie (from Horizon) consider their error in declining ice cream out of an irrational fear that it might kill their appetite for dinner.

We had dinner aboard Koinonia. The Pabsts, on Duesie, were moored across the bay and had picked up four friends who arrived from Vancouver in the afternoon to cruise with them for several days.

After dinner there was a captains' meeting by radio (which I “attended” as a boatless observer) to plan Wednesday’s run. Everything was controlled by the time of slack tide at Malibu Rapids which protects the entrance to the day’s destination, Princess Louisa Inlet. Slack was forecast for 12:35 PM. The run to Malibu Rapids would be about forty miles and it was agreed that we would be underway at 5:30 AM to arrive at the rapids with plenty of time to observe the tidal flow and be ready to enter right at slack.

We were up at 5:00 AM on Wednesday, prepared the boat and cast off right at 5:30 AM. As Mark and Roseanne were the only ones in the group that had made this run before, Koinonia continued in its role as lead boat, with Duesie and Horizon following.

Departing Garden Bay we entered Agamemnon Channel, passing Agamemnon Bay at 6:55 AM and passing the intersection with Sechelt Inlet at 7:18 AM, continuing up Prince of Wales Reach (with a depth of 1800-2000 feet) for the remainder of the run to Malibu Rapids. Conditions were perfect: nearly flat calm, light breezes, broken to overcast skies, and temps in the mid-high 50s.

At 11:05, earlier than planned, we arrived at Malibu rapids. The rapids are a small choke point guarding the entrance to Princess Louisa Inlet on the right side of the Reach. The entrance into the Inlet is thru a small (perhaps 25-30 yards wide) opening which has an island in the middle as well as a number of rocks in the entrance. Because the tidal range in this area reaches 13 feet, the flow of water thru the entrance on both flood and ebb tides is very fast - roughly 10 kts at peak flow in each direction. And this fast-moving water becomes very turbulent with some overfalls as it is forced thru the small entrance.

Thus, for any but small fast boats, entry and exit from Princess Louisa Inlet is only safe during the 20-25 minute slack tide interval four times each day - but since the route through the rapids requires an S-turn around some rocks, it would be unwise (foolish?) for anyone not super familiar with the route to try it in the dark. Thus, there are generally only two opportunities to enter or exit the Inlet each day. At slack, there is essentially no current and entrance is safe and easy, though it is essential to follow the S-shaped entry channel carefully.

This area is totally remote. There are a lot of timber operations with clear-cuts visible on some hill sides and the occasional dock with a bunch of equipment (like timber skidders) clustered near shore. But for the most part, though you’ll see an occasional cabin, there are no significant structures.

The Young Life Malibu Camp was originally built as a wealthy resort in the late 1930's, but was abandoned in 1950, before being purchased for $300,000 by Young Life in 1954.

Thus it is particularly jarring to see, on the north side of the entry to Malibu Rapids (left side when entering) a large complex that looks like an upscale resort made of large log buildings, flowering plants and neat grounds. This is Malibu Camp, owned by Young Life, an evangelical Christian organization. More on Malibu Camp later.

The three boats hovered and circled in the Prince of Wales Reach outside the rapids waiting for slack. We closely watched the water flowing out of the rapids to see signs of it beginning to slow.

Because of the S-turn course of the rapids, you cannot see into the Inlet and thus cannot tell whether boats are waiting to exit during the same slack during which you are planning to enter. We did see a mast thru some trees and thus assumed that at least one boat was waiting to exit.

There is not room for two boats to safely pass thru at the same time so before entering or exiting, each boat will issue a “Securite” radio call on Channel 16 announcing its intentions and asking any other boats in the area which might be impacted to respond. While we were waiting for full slack, we heard a security call from Skie, which I knew to be an Australian -flagged Nordhavn. Skie was the first of three boats waiting to exit and we acknowledged and waited for them to exit before we began to enter.

At near dead slack, at 12:58 PM, Koinonia entered the rapids and cleared the entry without difficulty, followed shortly by Duesie and Horizon.

All of this area except Malibu Camp is part of a BC provincial park and at the east end of the inlet, right at Chatterbox Falls, the park service maintains a long dock.

The run in the inlet was extraordinary. The shoreline is mostly bounded by steep, near vertical rock faces, interspersed with large densities of trees rising up the steep mountains, with dozens of waterfalls.

The water depth in the Inlet is consistently more than 1000 feet and in many areas, even just ten feet from shore, you can see depths of several hundred feet.

Three Selenes at the Chatterbox Falls dock in Princess Louisa Inlet

It is pristine and stunning and dramatic. Some of the walls still had small snowfields on their sides and the highest were totally snow-capped. Surrounding mountains exceed 8000 feet in height. The water was nearly still. We’d frequently see seals swimming.

We arrived at the park service dock at 1:46 PM, 100 yards from Chatterbox Falls. There was one Tollycraft tied up and shortly our three Selenes.

The setting is simply breathtaking. We still had low cloud cover so the sides and tops of some of the rock faces were obscured. A little blue sky would peek in from time to time.

Dinner that night was again aboard Koinonia, this time for twelve people from the three boats.

Around 10:30 AM we had brunch on the flybridge: eggs, home fries, and pancakes accompanied by Handel’s Water Music.

We landed at the outpost camp of YoungLife where they have perhaps a dozen simple buildings, fire rings, a dining hall, etc. It sits on one of the few flat pieces of land along the entire shoreline of Princess Louisa Inlet - and just in front of it is a small mooring field installed by the park, the only moorings in the Inlet. We wandered around their camp for a while as well as the adjacent park service pier and warning signs.

We then continued in the dinghy back toward Malibu Rapids, through which we’d entered the Inlet yesterday.

As I mentioned earlier, perched on a flat piece of land on one side of the Malibu Rapids is the main camp of YoungLife, an evangelical Christian ministry that operates a stunning facility at a stunning location at the mouth of the Princess Louisa Inlet. We stopped at the camp where 80 volunteer adults were working for a week to get the place ready for campers to arrive around June 1st. One woman gave us a very interesting and thorough tour.

At one point she took us into the lounge in a massive new lodge building for adults. Two people were sitting in large leather easy chairs reading. As we walked in to look around, each of us introduced ourselves to the person sitting right along our route. As I looked down to shake his hand, I realized it was a classmate of mine from business school who I’d last seen 20 years ago at a reunion and then, next previously, when we graduated in May 1975. It was a coincidence that bordered on the mathematically impossible. He lives in Oregon but comes to the camp for a week a year as a volunteer worker.

Richard met an old classmate from business school who was volunteering his time for maintenance work on the camp.

Back into the dinghy we edged out into the rapids which were now in mid-flood - and then ran back the four miles to the dock at Chatterbox Falls at the east end of the inlet.

Heather and I walked around the small trails around the dock and to the base of the falls, and then back to Koinonia to clean up for dinner.

Dinner tonight was on Horizon and, as usual, not meager. After drinks and snacks, we enjoyed prime rib and more. Before returning to the various boats, we planned the morning departure, again controlled by the time of slack at Malibu Rapids.

It was time to leave the truly stunning Princess Louisa Inlet and we were up at 5:15 AM to get the boat ready and departed at 5:41 to run to the falls and await morning slack.

Entering Malibu Rapids near high slack from Inside Princess Louisa. A non-event (as it should be!)

…and then reversed our run of Wednesday, back down Prince of Wales Reach to Agammenon Channel to Garden Bay at Pender Harbor.

Temp was 50 degrees and winds initially out of the southeast at 14-15 kts, later gusting to 20 kts, with seas of initially just one foot and then not more than two or so. We returned to the same dock at Garden Bay at 12:15 PM. The run was in great weather though a couple of hours after our arrival at the marina we had some heavy rain showers.

With internet access at the marina we all caught up on accumulated email. Two and a half days without access is great - but leaves a large backlog to wade through. The four of us had a pleasant dinner aboard followed by a new (to us) card game.

We were up at 7:00 AM for a 7:30 AM departure from Garden Bay. Today we ran to Sidney, BC, a nearly ten hour run. The timing of the departure was based on the time of slack tide at Dodd Narrows by Vancouver Island, through which we’d have to pass enroute to Sidney and which has flow rates of about 8 kts during flood.

Morning dawned overcast with light-moderate rain and calm winds. We crossed the Strait of Georgia westbound on seas never more than two feet, with skies becoming broken to scattered as a cold front moved thru; winds of 12-18 kts., and temp around 51 degrees.

We passed Nainamo around 11:10 AM and arrived at Dodd Narrows at 11:42…and loitered at the entrance until near slack at 12:19. Right across the channel we watched as two small tugs assembled log rafts.

At 5:15 PM we were securely docked at Sidney, thus ending this wonderful cruise.

After breakfast we cleaned the boat a bit and then took a taxi from Sidney to downtown Victoria where we dropped our bags at the Kenmore Air seaplane base. We spent the next few hours walking around downtown Victoria in high 40s temps with intermittent drizzle - Heather and Roseanne went to a weekly street market and Mark and I walked around the harbor and past the striking provincial parliament building.

We all got together again around 3:30 PM and had an early dinner after which Mark and Roseanne took a bus back to the boat in Sidney and Heather and I took a 6:30 PM seaplane flight (DeHavilland single Otter w/ PT-6 turbine conversion) from Victoria to Lake Union in Seattle. We cleared U.S. Customs at the Kenmore Air terminal and took Kenmore’s shuttle van to SeaTac.

We boarded a Delta red-eye at 10:45 PM PT and arrived in Atlanta a bit after 6:00 AM on Monday the 3rd.

This was a terrific trip. It was a great chance to get to know Mark and Roseanne better, enjoy their hospitality on their beautiful Selene 59 and cruise some of the most stunning geography I’ve ever seen.


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