| Cutting into the edge of Main Land Canada all along the Georgia and Malaspina Straits are numerous water ways that reach far inland. We were headed to "Princess Louisa Inlet": 48 miles through Prince of Wales Reach, Princess Royal Reach and the Malibu Rapids. Like Dodd Narrows, Malibu Rapids is a treacherous passage to be taken very seriously and ONLY at flat tide. With any kind of tide at all, this pencil thin water way is transformed into a "E" coupon ride sure to do major damage to any boat. Although it is brief, the ZIG- ZAG -dog -leg -left half way through is narrow enough you can reach out and touch the rocks. Boaters plan their day around the tidal passage of this channel. We arrived at the mouth of Malibu Rapids an hr and half early. There were already 4 other boats hanging out waiting. Brian understandably didn't want to be first in line. With channel 68 dialed into the radio we listened in on the chatter between other boaters about the anticipation on passing through. The first boat broadcast his excitement during the trip " I'm reaching the rapids NOW! and moving through ." After watching 4 or 5 boats make it, we got in line and motored through w/out incident. Malibu Rapids marks the entrance into Princess Louisa Inlet. As you travel up the 3 mile long skinny water way you marvel at the extreme height of the jagged cliffs and the wispy clouds that blanket them, the stillness of the waters and the splendor of the waterfalls plunging 2 and 3,000 feet. Some of the falls were a mere shoe string riverlette gracefully cascading over the rocky edges, down the crevices and running into the waterway. It was as though Yosemite Valley suffered the millennium flood and we were sailing up the valley floor! Further on up, the channel becomes skinnier and skinnier and skinnier until it dead ends at THE MOTHER OF ALL WATER FALLS. This was the goal of the entire 10 day trip. A dozen or so boats had anchored or tied up to the dock to take in the views of the broad path of water spilling down 3000 ft creating a cloud of mist you couldn't see through. We were dismayed at the size of the crowd and decided to tie up to a buoy around the corner. When we noticed the clouds darkening over the stern side as the evening progressed we did not adequately prepare ourselves for the storm ahead. About 3 AM we were abruptly jolted from our dream land by the deafening cracks of thunder and the bolts of lightening. Being my first electrical storm weathered in the boat, I was fearful of the metal mast protruding 50 feet high above the deck. I could imagine it to be a magnet for a lightening strike and all of us ending up with curly hair and no eyelashes. With the rain pelting the deck and the wind shifting our boat side to side, Brian simply pulled his pillow over his ears and fell back to sleep. I laid awake watching the storm blow by through the "V" berth window. By daylight the seas were calm again and several new waterfalls were visible from the stern deck as we relived the storm over coffee. It was another "Yuban" morning sippin steaming hot "joe" on deck watching the surrounding area wake up and come back to life: the sea gulls, a bald eagle, and some seals. |
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