Many miles traveled and explored – much to share

July 2, 2008
I’m sitting here in Westview, nestled well within a menagerie of boats; a majority have 100 times more miles under our keel than Liberte’ by the looks of them. Waggoner Cruising Guide said to call in and they will make room for you! Jim the manager of the marina is known for his ability to make you welcome and adjust to accommodate one and all. He helped us dock and asked if we came for the international music festival that is taking place this week. One of the musicians is moored directly across from us; he was practicing what sounded like a penny-flute and we had our own small performance as we try to remain cool on a hot muggy afternoon. Westview is a small marine city located on the Malaspina Strait. The docks are beginning to show lots of usage and not upkeep. The original plan was to refuel at the dock as we entered the harbor, but our depth below the keel was 2.9 feet – and we were 30 feet away from the dock so thought better of it and went to Plan B, get fuel on the way out in a couple days, while the tide is working for us.

Liberte’, with her natural beauty, (straight, no-nonsense lines of a thoroughbred rather than bodacious cruiser, “claret” in color and tall slim mast), draw many remarkable people to start conversations with her owners. Brian is an example of this. He was down on the dock, to check the leak within his boat; a 46 wooden boat that his father designed and with the help of his wife and sons, built in the ‘70’s. She has the charm of a family summer cottage. Listening to him talk about the adventures the family took aboard her this is more than a boat. It is family and heritage. His father passed just a month ago and now the struggle to know when is enough to let go of working to repair her or time to let go. It was with pride and admiration when speaking of his family. He saved Pat from hiring a taxi by driving him up to the location for purchasing propane-a distance not for walking and carrying the fuel tank back. He has offered to drive us up this evening to the Grange/Community Center where the International Music Festival is occurring, should we be able to get tickets. Another gentleman swapped a few favorite family places they cruised to as well as giving us info about going for free admission to the competition concert this morning. I’m getting the sense that boaters have a sense of looking out for one another; reminds me of my “happy days” of growing up in the fifties and the sense of neighborhoods being there for one another – more than it is today. Enough philosophy, let’s get back to our journey.

Last evening we were hoping to reach this port but the wind and tides worked against us the entire time we plugged through Jervis Inlet so we spent the night at a public dock in Saltery Bay. Pat had done a great job of planning the time to exit through Malibu Rapids. We approached forty-five minutes early- waited for about fifteen minutes, while watching several other boats fly out! We had communicated over to Firefly who was questioning the chance to go through safely. Pat said he was going to wait; working hard at not scaring me and protecting the boat. He asked them to contact him after going through. “You fly through with a push of 4-5 knots, but it is ok.” Firefly had several children onboard and if the parents felt it was good, why not? I was glad that Pat was at the helm. There was a lot of twirling, pushing and pulling as you are turning in a limited area to stay clear of the rocks, seen and not, and the marker. We had great wind to sail, (up to 25 knots), much of the time providing it wasn’t right on our nose would take patience to zigzag the 46 miles. The defining factor that kept our sails down was the current was running a strong 2+ knots against us! So it was sluggish 4-5 knots we pushed our way back through the 46 miles. Yes, another long day.

Princess Louisa Inlet – Chatterbox Falls Impressions June 27- July 1
The morning began with the sun high, not a cloud in sight and left Garden Bay, Pender Harbor around 7:30 AM. Pat was planning on a 7 hour passage to Malibu Rapids, giving us an hour’s grace for the unknown factors that impede our progress to make for slack tide. Jervis Inlet’s landscape was a variation of mountains that were rugged to round and a mile high. The conical forms of fir and cedar trees were softened with clusters of what appeared to be softly rounded maples, with madronas. Shrubs bearing white blooms broke the solid walls of green as did granite rock laden with a thick layer of moss on their higher portions and algae and kelp along the waters edge. Along some sections one would think that a landscaper had come along and trimmed the lower limbs of all trees; indicating high tide water line. In the distance, as we began the day’s journey, snow capped mountains were seen in the distance. The closer we approached the entrance to Princess Louisa Inlet; those snow capped mountains were running parallel with the water. It was at this point that waterfalls began appearing everywhere. Some looked like sugar icing poured over a smooth layer of chocolate frosting, while others were ribbons of white cutting through the trees and the most spectacular were those with force, velocity and volume that they pushed and cascaded away from the mountains. The waterfalls broke the monotony of the passage. It is pretty country; for me it was long with the sun’s heat beating down on us.
We arrived at Malibu Club, a summer camp for teenagers to have every form of fun in the water was filled to capacity. Laughter and chatter surpassed the drown of the engine. With an hour to fill before slack we journeyed beyond the rapids and went searching for petroglyphs and pictographs that Pat and his crew located on his last voyage here. Thanks to Bob and Cliff doing a great job of documenting the locations, we did find the second set; painted red symbols of fish, and shapes we are not sure of their meanings. Going back through the rapids was a non-event and the 4 mile trip to Chatterbox Falls, found at the end of Princess Louisa Inlet was far enough away I had no idea of what to expect. Waterfalls continued to appear as described previously, the inlet itself was calm without more than a ripple. Anderson Island had a few boats anchored – was it going to be full at the free dock and all the available anchorage in front of the falls full? Rounding the final bend, the roar of Chatterbox Falls got our attention as well as the volume of water pounding the rocks at the water’s edge! The dock was full. As we were passing we heard “Pat” It ended up being Bob and Paul who had been moored in Des Moines next to Liberte’. They offered to allow us to raft up to Camperna for the night. What a small world. Bob & his wife are from Australia with so many voyages to tell about. I’m not certain if they had traveled around the world but pretty close to it. Susan and Paul, with their two toddlers, (Campenera is their boat), are from California. They too have many adventures to share. They invited us over for wine and snacks on our second evening at Chatterbox Falls which Pat accepted. I did make a large batch of cinnamon, cranberry sticky buns to offer as a thank you for allowing us to raft up to early the next morning.

While the bread dough was rising Pat and I did take a short hike to the lower side of Chatterbox Fall. Since he was last here, a large covered area has been constructed with a plaque to commemorate the effort of MacDonald to make this a protected area for one and all. The overspray from the water was so significant that one could almost use it as a refreshing shower. A wonderful respite from the intensity of the sun beating down into the canyon, with no breeze. The trail head marker to the start of the Trapper’s Cabin indicated that it was a strenuous 2 mile hike; a 2,000 foot elevation gain. No thank you. I’ve done that some 30 years ago and not willing to ‘prove’ myself this time. Many people were frolicking at the bottom of the falls, where it acts like a river before entering the inlet while the tide was out. In the afternoon, while the temperature was still rising or maintaining its heat, we chose to go kayaking around the perimeter of the inlet. It was fun to hear birds, some sounding like robins but the trees were so dense you could not see into them. The water near the edge was clear and as we passed over you could see clam shells and in some areas, oysters. An upside-down crab carcass was the only indication that there were other forms of sea life around. Before we headed back to the boat, a line of four seals were popping up and down, which makes me think that there was something available for them to forage after their journey in here. All the while we were paddling easily about, the sun beat down on our hat covered heads, we continued to hydrate with water and I would splash water onto my shoulders, arms and actually dipped my hat to try to lower my body’s heat. It didn’t work well enough. I was back onboard the boat by 4 PM and it took 48 hours to begin feeling human again. I am still working on getting back to being normal! Thank goodness that Pat is content to keep himself occupied and fend for himself. I have been worthless as best mate and am anxious to be available once we return to sea Friday, heading up to Desolation Sound. We will be there for a week give or take. It depends on what is to see and the weather. It will be that long before I am able to continue this saga due to lack of connections