August 7th enroute Hardy
island: After refueling and a pump out we set sail south. We are quite
pleased with the Lund Harbour. They are laid out well with the fuel
dock away and across from the pump out. This makes it easy to maneuver
our 38 footer to do all the chores. We wash the salt spray off of the
glasses, binocs and compass and polish the dodger windows. Boat chores!
We are thankful once again for those great Sight Saver towelettes that
Terri and Tom gave us when we departed our marina. We then head out
for what is supposed to be good wind for going south. We never did find
the good wind but we did some motor sailing down the Malispina Strait
and right into a great little nook on the northwest side of Hardy
Island. We have a nice view of a small assortment of homes, docks, and a
group of kayakers who are also swimming and using a hot tub with a
snorkel stove. Otherwise we have a pretty uneventful half day other
than reading the charts and books and deciding that we do have time to
head up Jervis Inlet.
August 8th enroute Jervis Inlet: We motored up the beginning of the
inlet waiting for that gall darned predicted wind! We motor past the
Saltery Bay ferry and terminal, another one that Carl and I took on our
car camping trip up the Sunshine Coast many years ago. Jervis Inlet is
very quiet compared to Desolation Sound. There are so few boats we are
surprised. We finally find wind and it is even BeHind us for a change!!
We have a nice sail up through the Prince of Wales and the Princess
Royal reaches then lose the wind and motor up the Queens Reach. This
gives us a chance to check out the Malibu Rapids that we will be going
through tomorrow morning on slack tide. We have read that there are not
many anchorages up this far but we find a wonderful little nook just
big enough for us. It is shallow enough (30-40 feet) before it drops
off to the normal, deeper 100-400 feet deep areas. We anchor for the
night with the addition of a float on the anchor in case we need to pull
the anchor out of the rocks. Pam takes a swim in the 75 degree water
and we settle in.
August
9th enroute Princess Luisa Inlet: We are up and off the anchor in time
to motor the 4.5 miles to the Malibu Rapids by 07:42. We safely motor
through, the only boat going in this morning. We motor through the
Malibu Young Life American and Canadian Youth Camp facility watching
youngsters zip lining into the water, paddling kayaks and cleaning the
decks and swimming pool. The facility was constructed during the Second
World War by an American. We hope to tie up and do a tour tomorrow on
our way out. We mosey up the Princess Louisa Inlet which is as
described by Earl Stanley Gardner “There is a calm tranquility that
stretches from the smooth surface of the reflecting water straight up
into infinity. The deep calm of the eternal silence is only disturbed
by the muffled roar of throbbing waterfalls as they plunge down sheer
cliffs.” Indeed, even today in the heat of the summer we can hear
Chatterbox falls from quite a distance. We can only imagine what it is
like in the spring months when the snow melt and ice break up add to the
considerable water load. We opt to tie up to the dock as we are not
set up really for a stern tie to the trees. We are helped by many folks
on the dock and we tuck in nicely. Off for a short hike we run into a
group of exuberant youth back from their 6 night backpacking trip. We
find out that they are part of the “Beyond Malibu” camp, as one excited
teen tells me, “At Malibu Camp you get three meals a day, a bed and a
swimming pool. At Beyond Malibu you get a sleeping bag and you make
your own meals and eat out of a cup for six days and love every minute
of it.” He goes onto tell me that the camp was purchased in the 1940’s
and then youth camps were added in the 1970’s. We can tell that they
are all worn out completely yet very excited to be a part of this
opportunity. Back at the boat it is time to hoist our shade panels for
our outdoor living room. We have doubled the width of the shade panels
like Barb suggested. We are glad each night though when the sun dips
just enough so that we can take down the shades and enjoy the view on
all sides again.
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