July 18th – 19th Shearwater to Oliver Cove to Culpepper Lagoon

July 18^th – 19^th Shearwater to Oliver Cove to Culpepper Lagoon                    Given our 2:00 departure from Shearwater we head a short five hour motor down Seaforth Channel up Reid Passage and into Oliver Cove, the names continuing to make me wonder who was here before us of note enough to have namesakes left behind. 

While at Shearwater Walt had confirmed local knowledge we had heard about and we set up off of Idol Point to troll for salmon.  Walt lands a nice Chinook salmon just the right size for the boat.  Odile later cleans the fish and give us half for the freezer.  We then exit Seaforth Channel with the very large (495’) BC Ferry “Northern Expedition” coming in and the 643’ “The World” cruise ship heading out.  AIS is very handy to give us these particulars on the vessels.  

On the 19^th the weather is fine to make a long 43 mile trek up Mathieson Channel thence through Kynoch Inlet and await the time to enter Culpepper Lagoon on the slack of the ebb tide.  Along the way Pam and Carl take turns picking crab so we can all enjoy a crab Louis salad for dinner.  What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon, motoring through exquisite scenery while sitting in the sunny cockpit cracking and picking crab!  Carl of course has some for his lunch as well.

When we enter Kynoch Inlet we marvel at “The Graduate”, the large falls coming out of Lessom Creek.  We have many photo ops as our boats pass close to the falls with its many different cascades.  

ExTerra in front of "The Graduate" Kynoch Falls

We encounter dolphin again alongside the boat.  They are not as friendly as our earlier ones and quickly move on after frolicking with each of our boats briefly.  

As we near the end of Kynoch we see the remains of the year round snow field and snow cave at sea level on the northern edge of the inlet.  We also see for the second time the 26’ sailing vessel “Endurance” anchored near the end.

Culpepper Lagoon

Now it is time to head through the short, shallow narrows to spit out into Culpepper Lagoon.  Making it safely through Pam is on the bow to take photos and is, quite honestly, speechless at the magnitude and grandeur of the lagoon and the steep snow capped mountains that surround us.  Regaining her composure she continues to video the area, knowing that photos and videos will not do justice to this awesome place.  

We are to anchor this evening and are unable to find suitable anchorage for two boats.  The charted depths show a lot of 19’ shoreline yet we find only 60’ to 100’ in most places. We do drop the anchor in one 25’ spot but once we start to back and set the hook Carl calls out that we only have 1 and ½ feet under the keel so we quickly pull up the 40 meters of chain and the anchor and go in search again.  We had come upon a sand bar.  One of the nearby power boats tells Walt and Odile that they are anchored in 149’ with 400’ of chain out in an area that is supposed to be 36’.  

Giving up on the idea of finding suitable depth and enough swing room for two rafted boats we decide to anchor separately near Riot Creek in 25-50 feet and have a quiet evening to ourselves, each enjoying crab Louis and sitting in the cockpit watching seals thrashing fish at the surface and pondering the faces we can see in the water’s edge reflecting the rocks.