Egmont, Canada to Princess Louisa Inlet, Canada
It is a cold, clear and beautiful morning, transiting up the Jervis Inlet. Our timing is crucial today to allow Larry to safely navigate the Independence through an area called ‘Malibu Rapids’. This is the only way into Princess Louisa Inlet (PLI). PLI is one of the absolute ‘must sees’ in life but in order to arrive safely you have to time the tides exactly right, waiting for a slack high or slack low tide. Larry opts for a slack low and as we cruise through the gorgeous glacier carved Jervis Inlet it becomes obvious that other boaters have made the same choice. We arrive at the entrance to Malibu Rapids a bit early and wait with eight other boats for the exiting water to be calmed by the incoming water. One 70 foot boat passes all the others and declares his intentions to enter the rapids first by giving a sécurité call (an alert advising other boaters, by VHF, that you are entering a blind area of one way traffic). The captain of an exiting sailboat radios back to the 70 footer letting him know that he may want to stand down for a bit as the rapids are still running at a 7 knot current. The anticipation and anxiety is growing on the Independence as we watch the exiting boats on AIS (Automatic Identification System) rocket through the rapids. Finally, the lead boat gives his sécurité and all the other boats claim a place behind the first. By the time we transit the rapids they are running at a 3 knot current, but it sure seems a lot faster than that as you feel the boat fighting the pull of the spiraling eddy pools and bounce over the turbulent water. As one person relayed over the VHF after she went through…”The current is still pretty spicy”. Spice or no spice, Larry did a fantastic job handling the Independence through yet another challenging experience (35NM).
To view Larry’s YouTube Video of our experience please click on the link below:
Malibu Rapids and Princess Louisa Inlet, May 22, 2024
An amazing day to ride the tide up Jervis Inlet toward Malibu Rapids and Princess Louisa Inlet
The ‘waiting area’ for running the Malibu Rapids, named for the Malibu Club of 1940 - the first of a planned series of resorts at Princess Louisa Inlet. PLI is named to commemorate the Princess Louise, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, whose husband was the Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada.
Larry running Malibu Rapids at slack low tide with a three knot current
The reward for all the stress and worry is this glorious view of Chatterbox Falls…
Boats of 55 feet or larger are not allowed on the dock and the mooring balls were all taken so we spent our first day and night at MacDonald Island…
…so we took the tender to the dock to experience Chatterbox Falls and the rain forest trail
The trees wear an impressive coat of moss and there are streams everywhere
A panoramic of Chatterbox Falls, its’ spray and rapids
Gumby enjoyed the cocktail cruise
Thanks to Dave Garnett for introducing us to Vancouver’s’ Red Truck Road Trip Classic Lager…lovin’ the local brew
The following morning we move to mooring ball
Morning views and reflections
Larry took the drone up and was able to get this spectacular shot
As they say…what a difference a day makes. We exit Malibu Falls the next day at slack high tide and not a ripple to be seen. Also, not much of the view to be seen either due to the rain and fog.