PRINCESS LOUISA INLET

Cruising into the fjords of Jervis Inlet, we left hi-tech behind. Snow-capped mountain peaks 7-10,000 ft high surrounded us and cut off all airwave reception from the outside. No cell coverage, no TV reception, no AM or FM radio reception, no VHF radio reception, no weather radio reception… The only communication device working was the Garmin InReach satellite communicator, and that worked only when the satellites were in the appropriate orbit and were essentially overhead.

Luckily, we didn’t need any of that for our visit up to Princess Louisa Inlet - the Holy Grail of West Coast cruisers.  The inlet, with its infamous Chatterbox Falls, is about 40 miles up from Malaspina Strait above Pender Harbour. We weighed anchor around 7 AM Sunday morning, timing our route to arrive at the entrance to Princess Louisa Inlet five hours later at slack tide. The entrance is a narrow channel less than a quarter mile long, called Malibu Rapids where the currents can run as high as 9 knots with eddies, whirlpools and standing overfalls. Twice each day, as the tide changes, the current subsides and, for about a half hour or so, it is safe to pass.

The cruise up to that point was pretty spectacular - the further we went up the fjords, the more peaks and waterfalls we saw. The whole area is densely forested with no towns, villages, or other pockets of civilization. There were a couple of lumber camps and an aquaculture station, but we didn’t even see more than two or three other boats the whole way.

We did have to wait around for about 45 minutes when we got to Malibu Rapids, then once we were through it was another four miles up to the head of the inlet and Chatterbox Falls. The steep granite walls of the inlet were thousands of feet high with dozens of waterfalls cascading down from the melting snow on the peaks. All the guidebooks and cruising guides describe the area as “magnificent” and say it has a “majestic grandeur.” They are correct, and are not overstating.

 We tied up to the dock right in front of the falls and had a spectacular view outside our salon windows. A few other boats were there, but we seem to be pretty early in the season around here (everyone says it picks up when school is out, late June) and it was not at all crowded. The only way to visit this area is by boat or by floatplane.

After looking up the tide tables last night and calculating the morning slack tide, we pulled away from the dock today at 6 AM. We leisurely cruised the length of the inlet while making coffee and having breakfast, soaking in the incredible scenery,  and arrived at Malibu Rapids right at slack.