Haida Gwaii Trip - Day 6

After leaving Cecil Cove, we headed south through Dana Passage and then into Dana Inlet.

The sun was out and the wind was perfectly calm, creating some pretty awesome reflections on the way through the passage.

Dana Inlet

We motored our way east out of Dana Inlet, just to round a point and head west again, back up Logan Inlet.  Upon rounding the point, we officially entered the Gwaii Haanas park.

Logan Inlet

Awful scenery...

We continued east through Logan Inlet.  Our plan was to stop at Anna Inlet to have lunch and do a bit of hiking, then continue down to Echo Harbor for the night.  The entrance into Anna Inlet might has appeared narrow to us before going through Louise...

Plenty of room

Anna Inlet was a pretty gorgeous spot.  Just inside the entrance, it opened up into a nice harbor surrounded by huge mountain peaks.  Very cool.

The tour book mentioned an old hiking trail that accessed a lake about 3km from the harbor.  So Nick, Alan and I ate a quick lunch and headed ashore.  At first we couldn't find the exact trail.  Then I spotted this.

Pretty much the craziest looking tree I've ever seen.  That picture doesn't do it justice seeing it in person.  So cool. 

Note Nick at the bottom for scale

We found the trail right next to that big guy.  Apparently the trail used be used for transporting equipment and minerals from an old mine up by the lake.  At one point, there was a boardwalk going the entire distance.  However, no longer.

Pretty fun hike, clamoring along on the logs and such.  The forest was pretty awesome with moss covered trees and occasional meadows.  

Alan was enjoying himself

The trail went up a series of switchbacks, climbing up towards the lake.  Before we knew it, we were a good 400-500 feet higher than the inlet. 

That's the boat, I swear

Eventually we made it to the lake.  

It was pretty hot out, so Alan and I decided we'd go for a swim.  We tested the water along the shore and it seemed pretty pleasant temperature wise.  Alan jumped in first, after walking out to the end of that log on the left to get into deeper water.  I was still changing at the time.  

I can't properly express how hilarious his scream was as soon as he hit the water.  Apparently the water was significantly colder further out.  I looked up to see him frantically paddling back to the log.  Needless to say, my enthusiasm for swimming was somewhat affected.

Contemplating...

*Sploosh*  Ya, it was cold

Nick spent the time building a raft out of driftwood.  He claims that it actually floated with him standing on it.  However, I was looking the other way for that particular 10 seconds, so I can't confirm that.  

On the hike back from the lake, we stopped off at a little stream/waterfall.

Then Alan lifted a tree out of the way (not really) to uncover a sweet cave. 

Back at the boat, we pulled up the anchor and made the quick jump down to Echo Harbor, just to the south.  Another picturesque harbor with mountains on all sides.  We were joined by a beautiful ketch-rigged sailboat called the Duen.  Gorgeous boat.

Dinner.  Reading.  Bed.  Sleep.

Haida Gwaii Trip - Day 5

After eating breakfast in Beattie Anchorage, we decided to have a bit of an adventure and pass through the Louise Narrows, just to the SW. The Louise Narrows is a passage around the western side of Louise Island, which is...well, quite narrow (who woulda guessed?).


View Larger Map

Louise Narrows

In addition to being narrow, it's pretty damn shallow as well.  It has been dredged multiple times over the past 20 years in order to keep it passable.  Even so, at low tide, the middle point is around a foot deep.  So needless to say, you need to time the tide correctly in order to pass through.

We made our way down from Beattie through Carmichael Passage, which was described in the tour book as the "Saltwater Yosemite Valley."  Well, while it was pretty awesome, I don't know that I'd go that far.

Approaching Louise Narrows

We arrived at pretty close to low tide, so we had a bit of wait ahead of us.  We decided to take the dinghy up through the narrows to get a better idea of what we were up against.

Recon mission up the narrows

At points on our dinghy ride, were were in aboooout, 1 1/2 feet of water.  Also, as the tide was still ebbing, we were pushing against around 3 knots of current most of the way.  The outboard engine was not too happy with us at times. 

"Can you see the bottom?

Yes, I can STILL see the bottom."

After our recon, we made our way back to the boat to wait for the tides.  Something like 4-5 hours later, the narrows looked quite a bit different.

Before

After

It was go time, so in we went.  Nick was on the bow watching for rocks.  Alan was on the foredeck relaying messages from Nick.  The Captain was at the wheel, and I was in the wheelhouse reading off the depth sounder (and trying to take pictures).

Halfway through.  Good right and you're in about 6 inches of water

Well, even at high tide, we only had around 3 feet of water under our keel at a few points.  If you drifted 4 feet right or left out of the center of the channel, it got REALLY shallow in a hurry.

The exit!

Bit of a nerve racking experience, but definitely awesome.  I would do it again in heartbeat.  After the narrows, we decided to make a shorter day of it, as we were all pretty mentally exhausted from the passage.  So we made our way down to Cecil Cove, about 30 minutes south of the narrows and anchored for the night.

Anchored in Cecil Cove

*Editors Note*

I apologize for the delay in getting these last few entries on the blog. 

My excuse is a combination of laziness and trying to pack as many activities that weren't available to me on the boat into the past two weeks. 

Mostly laziness really.

Anyways, my apologies.  Hope people check out the last few entries.  They're AWESOME.

Haida Gwaii Trip - Day 4

We awoke in the morning to face a minor crisis.  We were out of coffee.

*Panic sets in*

Now, this situation was not as easily dealt with as you may initially think.  The yacht club was quite a ways from anything resembling a grocery store.  The walk to town would have been brutally long.  What to do?

Our first plan was to take the boat down to Sandspit and tie up at the government dock.  Well, when we got there, the government dock was about 20 feet above the water due to the rock-bottom tide.

No good.

Second plan was for Alan and I to jump in the dinghy and row ashore while the Captain and Nick waited off shore.  Well, once we got ashore, we found out the grocery store wasn't open for another hour.

Back to the boat.  Wait.

Back in the dinghy.  Go ashore.  Coffee.  Row back out the boat.  Profit.

Quite the undertaking for coffee, but well worth it in the end.

After the coffee debacle, we were ready to make our way across the sandbar.  We found a spot a bit north where you could cross in around 12 feet of water.  Trouble is, it's a sandbar so depths can change.  We were all a bit nervous.

 Alan on bow lookout, hoping NOT to see the bottom

 3.8 meters or 12.5 feet.  Intense

Clear of the sandbar, we started heading south.  Rest of the day was a leisurely sail down the island.  Weather was overcast, but no rain.

 Alfred Hitchcock moment

 Entrance to Cumshewa Inlet on the North of Louise Island

 Lake #6?

Just inside Cumshewa Inlet Alan spotted a group of three orcas.  Looked like a mother, father and calf. 

We continued up Cumshewa Inlet and eventually anchored in Beatty Anchorage.  The anchorage is still actively used for logging operations in the area, so there were trucks and other things on shore.

In Beatty Anchorage

Pretty awful sunset that night.

Sauron's forces are massing in the east...

His eye is fixed on Rivendale...