Pender Harbor Too Chatter Box Falls

August 11, 12 and 13^th

Big day… off to Chatterbox falls in Princess Louisa inlet. Alex thought we might be departing later to catch the Malibu rapids at entrance to the inlet at slack…. then he realized we had to leave NOW ?…so we got going quickly and cruised up Agammemnon Channel and in to Jervis Inlet.  Was worried the ebbing tidal current, shown ebbing at 13:45 PDT at Malibu Rapids diagram below, would slow us down and we would miss our slack window. Did not see anything over a knot or so of current on the trip up so all good.  
Malibu Rapids at Princess Louisa Inlet can have up to 10 knots currents with a narrow dog leg in the middle so nothing to trifle with.  Even with making close to slack we had 2-3 knots flood going in.

Gloomy cloudy day and ended up raining too. At first a bit disappointed about rain but later realized this created many waterfalls in the fjord. Easy cruise and got to the rapids a bit before slack with incoming 2-3 knott current. Announced our transit and through we went.  Entrance dog legs to the right and a bit of an S curve but since we had timed it well not a problem. A 110 foot boat Alliance went through before us. We did not see it but wondered about navigating a long boat like that through the inlet.

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Right near the entrance to Princess Louisa Inlet is a Christian kids camp. It must be for rich kids as what a place! Beautiful grounds, swim area, ski boats, SUPS, volleyball etc…. looked very swanky.

Arrived at the falls..it rained much of the way up the inlet but this created the waterfalls. The dock was full (we are too big for dock anyway) and there were several boats anchored to the west of the falls. I urged Alex to squeeze in right in front of the falls which he did YAY!! They guys went to stern tie us but it would have been on east side of falls and ranger came out to say not a good idea to tie there but she said we likely did not need to stern tide due to the current from the falls. So no stern tie but right  in front of falls four our 3 day stay.

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We all checked out the falls and then settle in for evening. We had some left over dungenous crab so I made crab coconut soup. I added Ramen noodles at the end and it complemented it well.

Next day we deployed SUPS and kayaks and all did a bit of both. Took Dinghy to MacDonald island and took a short hike on Ming’s Loop, nice walk through the woods to the inlet. Got back and did some more SUPing and hanging.

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Unfortunately a yacht we had seen at John Henry “Shiatz” showed up and anchored next to us. They had these motorized self-propelled wake boards which were an annoyance. Alex asked that they keep them away but they still ruined the serenity. Unfortunately the ranger was gone for the time they were there so they were not shut down (one would think they would not be allowed). After the fact we should have told them of 4 mph speed limit and maybe the would have respected that. Terrible behavior!

The next AM Gary and Marcia were to fly out around 2pm.  We went to falls in AM, those guys took a kayak and then their float plane arrived.  When we were kayaking kept getting the feeling were being watched for some reason hmmmmm……Later in the day the float plane arrived at the park dock and Gary and Marsha flew off into the mist…

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That afternoon we struck out on the trail to the trapper’s cabin (Which continues up to the top where apparently there are amazing views). Lots of warnings at beginning of how strenuous and unmaintained the trail is. We heard various reports…45 minute walk 1.5 hour walk? Anyhow off we went and it was very technical…lots of rocks and steep areas where one had to pull on roots etc…. We got about ½ hour and then Terra balked…she had enough…just too much for her with the steep inclines. So we turned around…I think youngster Holly could have made it and likely I could have too but it was a bit more than I liked too… maybe next time.

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So the entire time we were there it seems hazy. We attributed it to humidity as it had rained but even on the last day when “sun” was out it was hazy. Turns out it was the beginning of several day so bad SMOKE from BC and Washington fires.

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We would have stayed another day but the idiots on Shiatz continued to run their motorized wake boards so we left and headed north to Powell river where we could provision and refill water.