Our
friends Neil and Lynn Parker from Navigator (KK 48) are cruising this summer in
Alaska. When I learned they were in
Sitka, I sent them an email telling them not to miss dining at Ludwig’s Bistro. In return, they sent me an email telling me
not to miss Pipestem Inlet and Lucky Creek in Barkley Sound.
This
morning we left Nettle Island and worked our way back into the narrow reaches
of Pipestem Inlet. It must be beautiful
with tall steep cliffs – but we saw very little because of the low cloud
ceiling. On our way back, we stopped at
Refuge Island and I put my kayak in the water while Barrie worked on projects
on the boat. We arrived near noon at
high tide and the surface of the water was almost glass. I paddled to the head of Lucky Creek and tied
my kayak to a tree on shore. The path to
the waterfall at the head of the creek is well-worn with semi-permanent rope
aids in the steep sections and easy to navigate. At about the halfway point on the hike to the
three-tiered falls, an Australian couple was admiring the view. They have
been sailing the world for nine years and we agreed that the west coast of
Vancouver Island is lovely but not nearly as rugged as we both had
imagined.
Back
at the boat, Barrie helped stow the kayak before we sat down to lunch. The winds are expected to howl again tonight. The forecast today started at 10 knots and by
midnight could reach 30 knots. We
consider heading back to Joe’s Bay but tomorrow morning’s low tide is 0.6 feet
and we don’t want to try and navigate that passage in water that shallow. We head back to Nettle Island and find we
have more company than last night. We drop
the anchor near the northwest shore and let out nearly 200 feet of chain in
just over 50 feet of water. We are at
mid-tide so the water will go up several feet and down even more feet before we
depart tomorrow.
We
spend time catching up on the blog and reading about how to survive transiting
Juan de Fuca Strait. According to all
the books, we are headed in the best direction.
With the wind at our back and a flood current we could actually make
average 10 knots or more. Pretty good
for a Knot-so Swift boat.
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