INTO SPIRIT BEAR COUNTRY

Another grey, wet overcast day in BC.  First excitement of the day was passing through Meyers Narrows between Swindle Island and Princess Royal Island.  It’s a very pretty narrow pass that is really not that difficult.  This pass allows us to get on the west side of Princess Royal Island and away from the main Alaska Inside Passage highway.  This area is quite remote; I only saw one other sail boat today.

Today I saw two cruise ships heading north.  They were the Zaandam followed a few miles later by her bigger sister the Noordam.  Both ships flying the Dutch Flag and looking very shipshape.  I also saw the first dolphins of the trip, don’t know what they were, just came up quickly some way off and disappeared.  I am surprised not to have seen more dolphins.

After a couple of false starts the southerly breeze finally set in and we managed to sail for over 4 hours today and give Mr. Yanmar a break.  It wasn’t fast going but we were in no hurry so everything was relaxed.  Unfortunately, there were hundreds of logs floating around so a good lookout had to be kept and frequent dodging to avoid them.  We sailed up the Laredo Channel to Kent Inlet.

Entry into the inlet is through a narrow passage called Philip Narrows.  The narrows are very narrow, only a couple of boat widths wide, not enough room to turn around so I took it slow in case we ran out of water.  The chart said there was an obstruction to the passage but I managed to find the deep water alongside the north bank and got through without touching anything.

Kent inlet is a magical place.  Its part of the Kitasoo Spirit Bear Conservancy area.  The spirit or Kermode bear has a light coloured coat and is endangered.  They only appear on princess Royal Island apparently.  The inlet is totally enclosed and has a tidal waterfall that leads to a large lake, looks interesting.  There is another waterfall in the inlet and we are anchored close by it.

Its raining again this evening but if we get fine weather in the morning I will take pig and head over to the tidal waterfall and trek across to the lake inside.  Who knows, I may meet up with a spirit bear.  Total voyage distance 479.6 miles.

Logged 16th May 2016