We left Dark Cove around 9:30 this morning to time our arrival through Malibu Rapids which guard the entrance to Princess Louisa Inlet with currents running up to nine knots during maximum flood and ebb tides creating white water and large overfalls.
The 30 nautical mile trip up Jervis Inlet was beyond any and all expectations we could have possibly had as we travelled further inland and approached the Coastal Mountains. The geology clearly changed becoming more rugged and spectacular. Rounded mountain tops covered in fir trees rose higher and higher as they grew into jagged granite completely barren of life other than smatterings of ice fields and ancient glaciers.
We arrived at Malibu Rapids around 2:30 pm when the tide was slack and made our way down Princess Louisa Inlet which is often described as the world’s most beautiful fjord, the eighth wonder of the world, and the “holy grail” for cruisers. For us, it’s all of these things and more.
Once inside the narrow inlet, you’re completely dwarfed by mile-high mountains that drop almost vertically into 1000-foot depths below the surface. It’s truly majestic and breathtaking, like entering a great cathedral. But not one made by man. The glory here belongs to Mother Nature. There was nothing more for us to do than stand there as we motored along and allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by its beauty.
At the head of the inlet lies Chatterbox Falls, the crown jewel of Princess Louisa, which drops 1600 feet in a series of cascades down the granite cliffs making it’s finale in a wide rush of water at the shoreline, surrounded by a bowl of high, sheer cliffs. Words do not exist to describe the pristine beauty of this place – virtually untouched by man over the years and now protected by the province of British Columbia – or the privilege one feels to be here. For the next week, this will be our home.
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