Today was our turn to go up Phillips Arm and we easily talked Bill and Sylvia into coming with us, so we left Salubrious in Shoal Bay and slowly motored up inlet aboard Cambria as we made water and had lunch. An hour or so later, we were securely anchored at the head of the bay, so we jumped into our dinghies and made way to the mouth of the Phillips River and started our journey – if we were going to see a grizzly, there's a fair chance we'd see it here.
Travelling by dinghy offers an entirely different perspective than a sailboat, one I never tire of. You sit close to the water and your surroundings seem much grander than they do when you're eight feet above sea level. You can fit into the smallest nooks and crannies with a minimum amount of water under your hull making you privy to things you can't possibly see from a regular boat – the only thing better is kayaking! And the Phillips River is an incredibly scenic stretch of water. Its beautiful light green colour contrasts perfectly with a blue summer sky and the dark green cedars along the shore and surrounding hills – in short, it's idyllic.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to travel as far as we had last year when we came with Linda and Kelly. The river shallows out and turns into short sections of rapids that neither of our dinghies or low horse-powered outboard motors could manage, so we pulled onto a small sandy niche along the rocky shore and took a look around before returning to Cambria and Shoal Bay.
We never did see a bear, but it didn't matter. It was a great day and a wonderful last “hurrah” before we part ways with Salubrious tomorrow for what will likely be several weeks as they move north to the Broughtons and we return south to Desolation Sound.
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