I hate wind. Regina has little to offer but I could likely have tolerated the place, absent the wind. The wind starts blowing in Lethbridge and never skips a beat until it gets past Winnipeg. Right in the middle of that expanse of treeless prairie sits Regina.
This place could give Regina a run for its money in the wind department. Mind you the scenery is pretty good here and nobody has ever accused Regina of being pretty. But wind – that’s another matter. I’ve been listening to the marine weather statements on VHF and they all say its calm around us but you sure wouldn’t know it in here. “Here” being Lowe Inlet – about 50 miles straight south of Prince Rupert. Its a seriously pretty place – we went “OOOOH” and “AAAAHHH” when we arrived.
And we saw a bear. He’s about a 6:00 PM bear. Maybe 5:00 if he’s working on local time. He’s been out at about the same time the last two days. Yesterday we took the dinghy over for a closer look.
Two boats arrived here mid-afternoon yesterday. They took their dog to shore to do his thing and got a real close look at the bear when he chased the dog back to the dinghy. I’ve heard that’s a big risk of turning a dog loose around here – doggie stirs up bear, gets scared, runs back to mommy & daddy, bear follows. I didn’t see the whole adventure – by the time I noticed what was going on, the bear was standing at the edge of the water looking aggressive and the dinghy was pulling away from the beach. He’s very big.
Its a seriously pretty spot, if the damn wind would ever quit blowing. They get what they call “inflow” or “outflow” winds in some of these inlets and I’m sure that’s what we’re experiencing. The weather statements are saying 5 or 8 knots which is barely noticeable but we’re getting pounded in here. We dragged anchor three times yesterday because the winds come mainly right on the nose. There’s about a 3 knot current flowing past us from the waterfall at the head of the bay so when the wind gets us working back and forth we can put quite a strain on the anchor. Right now we’ve got 500 feet of chain out and we seem to be holding but I’ll be glad to be shy of this place and I won’t come back, no matter how pretty it is.
Its a pretty seriously pretty waterfall. I’ll miss it. But I won’t miss waking up at 4:00 and listening to the wind buffet us around until I finally get up to check the anchor. These pictures are close to high tide. At low tide the waterfall gets much bigger.
2 comments:
Sheesh! It's been a while, but I finally caught up with your blog, and as we plan to make the Inside Passage journey to Alaska summer 2015, read your posts from the beginning with rapt interest. Thanks for all the details, and it sounds fascinating, challenging, hilarious, socially and culturally different, historically quirky . . . I'm fascinated. We met you in LaConnor on the Swinomisih Channel and had delicious cinnamon rolls and sautéed mushrooms for cocktail hour on Grey Hawk, along with a sailor single handing. Have fun, be safe, and thanks for blogging.
Cathryn and Bob on "Next To Me"
We remember you Cathryn. I check in on your weblog from time to time. We're planning to meet our Mexican daughter in Seattle next January - we'll give you a call when our plans are a little more firm and perhaps we can get together again.
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