Rescue Bay to Culpepper Lagoon

No rain when we awoke. After three days of constant precipitation , what a welcome relief. Today is forecasted to be a transition day. And tomorrow is forecasted to be nice, even touching 70 degrees. Sounds like a great time to head for Culpepper Lagoon.

The Bellingham paper called the weather we’ve been experiencing a weather whiplash. Crappy, then nice for a few days and then returning to crappy.

We must admit that all of the rain is wearing on our morale. Looks like the weather is improving just in time. As we head up Mathieson Channel, the low-lying clouds don’t full cover the beauty of our surroundings. The only plus of all this rain is that the waterfalls are in their full glory. From the tiniest pencil thin flows to the well-known monsters, they are all putting in a show. Most impressive are the falls that reach all the way to the tops of the granite domes, often disappearing into the clouds.

amazing granite domes in Kynoch Inlet

waterfalls everywhere in the rain

Culpepper Lagoon is a long time favorite of ours. It is located at the bitter end of Kynoch Inlet, in a part of British Columbia dubbed “Fiordlands”.  Think snowcapped mountains and granite domes. We first heard about Culpepper Lagoon from the late Brian Pemberton, head of Northwest Explorations in Bellingham and explorer extraordinaire. He encouraged us to visit and not be held back by the narrow entrance from Kynoch Inlet into the lagoon.  Many boats prefer to just anchor at the end of Kynoch Inlet, which is certainly stunning enough. But there’s just something special about venturing into Culpepper Lagoon that draws us back time and time again. It’s even the photo on Karen’s iPhone Home Screen.

Being a lagoon, we do need to transit the narrows at slack, either high or low. There are benefits to each. At high slack, there is more “room for error”, but at low slack you enter the lagoon able to see the mudflats at the head, making anchoring easier.

Local knowledge says slack is timed off Tom Bay Low slack at Culpepper is 1 hour after low slack at Tom Bay, while High slack at Culpepper is the same as high tide at Tom Bay.

We decided to target High Water slack. The low of the day was lower than when we last transited at Low Slack, and we just didn’t want any depth surprises.

We ended up transiting the Culpepper narrows 12 minutes before high tide at Tom Bay. We had about 1.2 knots of current on our stern, and the water was smooth with no swirls. We saw a minimum of 20.5 feet on a 13.8-foot tide at Tom Bay. Yep, we’re glad we waited for high tide.

Although we have anchored here many times and have marks from our 2022 visit, the silting bottom is always a challenge. The water shoals quickly and it’s a balancing act as you drop in 100 feet, let out 300 feet of chain and hope you run no longer worked, so we repositioned our anchor a few hundred feet to the east and settled in. All alone in this magnificent place, it’s truly magical.

there is nothing like culpepper lagon, no matter the weather

There are still low clouds hugging the mountains in here. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so we’ll hold off exploring until then.

the famous waterfall in culpepper lagoon. Good place to look for bears

Rescue Bay Lay Day

Today’s forecast is for even more rain. In fact, there is so much rain today that we just have no interest in going out in our dinghy, even fully wrapped up in foul weather gear.

But we knew to expect this, and would rather be here in the rain that at our next stop, Culpepper Lagoon in Kynoch Inlet, Fiordland. That stop is all about the vistas and exploring, not something to do in the rain if it can be avoided. So we are content to stage here and leave tomorrow when the weather is supposed to break.

So, today will be boat chores, blog updates and some trip planning so we show up tomorrow at the Culpepper Lagoon entrance at High Slack.

More boats showed up in the rain later today, including 2 sailboats and a commercial prawner anchored once his day was done.

rainy lay day in rescue bay

Ocean Falls to Rescue Bay

We awoke at 5:30 for a 6 am departure to find an un-forecast but welcome break in the rain. Karen especially was pleased, as she’s the one who casts off all the lines while I stay dry and warm in the boat.

Our early start was designed to reach the Perceval Narrows near slack, before it turns to ebb. When a strong ebb flow meets incoming ocean swells,  that meeting can create large standing waves or at least an uncomfortable ride, as you’re beam to at that point. For planning transit at Perceval Narrows, the data we used is that the turn to is an hour before Prince Ruppet low tide and the turn to ebb is one hour before Prince Ruppet high tide.

As we made our way down Cousins Inlet, the distant skies were broken with a bit of blue sky showing. The clouds embraced the higher peaks, and the winds were light. A perfect morning. As predicted, when we entered Fisher Channel, the current gave us a nice push. It’s going to be a long 6-hour day, so we expected  to see all matter of wind, current, clouds and more rain.

Rather than retracing our path through Gunboat Pass (although it’s shorter), we turned up Johnson Channel followed by a turn down Return Channel. It added 5 miles to the cruise, but it was worth it, especially as we had not been the way before. Tall 3,000-foot granite domes were in every quadrant. The winds stayed light and the water calm. We passed several bear beaches, and we spotted one large black bear foraging on the freshwater grass.

We also identified a potential anchorage behind Beaumont Island at the junction of Johnson Channel and Roscoe Inlet. It has great looking “bear beaches” and views up Roscoe Inlet. Maybe on our way back later this summer.

As we joined Seaforth Channel, winds rose a bit and we felt the ocean swells. But it was a great ride, and we only saw two fishing vessels, no other pleasure craft.

Reid Passage was placid, and though there were some beam swells as we headed toward Perceval Narrows, we hit it at slack as planned and it was a non-event.

We had planned Salmon Bay in Mathieson Channel as our destination for the night, but the forecast could not make up its mind on overnight winds – both strength and direction.  We adjusted the plan to anchor at Rescue Bay instead. A very popular anchorage at the junction of Mathieson Channel and Jackson Passage, Rescue Bay is a very well protected spot. While the winds west of us out in the Ocean were blowing 30-40 knots, we entered with winds less than 15 knots and no fetch in sight. And we had peaks of sun for most of the afternoon.

rescue bay looking south down Mathieson Channel

We were the first to arrive but were later joined by one pleasure boat out of Victoria and one commercial prawner.

The bay is ringed but what we call “bear beaches” but, as low tide approached and the rain came back in earnest, we did not see any animals.

rescue bay looking north up Mathieson Channel

Our theory is that even the bears are tired of all the rain, and have decided to hunker down as they, and the crew of OceanFlyer, dream of better weather.

Ocean Falls Lay Day

We were the only cruiser on the docks after the M/V Yofi left early this morning.

oceanflyer enjoys the solitude at ocean falls

Haircuts are the first order of business as they are overdue. We prefer to do them off the boat when we can, typically outside on the docks. It was raining too much to do that today. So I checked “The Shack” on the docks and it met all our requirements. It was covered, had a chair to sit on, good lighting from two big windows and a broom so we could easily clean up after ourselves. And no one was around to inconvenience.

“the shack”, a.k.a. The barber shop, a.k.a. Ocean Falls Harbor Authorty

“The Shack” is also the home of the Ocean Falls Harbour Authority. Basically, it’s where you find the slips and envelopes to pay your moorage. We also came across the Ocean Falls mermaid in “The Shack”. I noticed she was not in her usual position on shore at the end of the dock, greeting all visitors. I suspect she or her mounting system was under cover for repair, or maybe they take her in during the winter and no one has put her back.

ocean falls mermaid taking a break in “the shack”

Later, looking far better coiffed, we tackled the most important mission of the day: Operation Banana Bread. We marched up to the store to pick up our order. They were both sitting in the window, well wrapped in foil, just beckoning Karen to come in. Those loaves were still warm and smelled heavenly.

The gift shop, located in the marine ways building, was also open. Staffed by Christina who we met 2 years ago in Martin Valley on a walk. She is a great ambassador for the town and a great way to catch up on the latest news since our last visit. The saddest story was the Slaggo’s Saloon, which had been sold to a young couple with big renovation plans 2 years ago, has since been sold and is now a private residence. Oh well.

bc ferry calls on ocean falls

We had a very peaceful rest of the afternoon, and remained all alone on the docks overnight.

Shearwater to Ocean Falls

The forecast, sadly, remained gloomy, with more rain and more wind predicted. So we agreed we’d rather wait out the inclement weather at Ocean Falls, a place known for its high total yearly rainfall. Home of the Rain People? What better place to wait?

Ocean Falls is one of our favorite places in this part of the Central Coast. And Karen has been dreaming about the banana bread we bought there in 2022, sold at the Little Licker ice cream shop adjacent to the Olde Bank Inn. Maybe we can get some more!

The trip was uneventful, though with low clouds and on and off rain. As we made our way up Cousins Inlet, we once again saw a commercial prawner setting tons of traps in the downpour. How wet and cold they must be.

When we arrived at Ocean Falls, the outer dock was wide open. We backed in, port side to, in the exact same spot as in 2022. When we went to plug in shore power, there was no joy. We tried both our bow and stern power sources to no avail. I got out my trusty volt meter and low and behold – there was no power on the docks at all. This is atypical, to say the least, given Link Lake Hydro! We decided to walk into town to see if we could find out what was going on.

oceanflyer on the outer dock arm

oceanflyer from the docks to the old paper mill, now home to crypto mining

Of course, as we walked, it started to pour, but we were ready in our foul weather gear. Our destination was the Olde Bank Inn, because we figured that they were mostly likely to be around on a weekend in this sparsely populated town. As we walked past the Court House, we ran into another couple who jokingly said they were there for Jury Duty (Trump had just been found guilty on 34 counts, so it was really funny). They were on the inner dock on a boat called Yofii, and said that they hadn’t seen anyone around at the Inn or the Bakery. We made plans to hook up at Happy Hour and continued on our way.

karen’s favorite place in ocean falls. the bakery.

the dam and spillway is the heart of oceanflyer

a look at the breakwater at ocean falls.

We did find Les at the Inn,  and he said work was being done on the power system. The repairs were supposed to take two hours and they started at 9am. It was now about 2pm, and nothing was back on yet. Karen asked him if the bakery was open (it had moved across the street to the converted Firehouse), and he said yes just ring the doorbell.

many abandoned buildings are atill used. But we never go in as the ceilings and floors are deteriorating

We traipsed over and rang the bell, but no one was home. At long last, we realized that with no power, the doorbell probably was not working. With a manual knock, we had success!

The bakery now also carries frozen meats and some supplies. The owner, Marc, invited us in to look around. He did not have any banana bread but was willing to make some we could pick up tomorrow. Karen told him how much she loved that bread two years ago, and placed an order for 2 loaves. All is now well in the world. We bought to cinnamon buns to tide us over until tomorrow.

The power came on around 5pm, and we had a lovely time chatting about boats and destinations with Greg and Ruth on Yofi. I think we convinced them to have a Starlink shipped to Ketchikan!

evening falls on ocean falls