Princess Louisa Inlet, B.C.
Staggering mountains reached high into the clouds. This would be a good morning! The inlet-ocean waters were calm, and shiny heads of harbor seals watched us curiously as we approached this lovely area of British Columbia. Oh, the skies were gray, but this is a temperate rainforest, with a very high annual rainfall. Just looking at the vegetation as it climbs the almost vertical walls of this fjord convinces us of that fact. Only a few other small motorboats were to be seen as National Geographic Sea Lion moved almost to the head of the fjord, and then, carefully, with most of us watching from Zodiacs, our sparkling ship slid slowly through Malibu Rapids and into idyllic Princess Louisa Inlet. We were almost completely alone, here to appreciate tall western redcedars, bigleaf maples, Douglas firs and western hemlocks, all vying to reach the heavens and the sunlight. Great amounts of mosses were to be seen covering these trees, and long, green strands of “old man’s beard”, an arboreal lichen, hung from many of them.
Kayaking was part of our day, as were short walks to a roaring ice-melt waterfall called Chatterbox. Earlier, we had momentarily stopped near some granitic rocks to see and photograph a series of reddish pictographs painted here perhaps centuries ago by the early First Nations people of this coast. Zodiac cruises were organized, during which we motored slowly along the rocky shoreline and cliff faces, to gaze at an incredible number of different species of seastars, some clumped in huge masses of purple! Yes, jellyfish too, even the more toxic lion’s mane jellyfish.
Others of us hiked up an old and difficult trail, only to be thwarted by an insurmountable cliff. In the late afternoon, at high slack tide, we exited Princess Louisa Inlet through the narrow gap of Malibu Rapids and sailed on to the south; our destination, the lovely city of Victoria.
Staggering mountains reached high into the clouds. This would be a good morning! The inlet-ocean waters were calm, and shiny heads of harbor seals watched us curiously as we approached this lovely area of British Columbia. Oh, the skies were gray, but this is a temperate rainforest, with a very high annual rainfall. Just looking at the vegetation as it climbs the almost vertical walls of this fjord convinces us of that fact. Only a few other small motorboats were to be seen as National Geographic Sea Lion moved almost to the head of the fjord, and then, carefully, with most of us watching from Zodiacs, our sparkling ship slid slowly through Malibu Rapids and into idyllic Princess Louisa Inlet. We were almost completely alone, here to appreciate tall western redcedars, bigleaf maples, Douglas firs and western hemlocks, all vying to reach the heavens and the sunlight. Great amounts of mosses were to be seen covering these trees, and long, green strands of “old man’s beard”, an arboreal lichen, hung from many of them.
Kayaking was part of our day, as were short walks to a roaring ice-melt waterfall called Chatterbox. Earlier, we had momentarily stopped near some granitic rocks to see and photograph a series of reddish pictographs painted here perhaps centuries ago by the early First Nations people of this coast. Zodiac cruises were organized, during which we motored slowly along the rocky shoreline and cliff faces, to gaze at an incredible number of different species of seastars, some clumped in huge masses of purple! Yes, jellyfish too, even the more toxic lion’s mane jellyfish.
Others of us hiked up an old and difficult trail, only to be thwarted by an insurmountable cliff. In the late afternoon, at high slack tide, we exited Princess Louisa Inlet through the narrow gap of Malibu Rapids and sailed on to the south; our destination, the lovely city of Victoria.
