Khutze Inlet

Yesterday began the waterfall section of our journey. We left at a reasonable hour (without any anchor hiccups) into fog through Jackson Narrows, up Finlayson Channel to Princess Royal Channel. Along the way we saw a number of waterfalls, and dolphins on our bow again!

We then took a right into Khutze Inlet. There are two marked anchorages in the Inlet, the first a rather odd location almost in the middle of the channel, and the other at the base of a spectacular waterfall. We weren’t sure if this was going to work – it is extremely deep most of the way – hundreds of feet, with a very small shelf near shore that shallows out very rapidly. The trick is to get your anchor in exactly the right place so it’s not too deep but deep enough so you don’t go aground in low tide.

We were fortunate to get there at low tide so we could see all the possible obstacles. The only other boat was a superyacht named Sherpa which anchored in deep water.

We are speculating as to who owns it – Ted recalls a newspaper article about it a few weeks ago when it passed through Seattle, but until we get internet access we won’t know for sure. It’s probably more fun to make up stories anyway.

We successfully anchored right at the base of a picture perfect waterfall.

We dingy explored up the Khutze river which empties into the Inlet looking for bears. We were finally rewarded with a brown bear on shore eating grass right before bedtime. We had already put the dingy up so couldn’t rush to get a closer picture.

Today will be our last day on the southern half of the Inside Passage according to the planning maps. We are heading for Lowe Inlet, by way of Hartley Bay. Tomorrow we will make it to Prince Rupert and prepare to enter Alaska by way of Dixon Entrance.