Princess Louisa Inlet Cruise

rogerbum · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:48 am Post subject: Princess Louisa Inlet Cruise

On Thurs even we loaded up the boat for a 4-day, 3 night cruise to Princess Louisa Inlet.

Day 1: Joyce and I were up around 4:30 Fri AM and our co-owner Brad arrived around 5:30. After a stop in Bellingham to meet Jay for an exchange of a jack he didn't want (THANKS JAY), we fueled the boat with about 100gals of gas and launched at Blaine - probably had the boat in the water around 9/9:30. We cruised to White Rock to clear customs - they were busy. It took quite awhile to get them on the phone (paying for expensive roaming charges) and then I was put on hold 3 times during the call. Nonetheless, we cleared and were on our way around 10:30.

We cruised up to Pender Harbor and stayed at Pender Harbor Resort. There are so many little marinas in Pender Harbor and not all monitor the radio so it took awhile to figure out exactly which one was our and which dock we needed to be at. After a few dockings and re-dockings, we were settled in around 3:30. Pender Harbor Resort was a decent marina. Good docks, adequate restrooms and a nice staff. We launched the dinghy for it's first use and ran down to Madeira marina's dinghy dock and a walk into the IGA for food. We picked up some steaks for the evening and supplies for breakfasts and lunch the next several days. After a nice meal and a couple bottles of wine, we watched U571 on the iPad and settled in for the evening.

Day 2: Breakfast at the docks. Went to leave and couldn't start the starboard engine. No click, no nothing... Messed around for awhile checking fuses, battery, cleaning battery connections etc. Nothing. A quick call to a Madeira and they asked the simple question - "Did you jiggle the throttle?" -DOH! A quick jiggle of the throttle and it started up. We went around the outside of Nelson Island an dropped a shrimp pot. Trolled for awhile and caught a nice 14# white king salmon. Then pulled the pot (empty) and cruised to Princess Louisa Inlet (with a little fishing/prawning on the way). We arrived mid afternoon and went in on a 3-5kt ingoing current. No problem just kept the speed up enough to maintain steerage. We did a slow cruise down the inlet with lots of photos taken and parked ourselves on the inside of the dock. There was maybe 8 boats on the dock and plenty of space for us and a few other boats. We were the last ones in for the evening. I cleaned the fish and we bummed some grill space from another boater to cook it (still have to buy a grill for the Tomcat). We tried to give some of the fish away and no-one wanted it. C'est la vie. Ran the generator briefly to generate hot water, etc. Brad camped on shore and Joyce and I had the boat to ourselves for the evening. It rained hard during the evening and early morning.

Day 3: After some salmon and fried rice for breakfast we had an early departure from the dock and we were off to fish and try for some prawns. Once we were outside of Princess Louisa Inlet, we fished at several locations that looked promising (a couple of river inlets) with no luck and dropped the shrimp pots with no luck. Salmon sandwiches for lunch and then onto our stop for the evening. Took the inside route around Nelson Island (Agamemnon Channel) and then trolled the last 8-9 miles towards Secret Cove Marina. We had no luck until right in front of the entrance to the harbor where we picked up another white chinook around 15-16#. Docked at Secret Cove Marina. This is a very nice marina with a well stocked store, fuel, excellent showers and restrooms and a decent restaurant. We had some more salmon for dinner with some pasta, garlic and fresh tomatos. Made some Jiffy pop and settled in for another movie on the iPad.

Day 4: Off the dock early to give fishing a more serious try. Dropped the shrimp pot and then ran over to Lasqueti Island to fish the south point (base on local info). We trolled for about 5 hours with nothing to show for it. Ran back in and pulled our shrimp pot to find 21 nice prawns. Fueled up and headed home - ate prawns along the way and arrived in Point Roberts for US customs clearance around 2PM. Got a brief visit from the nice customs agent (I think he just wanted to get out of the office on a nice day) and cruised over to Blaine for a 3:30 arrival. All-in-all a nice trip. I've posted photos in my album.[/img]

rogerbum · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 11:01 am Post subject:

Here's the photos -
The NE end of Princess Louisa Inlet

Chatterbox falls

The lighthouse on Merry Island

Pat Anderson · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 7:44 pm Post subject:

Roger - good report! This is a "must do" cruise, we really enjoyed it, and definitely will return to PL. On the roaming charge at White Rock, you don't have to use your cell phone, there is a free phone at the top of the dock that connects right to Victoria, same as at Bedwell. Did the conversation go more or less as predicted? And you are right about Point Roberts to re-enter the US, we have never had a bad experience there.

rogerbum · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 11:51 pm Post subject:

PvL · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 12:29 am Post subject: secret cove

When you were returning from your run to Princess L. and entering Secret Cove did you see a 22 Cruiser pulling prawn traps?

rogerbum · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 12:35 am Post subject: Re: secret cove

PvL · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:33 am Post subject:

That was us you saw. Prawning is starting to pick up a bit now that the commercial guys are done.

How deep were your trolling? What lure were you using?

rogerbum · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 1:31 pm Post subject:

Igrant · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:27 pm Post subject:

The boat you saw in Garden Bay belongs to us. It is a 2011 Venture 23 we bought earlier this year. We have been up to Desolation Sound twice but not yet to Princess Louisa.

rogerbum · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:47 pm Post subject: