KHUTZE
INLET AT ANCHOR
Monday,
May 25th
Woke to the sound of
rain, yes it is still raining here! The weather channel says per the radar that
the rain is supposed to stop at 1PM. The Slowboat flotilla arrived mid morning,
so 7 more boats anchored in the inlet. My morning was spent on sorting and
editing photos and working on the blog. It seems to take a lot of my time doing
that, especially on a day where many photo opportunities appear. It ended up
clearing off late morning so we gathered the troops and made our way up the
estuary in the whaler to see what we could discover. It was tricky at times,
and it got down to 1.2 feet of water at which point we had to turn around. People
from neighboring boats made it farther up the estuary because they have
lightweight inflatable boats that don’t draw much water. We later discovered
that “just around the bend” where we turned around, the other boats got a quick
glimpse of a bear as it headed back into the woods. On our journey we motored
by the remnants of an old rail spur and tram system used for mining 100 years
ago, of copper, gold and silver. Now almost every activity you can think of is
banned in Khutze – not only no mining and exploration, but no harvesting of
crab or prawns, no humans or dogs are allowed to step foot on shore, as the
First Nations owners and BC Parks have designated it as a conservancy. As we
made our way back out the estuary with the intent on exploring another river,
we noticed huge black clouds rolling in over the mountains and decided to
boogie back to shelter and try later. It did indeed pour buckets so we missed
that thankfully! Again around 4:30 it cleared off and was sunny! Went for a cocktail
cruise and tequila tasting with the group around the bay, the tequila for the
sole purpose of keeping us warm. Even though the sun is out, there is snow on
all the peaks around us, causing a cold wind at times. Lorraine whipped out some
excellent Sicilian spaghetti and garlic bread, doctored up a bag of salad I contributed,
and we had a very nice dinner onboard Far Niente. John brought along the giant
map of the Inside Passage and we spent some time discussing our route and our
options. We are just 2 run days away from Prince Rupert, and 1 run day
thereafter to arrive in Ketchikan. It’s getting real folks!
EDIT: For those of you that leave comments, they almost always show up tagged as Anonymous, so if you choose to leave any comments, please leave your name!! Thank you! Blogger is not the most sophisticated blogging tool, but it's what I know how to use.
 |
| Far Niente (L) with UnforgetAbell hidden behind them, and Huntress in foreground, all at anchor in Khutze Inlet |
 |
| Remnants of mining operations |
 |
| Headed out on our exploration cruise up the Estuary, it was a bit nippy! |
 |
| Da Boyz |
 |
| Just can't get enough of this waterfall and bowl |
 |
| Nice late afternoon shot of the boats at anchor in Khutze Inlet, Huntress (background-L) and UnforgetAbell rafted to Far Niente in foreground |
 |
| Actually warmed up late afternoon! Tequila tasting cruise around the bay. It was between Clase Azul and Campovedo Extra Anejo. We decided the Campovedo was a nicer sipping tequila, almost like a nice brandy or Drambuie |
No comments