Sincerely, Denise

PRINCE RUPERT TO LOWE INLET

Sunday, July 19th

An early start today as we have a long run ahead of us – 65 miles down (somewhat boring) Grenville Channel (The Ditch) to Lowe Inlet. We like to travel as early as possible and tolerable so that we can arrive at our destination and have the afternoon to play and relax, not rush right into dinner – otherwise it really feels like a long day (with no play). We had hoped to go the outside route along the west side of Pitt Island but decided it was too far out of the way for just one night, thus we conceded to traveling down Grenville again. We arrived at Lowe Inlet around 1:30 and glided into the bay to find it empty, it will be just us tonight we hope! We all decided to anchor individually this stop, which is nice from time to time. Wait, we are not alone, forgot to mention we were attacked by horseflies upon arrival. Those (expletive) horseflies are predatory, they don’t sting they BITE your flesh, and they are relentless. It was so bad we couldn’t relax outside. John and I took naps then decided to venture out to tour the bay, armed with our electric bug zapper – I sure we were quite the site cruising along in the whaler swinging our racquet like we were at Wimbledon. I still managed to get bit 6 times. Lowe Inlet is home to Verney Falls which is the outlet from Kumowdah River, a critically important salmon spawning site. The head of the inlet around Verney Falls has been an aboriginal fishing site for centuries and is now part of a marine reserve belonging to the Kitkatla First Nation. A fish cannery operated in the inlet from 1890 to 1934 and there were also logging operations during the 1930s. The cannery was built in 1890 by Lowe Inlet Packing Co. and absorbed by the BC Packers Association in 1902. The cannery was closed after the 1930 season and used as a camp for nearby Claxton Cannery. The remains of the cannery are visible on the shoreline in Lowe Inlet. The salmon have arrived here and we had hours of enjoyment watching them with binoculars from the boat and also up close in the whaler gathering at the base of the falls, jumping out of the water in the area approaching the falls, and attempting to scale the falls only to be slapped down by the cascading water. We saw schools of salmon skimming the surface with just their fins out of the water, Sharknado style circling the back eddies waiting their turn! In mid-August the bears are reportedly on the rocks at the falls feasting on the salmon, but we didn't see any. Alas the horseflies made it so unpleasant to drift around and watch nature at its finest so we continued our journey around the bay, visiting the remnants of the old cannery and basking in the beauty of the shoreline. Connie had her appetite queued up for an Aviation Cocktail, which has been the featured cocktail this summer on our boat, so they dropped by in their tender for a visit before dinner. Teriyaki Rice Bowls were on our menu tonight, followed by books, TV, bed.