Princess Louisa

Friel Falls

Sunset in Harmony Islands

Heading down Jervis Inlet to Princess Louisa and Malibu Camp

The Monkey Fist: one of the many knots Grant learned how to tie

Malibu Camp

Hiking near Chatterbox Falls...wish there were switch-backs

At the top of our hike

Hello all from the decks of the Osprey.

The last few days have been some of the most beautiful of our trip, starting with our best day of sailing while traveling from Desolation Sound to Princess Louisa Inlet. We had almost 5 hours of 10 plus knot following winds in the exact direction that we wanted to go. This allowed us to spend the sunny afternoon sailing directly downwind with both our asymmetric spinnaker and mainsail wing-on-wing, and our boat speed never dropping below 5 knots over the ground. We finished this day in one of the most beautiful group of small Islands called the Harmony Islands. They are nestled a few miles inside of Jervis Inlet, directly below Friel Falls. These falls had the largest free-fall of water that we have ever seen, coming from a lake 4,000 feet high. See pic below.

The next morning we got up bright and early for our long haul up to Malibu (not Hawaii), Chatterbox Falls, and Princess Louisa Inlet. The best way to describe this journey is to think about the mountains while driving over Washington Pass, but you are on a boat at sea level the whole time. There are unbelievable peaks, waterfalls, and glaciers all topped off by the Young Life Camp at Malibu Rapids. While drifting off shore at Malibu gawking at the beautiful architecture and setting of the Malibu camp, the food services director invited us to tie up to the dock and tour the facilities. They could not have been more gracious of hosts, and being that there were currently no campers there we were able to take a full tour including a great history lesson of this camp as well as other Young Life camps around the Northwest. Claire was flooded with wonderful memories of being a counselor 9 years ago.

That evening we moored up at the head of the inlet directly below Chatterbox Falls. The next morning Claire insisted that we went on a 3 hour hike directly up the side of the mountains at the head of the inlet to a waterfall, abandoned cabin, and an impressive view of the inlet. This could quite possibly be the steepest hike that I have ever been on. We gained over 1500 feet of elevation without a single switchback. The view made this climb all worth while. We are currently anchored in Pender Harbour and set to begin the final stretch of our travels. We are planning on spending the next two days heading South through the Gulf Islands, with the hoped of making it back to the States by Monday for Emma's Birthday.

See you all soon,
Osprey Crew