Today’s route took us deeper into the Northern Canyons section of the Inside Passage. Throughout this section, the waterways narrow and the mountains on either side steepen and tower above. Snow lingered on the tops of the rounded peaks around us. The evidence of the glaciers is all around us as we travel through these fjords. The rounded peaks, wide U-shaped valleys and astounding depths under our keels were all formed by the power of the glaciers during the last ice age.
It was another gorgeous sunny day with spectacular views all around. We were traveling along the Princess Royal Island for the most part of the day today. This island is home to the Spirit bears. A very rare subspecies of black bear with completely white fur. While we didn’t have any luck spotting bears today, we did see many beautiful waterfalls rushing down from the mountainsides.
We anchored in the back of Aaltanhash Inlet with incredible views of steep granite mountain faces above us. A river ran into the bay behind us and tidal flats extended along the shoreline at the head of the inlet. Some of our crews headed out in their dinghies and spotted seals, harlequin ducks, eagles and some mergansers.
We rafted all five boats together tonight and joined up on Bonum Vitae for a happy hour. We had two special guests join us for the party. Casey and Brooke are our friends from Bellingham who are kayaking the Inside passage, over 1,000 miles! They are just over a month into their trip and have paddled over 500 miles. It was great to have them on board and hear about their journey.
We enjoyed a lovely evening together with great food and company. The night was calm and peaceful. This area of northern BC truly feels wild and remote. The landscape is rugged and isolated. We only passed two other boats today as we cruised.