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Multiple pods of
whales cruisingup and down
the channel...FAR LEFT Jonty
finishing off a wave,
and a humpback
surfaces next to
the boat.
RIGHT Spinnaker run
in calm conditions.
LEFT Jonty
showering at
Teakearn Arm.
surfaced within five metres of us. It cruised slowly past,
looking us over, and then dove back down to the depths.
Not realising we were all holding our breath we all
suddenly exhaled with relief and delight.
North of Desolation Sound, the coast becomes a
labyrinth of inlets and narrow channels, with steep
snow-capped mountains on each side and forest right
down to the high tide line. Endless winding passages
and mountains in all directions make it easy to lose your
bearings so we were thankful for the GPS chart plotter.
The narrow inlets are home to massive tides, with
turbulent currents that rip through at frightening speeds
during peak flow. The other thing to watch out for is ghost
logs – they weigh several tons and lie unseen below the
surface, waiting to tear a hole in the hull. To maximise our
chances, we shot each gap during slack tide.
As we approached the entrance to the Yuculta
Rapids, the most notorious tidal passage in the area, we
discovered that slack tide is a relative term. This passage
makes Nelson’s French Pass look like a walk in the park.
We were greeted with multiple current lines,
turbulent rapids, and whirlpools that could swallow a
small vessel whole. While approaching the first current
line I reflected on how easy the journey had been thus
far. We crossed into the turbid waters and the boat made