Tag Archives: gillard rapids

Video: Desolation Sound to Yuculta Rapids

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2007 heading to Yuculta Rapids

In 2007, we had sunny skies and calm water as we headed from Desolation Sound toward Yuculta Rapids. This view always inspires us, as the Rapids mark the northern boundary of Desolation Sound and are the entry to North of Desolation Sound where the cruising becomes more remote—with magnificent scenery, more wildlife, colder and harsher weather, fewer services, and fewer cruising boats. It always represents adventure.

In June, we shot another short video during our morning cruise from Squirrel Cove, Cortes Island, to Dent Island Lodge. It was such a gorgeous morning and I was trying out a new camera, a Canon PowerShot N. It’s a cute little point-and-shoot with excellent optics and a generous zoom, and its small size makes it easy to have on hand for quick photos. Also, it is WiFi enabled, so it is easy to transfer photos from the camera to my iPhone so that I can email photos if I want. It uses a micro SD memory card, and it is easy to move photos from the camera to my computer from the SD card. I took many of the photos on our June-July cruise with the “N” to see how it works and also because I liked the results.

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Navigating Tidal Rapids in the Inside Passage

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canoe pass slack

Canoe Pass is a narrow passage that flows alongside Dent Island Lodge. I took this photo at slack water from our boat shortly after we arrived. At slack water, the current is calm and the sea is flat. The side deck of the lodge is visible at the right in the photo, and offers a great place to watch the current ebb and flood.

The Inside Passage is famous for big tides and fast currents. As the water floods and ebbs from the Pacific Ocean, it is constricted when it forces its way through narrow passages, called tidal rapids. There are many tidal rapids all along the Inside Passage. When we were at Dent Island, we had a chance to watch the tidal rapids in Canoe Pass from the shoreline and see how the water changed throughout the day as the currents changed direction.

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June 25 – Dent Island to Prideaux Haven

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sonora lodge

As we left Dent Island, we navigated through the rapids…first Gillard and then Yuculta. The Sonora Resort is a fishing lodge that is located on one side of Yuculta Rapids and is a rather large facility.

It rained hard all night and we had lots of noise from the Canoe Pass turbulence, when waves splashed against our stern as the current reached peak velocity. Between the rain on the deck and the waves on the hull, it wasn’t a great night for sleeping! Our barometer was still low this morning (1008 millibars) and it was foggy again and raining hard. We had our choice of leaving Dent Island when the current was slack at either 0600 or 1200. We decided to wait for the 1200 slack, hoping the fog would clear out and the rain would let up.

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June 23 – Squirrel Cove to Dent Island

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squirrel cove moon setting

At Squirrel Cove, when we got up, the moon was just setting behind the trees. It was calm and serene…a gorgeous morning.

What a change! It was clear when we woke up this morning at our Squirrel Cove anchorage on Cortes Island, Desolation Sound. The full moon was just setting above the trees to the west and it was flat calm. Soon the sun came up over the trees to the east and it was just an absolutely gorgeous morning. Reflections of nearby boats gleamed in the calm water, and it was so peaceful and quiet. Time to choose our next destination!

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