Navigating Tidal Rapids in the Inside Passage

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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Time to check on the boat

m/v phoenix at Anacortes Marina

The sun finally broke through at the end of the afternoon and Phoenix looks good after sitting over the winter months. You don’t see the name on our boat because we removed the light boards (where the boat name appears) so we can bring the light boards home to apply a fresh coat or two of varnish.

Living in Central Oregon and managing a boat moored in Anacortes is a challenge in the winter. We try to make a few trips to Anacortes Marina during the winter months to run the boat’s systems and check to be sure all is okay. This year we haven’t been able to get away as often as we’d like, but this week we had a good weather window and headed for Anacortes.

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