Europa Bay to Lowe Inlet
After taking the dog to shore, checking out the cabin with a quality pit toilet, and one last quick soak, we weighed anchor and began our 8-hour transit to Lowe Inlet on Grenville Channel. Grenville is a 45NM mile pretty much straight channel up towards Prince Rupert. It is really the last big push to Prince Rupert before crossing the southern part of Chatham Sound. Lowe Inlet gets us 22NM up Grenville Channel. Conditions were just about perfect today.
Lowe Inlet is the first anchorage on the way up Grenville Channel. It is a B.C. Marine Park and quite a popular stop for boats heading to SE Alaska. It is most well known for awesome salmon viewing at Verney Falls later in the summer when the fish are make their final trip home to spawn in the Kumowdah River, above the falls. I image being here in August would be quite different than now in June. We definitely saw a few fish jumping in the water but none trying to get up the falls.
The waterfall anchorage was taken by two other boats by the time we arrived, so we set our hook in nearby Nettie Basin. It took two tries to be comfortable with our location. We no longer feel embarrassed about picking up and resetting your anchor. Pride has no place out here. Safety and comfort first!
With a full moon so close, the tides are changing dramatically. For example, when we arrived in Lowe Inlet at 4:20pm, the waters were are 11.93′ and falling. At 6:58pm, low tide would be at 8.03′, but at 12:58am we would be back up to 18.41′ for the high tide. Then at 7:49am low tide would bring us down to 2.57′. So from where we were when we arrived, the waters would rise up about 7 feet overnight but then fall 9 feet from where we were in the morning. You have to take that into account plus how much draft your boat draws from the water line down so that you don’t end up sitting on the ground when the water levels drop. Cruising definitely keeps our brains engaged.
We had a very lovely evening after exploring the inlet with our dinghy. The falls were raging and we found out that there used to be a cannery here that was built in 1890 and closed after the 1930 season. The pilings from at least part of the cannery are still standing strong.