Photos, lots of photos

On our way up the mainland shore, we anchored in Pender Harbour, which would certainly bear more exploration. Sadly we only had one night but we did do some school - experiments with water, mixing and dilution, ate our prawns from the night before, watched a biplane perform acrobatics above us but still not match the splendor of the local bald eagles, and we saw the local entry in the annual unco-ordinated dragon boat paddling competition.

In the little village of Egmont, we took a fabulous forest walk to the Skookumchuck Rapids, where the tide rips through at up to sixteen knots. It was certainly fearsome.

The village turned out to be holding it's annual 'Egmont Day', I guess in England this would be a village fete, with tea on the lawn and a cricket match. Here it was a parade, games for the kids, burgers for lunch, a salmon supper and a canoe race. I'd only been in a canoe once before and so it was with interest that I saw two young lads push off from the dock, practice a few strokes then roll over and almost sink. Uhoh. That's cold water, that is. We didn't sink, and fortunately we didn't win, carefully coming second in our heat by about six inches to avoid having to race again in the final. That's wisdom what comes with age, that is.

Issie and Max were delighted to get to play on some other kids bikes and skateboards, even though Max's first skateboarding attempts left him with an array of cuts and bruises his enthusiasm was undaunted. I suspect there will be more band-aids required in years to come....

On the thirty mile trip north to Princess Louisa we saw the astounding mountains, snow capped peaks and tumbling waterfalls all unwind before us as we motored along. Even the kids found it difficult to stay below decks for this trip, proudly wearing the masks they made at Egmont Day, playing dominoes on the foredeck and soaking up the scenery. Through the Mailbu Rapids and anchored at the Chatterbox Falls, we saw local Meganser ducks paddling around and watched a floatplane drop in to collect some hardy, and wealthy, souls who had hiked across the glaciers and down to the inlet.