This was the day! Deception (Brian and Carol Pemberton), Grand Adventure (Glen and Karen Parker), and Change of Latitude (Don and Debbie Leu and Irwin and Mary Kirsch) were heading to Princess Louisa. Before departing I performed the normal engine room checks. I have been watching an oil leak. The mechanic who worked on our engine last appears to have stripped the threads on a bolt that attaches the gear mechanism to our port sea water pump assembly. There is an oil leak from the gear mechanism that is making a mess in our bilge. I put absorb pads throughout and purchased some more at Coal Harbour. We are watching it and checking oil levels. It looks to be leaking at the rate of a pint per day or slightly more. To top things off, the starboard engine appears to have an oil leak as well. Sigh.

We left at first light and the high pressure system was holding, as the sun rose it give us an amazing winter view of all the mountains, traveling up Jervis Inlet through Prince of Whales Reach, Princess Royal Reach, and Queen's Reach. It was truly a glorious morning. We hoped to time arrival at Malibu Rapids for slack.

Our mountain viewing on a sunny day was exceptional. As we approached Malibu Rapids, Debbie suddenly called out "Mountain goats!" She had spotted 5 white spots on the slope where the sun was shining, down close to the water line. There was a large clearing there and the winter sun was warming things the clearing up. There was also a lot of food down by the waterline. It is most unusual to see mountain goats and VERY unusual to see them close to sea level. I turned the boat and headed over to see if we could get a photo or two. So did Glen and Karen aboard Grand Adventure. We managed to get very close. The oldest guy hung out in the woods above the clearing but five others did not want to give up the warmth of the winter sun. Irwin and Debbie got a number of shots. Irwin got the best one that we post here with permission. We named him "Horny."

After picture taking, we headed up to Malibu Rapids. Brian had gone through first and indicated the rapids were being kind. They were close to slack. We gave a securite call on our VHF and went through into Princess Louisa Inlet. We had arrived!!

We travelled to the end passing the seals who hang out at the entrance and tied up on the inside of the dock, facing the waterfalls. After tying up, we explored a bit. Irwin and I hiked up to the pavilion and found a bit of a fire still burning. We came back to the boat and I took a little snooze. After getting up, we went up to the pavilion for fireside appetizers and drinks. We took a lot of shrimp and several bottles of wine, in hopes of using up our stock before we crossed back into US waters, where we are limited with alcohol. It was a great time with a great group of cruising friends.

Coming back to the boats we found a very steep dock ramp covered with ice. We all carefully made it down without slipping. We had a dinner of humus, veggies, bread, and a bit more wine. Then, we headed to bed.