Rapids!

Oh my! I totally forgot about the Upper Okisollo Rapids.

We came pretty close to a “problem”. Fortunately it pays to have good manners. As we were transiting an island group at Lower Okisollo Rapids, I made a VHF call to another yacht that was moving around us, to tell him we would stay on the “outside” of his route. We chatted a bit after the courtesy call and when I asked where he was going he said he was going to duck into Owen Bay to “wait out” the Upper Rapids. “Huh” I thought. Upon looking at the chart (really quickly) I was reminded that the “worst” of the two rapids was right ahead and we were heading right for them. Yipes! Long story short, his mention got my attention just in time to “re-plan” and duck into Owen Bay behind him. At the time, we were two hours before slack and the current had slowed us down to less than two knots speed over ground – and some of that was sideways!

So fast forward a bit and we’re here! Wiatt Bay, also known as Octopus Marine Park. It’s windy as all get out. As we were making our way around the rocks to get in here, I could see a dozen lenticular clouds above the hills. I mentioned to Ann that those cloud types usually brought high winds. Boy did I hit that. Just as we were anchoring we were being hit with 30 knot gusts. The good news is that we’re at the head of the bay so there’s no wave action, just the wind.

OK, so just wanted to check in. Hopefully the shortwave radio will send this since there’s no internets here and we’re going to be here for about four days. We going hiking tomorrow (Sunday) and then it looks like rain, sometimes a bit heavy Monday and Tuesday. The good news is that this is where the driftwood carving displays are and I’m in the process of carving our contribution! Pictures will follow – at some point 😉

4 thoughts on “Rapids!

  1. Read you five by five. Looking forward to those pics.

    Guess you guys are still on the good side of the sailing gods. And the wind gods Or maybe those tats work in South America. Good job.

    Enjoy the hike and relaxing during the rainy days.

    Adventure on, adventure on sailors…….

  2. South America? Seriously?! Of course I intended it to say NA. A slip twixt my brain and fingers. 🙁

  3. Hello, great story. I was wondering if you could send me yout track through surge narrows and the Okisollo channel.

  4. Hi John, we sold Charisma and don’t have access to the GPS any longer. I can tell you though that as long as you use the Canadian Tide/Current tables, correct for Daylight Savings time and then go through rapids plus or minus 15 minutes, all of them are “non-events”. When they can get tough is on Spring Tide periods when the high and low are farther apart or when you approach beyond the 15 minute period. The lesser rapids we were able to transit as much as 2 hours before/after slack, but this was on neap tidal periods and with careful observation prior to committing. My rule of thumb became; if you see whitewater, wait. Simple but it works.
    Best of luck to you.

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