Water, Water, Everywhere

Rain made it tricky to see the narrow entrance to Philip Inlet

Northward on our ten-week Great Bear Sea trip last summer, the first “new-to-us” stopover was Philip Inlet, a small notch on the east shore of Fitz Hugh Sound just south of Addenbroke Island. As you can see from the photo above, it was raining steadily when we arrived, making it challenging to spot the narrow entry and any drift logs that might be blocking it.

Our plan that morning had been to head up Rivers Inlet and fill our water tanks at Dawson’s Landing, a floating supply point we’d visited years before. But with calm sea conditions it made more sense to push on past Rivers and make tracks up Fitz Hugh. I worried a bit about our water supply, but as it turned out there was no cause for concern.

Philip Inlet is a beautiful, remote and quiet anchorage – although entering is a bit of a nail-biter thanks to a couple of narrow spots and a mid-channel submerged rock (thankfully all well charted).

Once we had anchored at the head of the inlet and shut down the engine, we heard the rush of multiple streams. The first two weeks of our trip had been rainy, so plenty of freshwater was on offer all around us. We loaded empty plastic jugs into a kayak and soon we had enough for a week’s worth of daily showering and dish washing – lessening the demand on our potable water supply in our main tanks.

By late afternoon the rain had stopped and the sky had brightened a bit. With utter calm inside the inlet, totemic shoreline reflections were all around us. (Click to enlarge and see details on this or other photos.)

And by golden hour that evening, the forest seemed to come alive.

By the time we left the next morning the weather had changed. Funny how that narrow entry looked less intimidating under a sunny sky!