BY BARB THOMSON
Special to the Record
The first time I heard about Chatterbox Falls was during a boater鈥檚 navigation course offered by the Cape Lazo Power and Sail Squadron.
The instructor talked about tides and currents and rapids and how to safely reach beautiful anchorages like Chatterbox Falls. Someone must have asked him, 鈥淲here鈥檚 that?鈥�
He paused for a moment before saying, 鈥淐hatterbox Falls is right at the end of Princess Louisa Inlet and it鈥檚 the most beautiful place I鈥檝e ever been.鈥�
And with that, he left us understanding why we needed to learn the mathematics of water and the indescribable rewards of doing so.
Great publications like Best Anchorages of the Inside Passage, Waggoner Cruising Guide, and Dreamspeaker Cruising Guides, test their literary chops with phrases like: 鈥渘ature鈥檚 cathedral,鈥� 鈥渦nspoilt sanctuary,鈥� and 鈥渢he holy grail of cruising.鈥� This in an effort to avoid the cliched pristine wilderness of purple prose to describe Princess Louisa Inlet, a glacier-gouged fjord encased by sheer rock mountain faces ribboned by waterfalls. You will be surprised at how quick and short the Malibu rapids are during slack tide. Once inside Princess Louisa Inlet, there is no cell reception, no fishing, limited anchorage, and a no-wake zone. There is dock space and mooring balls and sleep to the white noise of Chatterbox Falls.
And like a kind of birth, you will forget what it took to get there.
The mathematics: From Comox Harbour cross the Strait of Georgia south to Jervis Inlet where you are confronted with a navigational decision based on your boat speed, remaining daylight, and timing your slack-water transit through the Malibu Rapids. Calculate backwards from where you鈥檙e going to where you stop.
Of the many, two resources are useful in figuring out
1. Transit time and distance from various locations: and
2. High and low water slack times for Malibu Rapids: Port and Passes, 2024 Pacific Northwest Tide and Current Guide. The Waggoner 2024 Cruising Guide devotes three paragraphs to Malibu Rapids, advising a VHF radio call before entering the 鈥淪-shaped鈥� passage that can run to nine knots through its 鈥渢ight blind corners.鈥� Once you start, you can鈥檛 see who鈥檚 coming out.
The area is rich with history and a story that is still being told through work to preserve and protect the land, sistering all of us to the timeless. (See at princesslouisa.bc.ca).
Barb Thomson is a boating enthusiast who writes regular columns for the Comox Valley Record.
