Last winter, we spent the week between Christmas and New Years exploring South Puget Sound. In that time we only saw two other boats. One being Hayden Bay that was traveling with us. While the weather was not perfect, it still brings on a whole new feel to the areas you cruise.
My dream is to one year cruise to Princess Louisa Inlet in the middle of winter. Seeing Chatterbox Fall almost completely iced over with snow covering all of the surrounding mountains would be incredible. And, more than likely, we would be the only boat there.
Obviously there would be a whole lot more planning to have to go into a trip like this. First, a lot of the fuel docks are either closed or on very short hours. The same goes for the CG. With fewer boaters on the water, they use their assets elsewhere. So, if you get into trouble, don't expect another boater or the CG to come running to your rescue. While the CG should eventually be there to help, their response time is going to be much longer.
A great example of this is what happened about eight years ago when we ran Solitude, our R25 hard aground in the middle of Lake Mead in Late November. Once we were able to finally raise the National Park Service on the VHF, they told us we were on our own as they had no boats in the water and no personnel on hand to operate one if they did. With the wind and waves building, it did not look good. Finally with the last flare being used, we were able to summons the only other boat we had seen all weekend to come and assist.
