John's Kayak Adventures

2012.02.227 - Out In The Blue

2012-02-05T20:10:00.000-08:00

Sunday dawned a little cloudier and cooler than we had hoped, but the sun was poking through a light cloud cover. A slow flood and a slight north breeze suggested that we should have some nice conditions of the water. The breeze was forecast to pick up around noon as a squall passed through so we should have had a couple of hours of calm if cool conditions.

Louise and I met up early with Paula for a paddle at Cadboro Bay, joined by Mark and Robyn from Gecko Paddler. They're new to kayaking, but the bug has bit them hard. They purchased their kayaks last fall, and jumped right into paddling with both feet.

Our plan was to paddle out of Cadboro Bay, island hop to Flower and Jemmy Jones, then cross to Chatham Island....

...but on the way Mark spotted an otter relaxing on the shore.

We avoided the sail boats...

...but as we headed across, the 12 o'clock squall roared in about two hours early, so we decided to turn back. We saw the eagle that usually sits in the tree on the island joined by another eagle. Some sort of eagle ruckus ensued. Louise was the closest and had the best few. She was pretty sure that they had been mating. Here they are enjoying the afterglow.

So instead of crossing, we continued up to Cadboro Point. While quite calm along the shore, we could see that the exposed northern shore around the point was getting the full blast of the wind. So we just paddled around the rocks at the end of the point, and Mark had his first taste of paddling in waves.

I think he liked it - he said he should get himself a surfing boat!

We headed back...

...and naturally the wind died off and the sun came out as soon as we hit the beach, but at least we were now able to enjoy our-post paddle coffee with Robyn and Mark at an outside table.

Trip Length: 7.29 km
YTD: 10.57 km
More pictures are here.

2012.01.226 - Snow Day

2012-01-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Now don't start laughing, but it snowed in Victoria last night. I know that barely 2 cm of white stuff on the ground wouldn't count as a "real" snowfall in most locales, especially here in the Great White North, but for Victoria, 2 cm is almost a blizzard. Which isn't to say what we haven't had real blizzards, for we most assuredly have, but snow is a rarity here and anything more than a light dusting throws this town into a tizzy.
I couldn't resist a quick paddle this morning and wheeled my kayak down the hill. It's not often you see a guy in a Santa hat walking his kayaking in the snow. Even one of Victoria's finest was distracted from the traffic ticket she was writing.

Louise would normally accompany me, but she stayed on shore and walked along beside me, the idea being that she could take a few shots of me and the snow for a Christmas card for next winter. She took some nice shots, but they'll have to wait until the holidays roll around again.

I put in at the bottom of my hill....

....and paddled into the quiet morning. Even the small amount of snow on the ground was enough to dampen the sound of the neighbourhood.
But I was quickly joined by a duck that landed right beside me.
While the ducks and other fowl are fairly tame in this area, it's still a bit unusual for them to approach this close unless it's obvious that you have food. I suspect that they're feeling a bit hungry this time of year, although they're certainly aren't suffering. When it became obvious that I was wasn't going to feed him, he went on his way.

Enjoying the crisp and cool air, I continued on, past the (barely) snow covered trees...

...while three swans swam towards me.

The swans had also drawn the attention of a photographer on shore who asked if he could take a few pictures of "Santa" in his kayak, and even though "Santa" never brought him the bicycle he wanted. Turns out he's a local professional photographer named Jason, and he snapped quite a few shots. I was starting to feel like Cindy Crawford.

Check out his website,there's some nice stuff there.

I turned around at Craigflower bridge. Clouds were building to the east and there had been some wicked squalls blow through the last copy of days.

In the end, the clouds never amounted to anything, but on the way back I encountered the swans again at the same spot, only now we were both going the opposite directions.

A heron was bundled up against the cold...

...while Cormorant Tree was draped in its namesakes.

Meanwhile Louise kept pace with me, taking pictures as I drifted along in our temporary winter wonderland.

I landed and began organizing myself for the always fun uphill trek with the kayak.

Trip Length: 3.38 km
YTD: 3.38 km
More pictures are here.

2011 Annual Weather Stats

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

And now it's our annual paddling day weather stats wrap up. This year I eliminated the "cancelled due to bad weather" category, so the weather category percentages have been tweaked a bit from previous years.
What can we glean from this? Well, first we can see that Google Docs makes some neat-o charts. Second, we can see that over the six years we have been paddling that the percentage of sunny days has gone up over this time, perhaps something that should not be unexpected as we enter our future of human-caused climate change, although this is clearly not a scientific study by any means as no doubt we are self-selecting which days to paddle on. Still, it's an illuminating if anecdotal look at how our planet is changing right before our eyes.

2011.27.225 - Thetis Lake

2011-11-06T19:37:00.001-08:00

Hard to believe it's been a month since we were last on the water. Life is like that sometimes.

Even though it was a brisk 1 degree as we headed out in the morning, the sun was occasionally poking through the clouds and the cool air certainly woke us up.
Our friend Alison is back in town for a visit. She's been post some great paddle reports of her kayaking adventures in Montreal, but she's here in town for a few days visiting her kayak and giving it a little workout.
Unfortunately, Alison suddenly realized that's she'd forgotten to renew her driver's license before visiting, limiting her options for moving her kayak to put ins. And with Paula limited to commando kayaking on public transit today, a tense two-hour negotiating session ended with the decision to paddle Thetis Lake today. (If David Stern needs help with the NBA lockout, tell him to give us a call. After this, we can negotiate anything.)

Louise and I put in with Alison....

....and caught up with Paula at a different part of the lake.

Checking my records, I see that this is our first paddle this year at the lake. How the heck did that happen?

Not only is this a great place to paddle, but it's a great place to do some rescue and paddle practice, but no one felt like doing that today. That water was cold!

So we spent a couple of hours meandering around the lake....

...and then spent a couple of hours warming up afterwards!

But before we could imbibe some warm beverages, we passed a bluff on the shore where a photographer took some snaps of us. We bumped into him later in the parking lot and he graciously emailed us the photos. Thanks for these pictures, Erik!

Trip Length: 7.55 km
YTD: 214.59 km
More pictures are here.

2011.26.224 - Lila and Yves

2011-10-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

The seasons are changing, the proof being in the gloomy skies and cool air. As Louise and I waited on the Cadboro Bay beach for our co-paddlers, the sun was hidden behind puffy grey clouds. We could see off-shore showers on the horizon, and a soft by cool breeze foreshadowed the stronger winds predicted to come later in the day.

But we weren't planning a long paddle today. In fact today's would be rather short and safe. We were being joined by Paula, as well as her daughter Lila and her new husband Yves who are visiting from Edmonton. Neither are experienced kayakers, in fact this was Yves' first time in a kayak and he is not a good swimmer, so we were going to stick close to shore. Also, we didn't have a lot of time to paddle as Yves wanted to attend pirate school later in the day.

And off we went. Paula put her herself and Yves into her inflatable....

....while Lila went out in the Pamlico.

Louise and I in our Delta sea kayaks kept the lead, usually without even trying. Seals were popping up here and there, but they were very shy and unapproachable.

I managed to sneak off and take and watch some cormorants.

And after a quick trip to the point and back, we were done.

Trip Length: 3.90 km
YTD: 207.04 km
More pictures are here.

2011.25.223 - Seagull With A Mohawk

2011-09-05T20:56:00.000-07:00

Louise has family visiting in town this in town this week, so she and I could only sneak away for a quick paddle up The Gorge today.

We rolled the kayaks down the hill, entered at the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club launch point, and we were off. The tide was flooding under the Tillicum Bridge so we went for a quick look and saw a lone seal, far away from the open ocean, enjoying a playful ride in the current.

A few minutes later we discovered one of the more interesting seagulls we've seen. May I present Seagull With A Mohawk.

We first noticed him as he flew to the shore carrying some sort of shell. We thought that it may have been a crab shell, or maybe a clam. (I don't do shellfish, a shell is a shell.) Anyway, he landed on shore and spent a few minutes eating whatever was on the inside of the shell, then looked up and saw that there was another seagull on the beach a few metres away. This second seagull was paying no attention to Mohawk (or his lovely breakfast) but clearly Mohawk was feeling threatened so he dropped his meal and ran up to the other seagull and did a bit wing-flapping and squawking. He returned to his meal, but seagull #2 didn't get the hint, and Mohawk ran up and squawked again. He didn't take "no" for an answer and forced seagull #2 off the beach and into the air. Mohawk pursued him into the air, hoping to get the point across that he was not welcome. Louise and I watched the aerial dogfight, the two seagulls swooping and diving over our heads. Also watching were two crows that had sneaked up to Mohawk's dropped meal and finished it off. Mohawk returned to his empty shell, sighed (really! I swear he did!) and flew off.
A moment later....

...he had dredged up another shell and was finishing off the insides.

Cormorant Tree, often covered in cormorants, held only one today.

We continued on into Portage Inlet where the herons were out in force today.

Mohawk wasn't the only bird having good luck with food.

I thought I was cleverly sneaking up on this heron from behind. No such luck -- he knew I was there.

We also saw a few of the gelatinous egg sacks that we see in the waters here every fall. They seem to be a few weeks behind, but then everything is behind after the lousy spring.

The egg sack is the little round thing in the middle. The other brown lumpy things are sponges.

There's a lot of geese around now. They know winter is coming and so are heading south and using the parks in the area as a rest area.

With only limited time today, we quickly turned back.

Trip Length: 7.30 km
YTD: 202.14 km
More pictures are here.

2011.24.222 - Tired

2011-09-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

It's September and the mornings have a chilly fall edge to them now. So how lousy was our summer? We didn't have a single day over 30 degrees. In fact, we only had two days where we hit 27 degrees, one in July and one in August. Mind you, we had a nice streak of weather at the end of August that is going to continue into the first part of this month and we had a shot of getting another 27 degree day this weekend. (In the end, it didn't happen -- only a high of 24 today.)

Although she looks wide awake, Louise and a terrible bout of insomnia last night. She was operating on only about two hours' sleep as she headed out with Paula and myself from Cadboro Bay.

We had intended to cross to Chatham Island this morning, but as we slowly island-hopped out to the final crossing, Louise was yawing up a storm, her mouth a vast chasm of tiredness. As we made our final "go/no go" decision, she said, "Guys, I am falling asleep in my boat," and we decided a sleeping kayaker was not the best thing to deal with on this crossing. Mind you, a good dunking might have woken her up. So we decided to have a short paddle and poke around the Uplands rocks instead.

This seal wasn't thrilled with our new paddle plan as we went by him a few times.

Actually, Paula said he's been camped out on this rock for a few days now. It seems to be his favourite spot.

The new route wasn't a total waste. Paula found a package of kale floating by. She considered taking it home to cook, but eventually decided that it might be too salty.

Everyone was on the water yesterday. In the bay we had to avoid the racing sail boats....

..and on the beach when we landed we had to avoid the racing stand-up paddlers!

Trip Length: 7.46 km
YTD: 194.84 km
More pictures are here.

2011.23.221 - Fish heads. Eat Them Up. Yum.

2011-08-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

So let's be clear about this. I don't do hot. And as we head into the last weekend of August, we've experiencing our first real long stretch of summer weather, and after weeks of complaining about it being too cool and too cloudy, now it's too bright and too hot. I'm thinking of changing my names to Goldilocks.On this hot Sunday we had no real desire to wrap ourselves up in a drysuit or neoprene, or to be broiled outside during the forecast blaze of midday, so we went for an early morning quickie up the Gorge. Of course, before we began, we had our traditional pre-paddle round of charades. Today's topic was music albums, and Paula and Louise did their best impression of Devo's New Traditionalists cover.

Paula, in her Advanced Elements inflatable joined Louise and I in our Deltas and we headed out into the windless morning.

It wasn't long until we kayaked by this seagull who clearly was having trouble eating his breakfast.That fish head is bigger than his head! Clearly this violate the B.Kliban rule.From there, we meandered in to Portage Inlet.......but we were soon reminded that even under such benign conditions and so close to home, you're still on the water, and medical emergencies, even minor ones, suddenly become a whole extra level of difficult.One of Louise's eyes started burning, and she couldn't keep it open. Paula and I came along side and we helped flush her eye. Fortunately we had plenty of water with us. We suspect that a ball of sweat rolled down her face and took some sunscreen along for the ride into her eye. She didn't seem to have anything in it, and it was only slightly red. A few washings and she was able to continue, but we decided to head back.

As we headed back, we saw the local swans. We didn't get to see the baby swans this year, so we're not sure how many babies they started with, but at least one made it near-adulthood, and that's a good thing. We ran one final gauntlet of geese and we were done.Trip Length: 7.25 km
YTD: 187.38 km
More pictures are here.

It has come to my attention that Louise somehow escaped her formative years without being exposed to the song Fish Heads by Barnes and Barnes, and thus had no pop-cultural reference for the blog post title. Just a blank stare that seemed to say, "What kind of crazy are you now?" I get that a lot.
It seems inconceivable to me that someone as literate and well-educated as Louise could have gone this far in life without hearing this song. Clearly, those noisy right-wingers must be correct about the state of our education system!
To rectify that, here's Barnes and Barnes' website. And for all you trivia masters out there, one half of Barnes and Barnes is actor Bill Mumy who played Will Robinson on the original Lost in Space and Lennier on Babylon 5! Who says you don't learn anything in the blogisphere!
At least I didn't have to explain who Devo is.

2011.22.220 - Elk Lake

2011-08-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today, on another sunny summer's day, Louise and I decided to be spontaneous and change our plans and paddle at Elk Lake, a place that we haven't paddled at in an astonishing four years. In fact the last time we paddled here was my first paddle back after breaking and dislocating my arm and shoulder in a bicycle riding accident. Where does all the time go? Too many places to paddle, not enough time.
It's also a fitting place to paddle, as my paddling career (such as it is) started right here:

Well, not at the Cat Clinic obviously, but on this spot across form the beach where the Cat Clinic stands now once stood a shop that rented kayaks and other assorted water sports accessories, and it was about six years ago that Paula and Bernie bought a used Pamlico play boat from the shop and on this beach that they let me have a try in it. And I've been broke ever since, but loving every minute of it.

Elk Lake is local shorthand; it's actually two connected lakes and parks, Elk Lake, the larger to the north, and Beaver Lake to the south. We were launching from Hamster Beach on Elk Lake. Hamster Beach is named because the beach was once overrun by hamsters. This caused an influx of feral cats to the area, prompting the building of the Cat Clinic-- excuse me, but-- no, I'm busy...I'm writing the blog right now-- just telling the story of Hamster Beach...what?...really? Oh.
Sorry about that. I've just been informed that the name of the beach is Hamsterly Beach, and that my story about the hamsters wasn't very funny anyway. Some people have no sense of humour. Who makes adverbs out of nouns anyway? Hamsterly. Humph.
Anyway, we put in at Hamsterly Beach....

...and carefully avoided the rowers from the nearby rowing centre.

Sunny and warm, water like glass. We decided to go around the shores of both lakes.

We saw an eagle perched high in a tree surveying its domain, and a fish jump nearly two metres out of the water. How strange that was! Straight up like a mackerel missile, although it was probably a trout or a bass. We meandered around the south end of Beaver Lake. And then we saw turtles.

There were seven on this log, although one had scampered back into the water by the time I got my camera out.

I think these are the Western Painted Turtle, an endangered species. The Habitat Acquisition Trust is monitoring the plight of the Western Painted Turtle -- check out their website here.
A few minutes later we found another turtle going solo on an different log. I think this one is a Slider.

As we rounded the north end of Elk Lake, we saw a heron in stealth mode in the reeds.

It was such a good idea that even the ducks were trying it.

The end of the paddle drew near. Where does the time go?

Trip Length: 10.44 km
YTD: 180.13 km
More pictures are here.

2011.21.219 - At Land's End

2011-08-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

With it half over, it looks like summer has finally arrived.The last ten days or so might be the first long stretch of the year where we've had seasonal temperatures. By "seasonal temperatures" I mean a daytime high that reaches the normal expected average high for the day, and by "of the year" I mean since January 1. And sadly, I don't believe that to be an exaggeration.
Louise and I decided to check out a put-in I'd never heard about until discovering it on Mike Jackson's blog. However, a certain member of the family seemed intent on stopping us from leaving the house on this sunny day. Or maybe he was trying to save me from a fashion faux pas. Or faux paw in his case. "You really want want to go out of the house wearing this? You'll look like a giant melon. You'll thank me later."

The launch point was at the northern tip of the Saanich Peninsula, at the end of Land's End Road, aptly named because at the end of the road, there ain't no more land. From here north, you're into the Gulf Islands (that's Salt Spring Island on the right in the photo below, just a short hop of about 2.5 km away), but if you paddle south, you're entering Saanich Inlet.

We didn't get off to a good start. Many pleasure boats cruise these waters and a big one roared by just as we were launching. At the start of every paddle Louise's stomach needs a few moments to became acclimated to being on the ocean, a few moments that she didn't get this time as the pleasure craft's large wake caught us just as we were heading out.
We waited a few minutes for her stomach to settle, then proceeded south.

We were in the area of multi-million dollar homes. You can tell because all the homes are huge and are miles apart. Apparently rich people don't like living too close to other rich people.

The oystercatchers don't really care where they live as long as there is something to eat.

Speaking of something to eat, we saw a seagull trying to choke down a starfish. Not a great picture -- the seagull was determined to stay out of focus.

We meandered through coves and bays as we made our way south, paddling a piece of local coastline that we'd never travelled before thus enabling us to cross off a few more kilometres on our quest to paddle the Slowest Circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.

We even paddled near the flight path to the airport.

WestJet wasn't doing the only flying today. We followed an eagle for a while as he fluttered from tree to tree. (Yeah, "fluttered" is utterly the wrong word to use for an eagle, but I'm tired, and it's late. "Fluttered" is the best you're going to get.)

A shaky start but all in all a lovely day.

Trip Length: 7.84 km
YTD: 169.69 km
More pictures are here.

2011.20.218 - A Quickie on The Gorge

2011-07-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

Although it was a warm and mostly sunny morning, the currents in our favourite local paddle spots didn't look like they were going to cooperate today, and the weather forecast changed overnight to include some offshore breezes, so Louise and I opted for a quick paddle in our home waters, The Gorge. We rolled the kayaks down the hill, and hit the water early.

We crossed to check out a piece of sculpture on a dock that we call The Iron Man, although we're starting to think that its first name might be Rusty. As we paddled up, we could see that it had attracted the attention of a heron as well.

After a few moments the heron wandered off, apparently not impressed with The Iron Man. Everyone's a critic.

A few minutes later, we spotted a raccoon along the shore.

Raccoons are famous for their cleaning habits, spending hours a day cleaning themselves and their food, and this one was no exception. He was definitely cleaning then taking a bite out of something he had in the water. I never could make out what it was, although I think it may have a clam or an oyster.

Obviously, it was Raccoon Week around here, as three baby raccoons had visited our yard earlier in the week.

Next up, we saw a dogfish.

Sorry. I just couldn't resist that one.
Actually, he was a friendly dog who was very curious about us to the point that he nearly started swimming after us. I don't know how we would have explained that to its owner.

As we rounded the point into Portage Inlet, we realized that the low tide was just a little too low and we wouldn't be able to get all the down before we'd get stuck in the mud and silt. With the tide still on the ebb, the water was going to get shallower still, and we wouldn't get a chance to do a lot of exploring today.

The breeze was picking up a bit, and behind us we saw a front rolling by. We didn't see a whole lot of birds today, and that's generally meant a change in the weather around here.

The clouds took interesting shapes and patterns today.

We spotted an eagle, but he took off quickly. There just wasn't much around here to eat today...

...although this heron was willing to try his luck at some fishing.

Then we headed for home.

Trip Length: 7.88 km
YTD: 161.85 km
More pictures are here.

2011.19.217 - G-L-O-R-I-OUS Paddle to Discovery Island

2011-07-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

G-L-O-R-I-OUS.... Glorious! (with apologies to Van Morrison...)

Readers of the blog this summer (or this non-summer as the case may be) may recall a common theme running through many past posts, mainly me bitching about the weather and The. Summer. That. Never. Arrived. However, summer swept in this weekend in full bloom. A high of 26 of Sunday, and nary a cloud in the sky. Tuesday is forecast to be 10 degrees cooler, but that's like a whole two days away, so let's not worry about that, and instead bask in the glory of today's weather! (Because we all know it's ain't gonna last!)

Louise and I joined Paula for what looked like a perfect day to paddle to Chatham Island. Not only was the weather cooperating, but the currents were expected to be about as favourable as they could possibly be, a long slow flood that would give us enough time to reach our destination and noodle about for a bit.
I didn't get off to a good start as a little scenic detour down a small channel among the islets near our starting point in Cadboro Bay tuned out to be a little shallower than I was expecting. Oops. Love that grinding sound. Not.

So much for my short cut. After I caught up, we pressed on across the small straight to Chatham Island.

Once there....

.... the conditions were idyllic and we decided to take advantage of them and go around both Chatham and Discovery Island. We saw a fair number of seals today, and they seemed extra curious about us. We were constantly shadowed by dark little pairs of eyes that gently rose out of the water then slunk stealthily beneath the surface. We tried to give them their distance as there a lot of momma and baby seals out together, and we didn't want to become the subject of an angry mother's wrath.

We headed around the northern shore of Chatham. We'd already seen the occasional eagle flying around, and we'd spotted one upon our arrival at Chatham flying with something in its talons but it was too far away to make out what. Whatever it was, it was clearly not going to have as good a day as we were having.
We spotted another bald eagle landing ahead of us behind some rocks, As we approached, we realized there were two eagles and the younger one on the left was eating something. Could the older eagle have been doing some hunting for the younger one? It never took a bit of lunch, at least not that we saw.

As we scooted around the rocks, the older eagle took off but the younger one remained behind and enjoyed its meal.

At the time we were guessing it was eating a fish, but after looking at the pictures its obviously something else. What, I'm not sure, but the eagle was sure enjoying it.

From there we headed into the bay at the north end of Chatham.

If you time it right at a high tide, the small channel in the end of the bay fills up and a small island named Cactus Island can be circumnavigated, but the tide wasn't high enough yet. We jumped out for a quick stretch and some snacks.

On our way again, we made our way out of the bay and down the eastern shore of Chatham towards Discovery.

It's very important to make sure to roll over when you're tanning to get that "all-over" tan.

Paula found this round formation in the rocks on the far side of Discovery, probably erosion caused by wave action. Upon further investigation, it was not as deep as it looked only 30cm or so, but still quite interesting.

As we headed back, the breeze picked up a bit. We were treated to mirror-flat waters on the east side of Discovery, but the water was a little bumpier as we headed back along its southern shore.

After we crossed back to Flower Island near the mainland, we saw an otter playing in the water. It paid no attention to us as it did some fishing. Why should the eagles have all the fun and get all the eats?

And finally, one last surprise. As we sat down for coffee after the paddle, our kayaking buddy Richard suddenly appeared, his appearance all the more surprising because he moved to Vancouver a number of months ago. He was in town for the day and by happenstance was in the area as he saw us drive by with our kayaks. A perfect capper to a great day!

Trip Length: 16.96 km
YTD: 153.97 km
More pictures are here.

2011.18.216 - It's A Gas

2011-07-10T20:20:00.001-07:00

Louise and I met Paula at Brentwood Bay for a quick paddle.

Paula was in her inflatable today, so we thought we'd stick close to shore and meander down into Tod Inlet. From our put-in beside the ferry terminal we turned to the south and crossed towards the Inlet.

Someone followed us for a while.

As we entered Tod Inlet, and Gowlland Tod Provincial Park, Paula put ashore for some adjustments to her boat....

...while this heron enjoyed a little breakfast.

As we paddled down the inlet, we saw many sail boats and cabin cruisers that had moored for the night.

But as we paddled by this eagle....

...we realized that we were paddling through a slick of oil or gas on the surface on the water.

It wasn't very thick, nothing more than a thin skin on the surface, but it was everywhere. The whole southern end was covered in it, and occasionally Paula and Louise would gag when the wind shifted and they inhaled a lungful of fumes.
We initially assumed that one or more of the boats moored in the inlet had had a fuel spill, but then we recalled that there had been a major fuel spill into Goldstream River a couple of months ago. Goldstream River does not connect directly with Tod Inlet but it does with nearby Saanich Inlet. Could tidal action have pushed the fuel out of Saanich Inlet into Tod Inlet where there it sits, slowly evaporating?
It was a depressing thought that the fuel in the water that was spoiling the inlet was not being attended to, no matter how it got there. The only upside was that the animals did seem to be avoiding the area.

We turned around and headed back...

....and watched a heron cruise in for a landing.

He got into a staring contest with us.

I think he won.

Louise checked out some sea stars...

...and then it was time to head back.

Trip Length: 6.08 km
YTD: 137.01 km
More pictures are here.

2011.17.215 - Canada Day Paddle on the Gorge

2011-07-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to us!

The sky was a cloudy grey as we wheeled our kayaks down the hill for our annual Canada Day paddle on the Gorge. Although not called for in the forecast, the sky had that look and feel of imminent rain. Gorge Road was closed to traffic as it is every Canada Day for a giant 1.5 km long block party. So instead of worrying about taking our kayaks across traffic to reach the water, we had to with contend dozens of pedestrians.

But no worries. Politeness reigned supreme. This is Canada after all, eh?

As we paddled down The Gorge, we saw crowds gathering and checking out the artisan booths and food tents.

At Admirals Road, the pancake breakfast was in full swing, as was the live music, although it was jazz not swing. The Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club was offering the public trips in their dragon boats.

We weren't expecting to see much in the way of wildlife, as we thought that the noise and the crowds would keep them in hiding. And we were right -- the only animal we had seen up to this point was Marty the Marmot when we were taking our kayaks to the launch point.

The good news was that the clouds had broken and the sun finally shone through, the warming air taking the edge of the morning's cool breeze. We continued on past The Gorge and into Portage Inlet.

In fact, we continued all the way to Denmark.

And it turns out that the lost city of Atlantis was in Copenhagen! Who knew?

We meandered up Colquitz Creek...

...and on the way back we paddled past a couple of baby ducks.

I stopped to take a couple of quick pictures of them, then I turned any attention to packing my camera back into its dry bag. When I was done, I grabbed my paddle, ready to resume paddling, but the ducklings had paddled away from mom and right up beside my kayak! I was so startled that I almost dropped my paddle on top of them. Mom quickly swam up behind them, and led them away.

Back in the Inlet, Louise saw an opportunity for a flag-waving shot...

...while I noticed a couple of deer on the shore.

They were absolutely still as I snapped away.
"They're not real!" said Louise.
"What do you mean they're not real?"
"They haven't moved!"
She was right -- they hadn't budged an inch or twitched a muscle. You can buy plastic faux deer. Had I been duped?

Apparently not, as they turned away and continued on their journey.

We crossed back across the Inlet and headed back down the Gorge....

...so that we could join the festivities on the street. After all, what could be more Canadian than eating some beaver tail?

Trip Length: 8.94 km
YTD: 130.93 km
More pictures are here.

2011.16.214 - Cadboro Bay

2011-06-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Louise and I planned to kayak with Paula today, but Paula had an early afternoon social engagement to attend, so it looked like the three of us would just have a quickie around Cadboro Bay. We wanted to take full advantage of the first full weekend of summer, and we're happy to report that "Summer" is finally living up to its name. Sunshine and warmth, but not too warm. Just right. I felt like Goldilocks. Where's my porridge, dammit?

Paula was saying last night that her kayak wheels weren't working very well. I dunno -- they looked like they are working fine this morning.

As the mostly blue sky shone down on us, we headed out.

Louise continues to like the results of the Delta Fit Kit I installed at the beginning of the month. She feels much more snug and secure in her boat, and that's a good thing. For those of you keeping score at home, she is still at one pad on each side and seems comfortable with that width, so I don't think we'll be making any changes to it.

I scooted along the northern shore of the bay while Louise and Paula stayed offshore on a more direct route. Just as we met up, I saw a splash in the water ahead on me and noticed three otters scamper out of the water. As they ran over the rocks, I reached into my cockpit for my big camera, but it slipped out of my hands as the otters crossed over a ridge. I hadn't seen any otters since our New Year's Day paddle, and was disappointed that I'd missed a chance to get a couple of shots. However, as Louise and Paula rounded the next small point, they saw the otters taking shelter under an old concrete boat ramp.

After a few minutes, they decided it safe to leave their shelter and resume foraging.

We paddled out first to Flower, then to Jemmy Jones Island, the stepping stones one would take before crossing to Chatham Island.

We weren't going to Chatham today -- we didn't have the time -- but it always seems like a disappointment when we don't make the crossing, but as we turned around at Jemmy, I saw something land back on Flower Island.

We hadn't seen many eagles so far this year either, so this was pretty cool. And so was he, especially as we moved in a little closer.

Suddenly, there was movement near the eagle. We looked and saw a mink scurry between some rocks! Well, either a mink or a big furry rat. We're going with mink. And I've never seen one of those around here before!

Crossing to the southern shore of the bay, we meandered around the rock garden off of the Uplands district. I spotted a goose family with some baby geese, although on closer inspection, they looked more like teenage geese.

Behind me, Louise and Paula were watching a life and death struggle between a seagull and a crab. The crab appeared to be winning as it had managed to latch itself to the seagull's breast with one claw and while dangling there was reaching up with his other claw trying to grab the seagull around the neck. The seagull seemed at a loss as to how to proceed, but finally shook the crab loose. As I returned, it appeared that the crab's efforts to escape were in vain.

As we started back, we saw another mink! We began an inventory of all the animals we'd seen so far. Apart from a couple of overflights, we hadn't seen any herons, but as we poked our nose into Loon Bay, a lone heron was staring intently at something....

...which turned out to be another pair of otters coming out of the water.

We fished an old fire extinguisher out of the water....

....and continued paddling along the shore. We couldn't believe how much marine life we'd seen on this short paddle.

"A seal," I said. "We haven't seen any seals yet." Louise and Paula murmured in agreement. Not 20 seconds after I spoke, a little seal head popped up. We all laughed as the seal dove under the water quickly, but the seal didn't dive deeply and instead slowly swan just below the surface towards us and the the rear of my kayak. I blindly aimed my camera over my shoulder.

The seal surfaced and gently bumped the rear of my kayak, then moved over and bumped Louise's kayak. It was a small seal, probably a juvenile waiting for its mother to return with food. Eventually he realized his mistake, and he soon moved away.
What else could we see on this paddle? "A pod of killer whales!" I shouted. But no, we were in three metre deep water and less than 500 metres from shore. No killer whales. But that was hardly a disappointment after this great paddle.

Trip Length: 6.90 km
YTD: 121.99 km
More pictures are here.

2011.15.213 - Albert Head

2011-06-20T15:31:00.001-07:00

Today was one of those days that was made especially for being outside and doing your thing, whatever your thing is. And Louise's and my thing was to kayak around Albert Head.

It looks like Spring may finally be here...just in time for Summer to arrive on Tuesday.

As we headed off around Albert Head, a small headland on Vancouver Island just west of Victoria, we passed a couple of families of geese enjoying the bright sunny morning.

We reached the small short cut that we like to call "The Short Cut." Even with the lowering tide, we could still make it through the channel and cut a couple of minutes off the journey around the point of Albert Head.

As we paddled along we could here the familiar whirring of a helicopter off in the distance. There is passenger helicopter service from Victoria's harbour, but this seemed to be closer than that. We assumed that there must a helicopter performing some manoeuvres at the nearby military base and moments later, we were proven correct as a chopper flew over us.

I'm no expert, but I'm guessing this was one of the last of the SH-3 Sea Kings that's being phased out this year.
The seal didn't care what it was -- he just thought it was too noisy.

A couple of minutes later it was back, and this time passed at tree-top height over the bathers at Witty's Lagoon.

That seemed like more than enough excitement for us so we started back.

The seals didn't care one way or the other...as long as we were quiet about it.

Trip Length: 10.08 km
YTD: 115.09 km
More pictures are here.

2011.14.212 - MEC Paddlefest Victoria

2011-06-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

The rain let up just as Louise and I arrived at Willows Beach to enjoy the 2011 MEC Paddlefest Victoria. Overcast skies and a breeze greeted us as we began out tour of the information booths.

Nothing says kayaking like a donkey! Or did we miss a turn and somehow end up at a 4-H event?

No, it's a paddlefest. We found Paula manning the Straitwatch table.

Here we met a local shark researcher investigating the local waters for basking sharks. They are listed as endangered in BC waters as they were hunted to near extinction in these waters in the middle of the last century. In fact, extermination of the basking shark was official (and short-sighted) government policy in the 1950s.

It's not known how many basking sharks are left on the coast of BC -- there might not even be any -- but there has been a sighting or two in the last couple of years, giving hope that at the very least the occasional transiting basking shark might be paying regular visits.
If you've ever seen a basking shark in local waters, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans wants to hear from you.

After that we hit the beach....

...and I took an Atlantis Titan for a spin. I also wanted to take out a Current Design Solstice GT Titan but the guy manning the Current Design booth didn't seem very interested in helping me.
However, Tony from Tony's Trailers was keen to show off his kayak trailers for bicycles.

The weather seemed to be keeping the crowds away, but those of us that showed up had a great time!

Trip Length: 1.27 km
YTD: 105.01 km
More pictures are here.

2011.13.211 - Inner Harbour

2011-06-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

This morning, Louise and I met Paula for a paddle down in the Inner Harbour. We hadn't paddled here in a while, but if you don't use it, you'll lose it to developers who think it's their universe-given right to exploit public land to make a profit for themselves to the detriment of the people who actually live here. But I digress.

We put in on the western side of the harbour on a little beach in what is known as the Songhees area of town, but 150 years ago this was the hub of the Songhees nation.

Two modern totems watched us as we prepared to launch.

Louise was very excited to practice the skills she learned at last week's tidal currents course. but the only skill she could remember was "the helicopter."

Her father was a helicopter pilot. Like father, like daughter.

We start by passing under the Johnson Street Bridge, also known as The Blue Bridge, or Big Blue in these parts.

Enjoy this view while you can, folks. The old bridge had seen better days, and it will be replaced over the next couple of years. In fact, demolition of the rail side of the bridge will begin in the fall.
Under the bridge...

...and past the industrial working harbour...

...and suddenly we're into modern urban housing and retail.

This heron is enjoying a late Sunday brunch.

Clearly someone has an opinion on the Stanley Cup finals.

Trip Length: 7.23 km
YTD: 103.74 km
More pictures are here.

2011.12.210 - Tidal Currents Course

2011-06-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a long wait, but that wait may finally be over. May I present, in all its glory, summer!

Yesterday may have been the first day I ventured outside without a jacket since last September. And today was promising to be sunny and warm, some might even say "hot." It would eventually hit 21 degrees in the afternoon, and it must have been the hottest day since last autumn.

It was under these bright sunny skies that Louise and I participated in a Tidal Currents course put on by the fine folks at Ocean River Sports. Long-time readers of this blog may recall that we took the course last year under conditions that were less than ideal, and Ocean River gave everyone in the course a do-over. Out of the six people on the course today, four of them were from last year's adventure. Another person had a fair amount of experience, and as for the last student, he'd been in his kayak in a lake, but this was the first time he'd been out on the ocean. Talk about jumping in with both feet!

Louise looks thrilled at the prospect of being out in the currents again.

This was also the first test of the new hip pads we installed in her kayak last week.

It really was a beautiful day. Thin clouds slowly drifted by on a light breeze. Discovery and Chatham Islands were calling us....

...but we stuck close to shore and headed out to Ten Mile Point.

We've paddled here lots of times, but today we were planning to be there at maximum current. Our instructor Gary estimated the current at about four knots. Max current was early today, so he wanted us on the water right away to take advantage of it. He would deal with the theory part later back on the beach.

We huddled together in an eddy while Gary quickly checked the lay of the land...um, I mean water.

Ten Mile Point is a rocky area with many outcroppings and islets. Gary found three main currents runing through the rocks: a mild one near the shore, a second stronger one further out, and a third, stronger still, and futher out again.
Gary moved us to the mild current to demonstrate how to peel into a current, but as he hit the current and planted his low brace, a sea lion popped up from behind a nearby rock, possbily annoyed that he now had to share the ocean with us. Gary returned and demonstrated the maneuver again as clearly the class had been distracted.

From there, we moved to medium current, then to the fast current. Louise was feeling a little apprehensive and hung back at the medium wave with Janette, the co-instructor. She is still feeling a little unsure in her boat, and she dislikes being around large sealife and the sea lion had spooked her. What she didn't realize was that when she stayed back, the sea lion popped up right behind her without her noticing! But she quickly gathered her courage and joined us out in an eddy near the strong current.

Gary demonstrated how to play in a small standing wave....

...and the rest of us gave it a go, some more successfully than others.

Of course, the most successful of us was the sea lion.

He spent the morning riding the current over and over aagin like an amusement park ride, showing us stupid humans how it's really done.

Finally, we headed back to the beach for a snack and the theory, avoiding the traffic jam of geese as best we could.

Trip Length: 8.15 km
YTD: 96.51 km
More pictures are here.

2011.11.209 - Caddy 2 Willows

2011-05-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

I'm cautiously optimistic that summer weather might actually be here. A warm and sunny morning washed over our launch point at Cadboro Bay, but before our official paddle, Paula quickly gave the small kayak she won a couple of weeks ago its inaugural paddle.

There was a lot of action of the beach today. A large group from the South Island Sea Kayaking Association had gathered for a clinic with Wayne Horodowitch of the University of Sea Kayaking, and later in the day Nick Castro of Active Sea Kayaking gave a lesson to a smaller group. And there were the occasional free-lancers like Louise, Paula and myself.

Perhaps the most unusual event that occurred today is that I got on the water first for once! No, really! I have photographic evidence to prove it:

I had done a ton of work in our yard the day before, and I just didn't feel like I had a long paddle in me, so we decided to meander along the coast from Cadboro Bay to Willows Beach and back. As we paddled along the southern edge of the bay, we saw the result of a recent landslide.

Paula believed that the slide is fairly new, perhaps only a month or two old. She was surprised to see it, as she assumed that the cliff was rocky as opposed to its obviously sandy composition. It looked as if the top of the slide was right up against the back deck of the house, something that I'm sure is giving the owner some worry with the rainy season just a few months away.

Someone not worried about another slide is this heron, who was blissfully unaware of the situation above him as he hunted for his breakfast.

We decided to sneak through the yacht club...

...but things got a little narrower than we expected.

As we neared Cattle Point, we passed some geese.

We figured that there would be lots of eagles about, considering that its baby bird season. But we really didn't see any until this one alighted in a tree.
"The eagle has landed!" I shouted.
Paula and Louise groaned.

(Despite the rumour, I can assure you that the picture of the eagle landing was not faked on a Hollywood sound stage.)

We turned around at Mary Tod Island and passed some seals enjoying the morning....

...and then we returned to our put in, another paddle done.

Trip Length: 8.52 km
YTD: 88.56 km
More pictures are here.

2011.10.208 - The Gorge

2011-05-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

Louise and I have been under the weather for a few days, some sort of miserable Spring cold that just won't let up. Which is ironic considering that weather-wise we've had a miserably cold Spring that just won't let up. This morning was actually clear and sunny, but still a few degrees cooler than normal.

We weren't feeling up to a long paddle today, so a quick trip around our home waters of The Gorge seemed like exactly the thing to do. We headed over to look at the sculpture we've dubbed The Iron Man...

...but these days he's starting to look a little like the The Rust Man.

From there we paddled slowly against the current, up to a tree I call Cormorant Tree because there's always cormorants in it. Except for today, apparently. I was wondering if we'd hit the water too early today as there did not seem to be any birds about. But I was so busy looking up for the cormorants, that I wasn't looking down and almost missed this heron.

Continuing on, we soon found plenty of birds as this flock of geese went by. There were eight adults, so I'm assuming four families were travelling together. We've seen this sort of behaviour before, so it seems that geese don't mind travelling in large groups with other families. 18 goslings by my count.

Under the bridge and into Portage Inlet, and we started looking for the local swans. We spotted them near their nest and we cruised in a little closer to see if their were any swanlings this year.
There appeared to be only one...

...unless there were still some in her nest. But that didn't seem likely.

Still, we felt like drinking a toast to all the new life we were seeing, and it was just our good fortune that a bottle of red wine floated past us.

It was empty, alas.

The forecast cool southerly breeze that was supposed to kick in during the afternoon arrived a little earlier than forecast, so we headed back...

...and saw that the swans had hunkered down in their nest against front that was coming in.

We passed by the geese again as well. They'd landed to enjoy a meal of fresh grass and plants.

And soon, we also landed, just as the wind and clouds moved in. Perfect timing..

Trip Length: 7.67 km
YTD: 80.04 km
More pictures are here.

2011.09.207 - 2011 Vancouver Island Paddlefest

2011-05-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's not like I want to whine about the weather in every blog post I write, but this spring sucks. Seriously. The growing season is about four weeks behind normal, temperatures are also below normal and rain was due in today, the first of four or five days of it. Yay.
Today was also the first day of the 2011 Vancouver Island Paddlefest in Ladysmith. Louise and I headed up island watching the clouds which looked like they were going to start dumping on us at any moment.

Almost immediately on our arrival, we bumped into Mark from Delta Kayaks. After years of whining and cajoling he finally came through and got us each a Delta Kayak baseball cap, and we'd just like to take this opportunity to publicly...thank him...for...that...what...is...he wearing?

That's a Delta Kayaks t-shirt! Aw, man! Now we have to start whining again! How many years is this gonna take?

Louise wasted no time in taking a Delta Sixteen for a whirl.

She loves this boat, and she seemed quite fond of this new green colour, too.

After that, we headed up the beach and tried the Boreal Design Epsilon. Louise went out in the C200, while I was in the larger C300.

We both liked these boats, and quickly noticed how, well, quickly these boats can accelerate. They look as if they could be a lot of fun and we have them on our lists of boats to thoroughly test when the day comes for new boats. You know, when our lottery retirement plan kicks in.

Next, I took a Current Design Solstice GT out for a spin.

Like all Current Design boats, it's a well-made and kitted-out craft. Out of the three boats I tired, I liked this one the least, but they were all very close in comparison.

Finally, we tried a couple of Wilderness Systems boats.

Louise took a Tsunami 165, while I was in was in a Tempest 180.

After that we changed into our street duds, and checked out some of the kayaking goodies on offer. First up, we found the Wind Paddle sail. This looked really cool.

I particularly like how it comes with its own wind.

Next we checked out some custom-built kayaks from 8 Dragon Kayaks.

These boats are gorgeous and pictures don't do them justice at all.

While we were exploring on the land, a fleet was assembling on the water....

...for the official opening of the BC Marine Trails Network. When completed, the trail will comprise 22,000 km of BC coastline.
Michael Pardy led the flotilla in to shore....

...where he ceremonially asked Stz’uminus First Nation Chief John Elliot for permission to visit their ancestral lands.

With that, the Trail was declared open, and celebratory rolls were performed.

Finally it was time to leave. After all, people were waiting for us at home.

Trip Length: 1.47 km
YTD: 72.37 km
More pictures are here.
And check out some local media coverage by the Ladysmith Chronicle.

2011.08.206 - Jellyfish Jellyfest

2011-05-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

On this moderately sunny Sunday, Louise and I headed up to Brentwood Bay for paddle.

We hadn't been out this way since the fall of 2009, but there's been little change. The one thing we did notice was the work being done on the ferry dock beside where we put in.

That's because the long-serving MV Mill Bay, which has serviced this route since being built in 1956, was retired at the beginning of this month to be replaced by the larger MV Klitsa, necessitating renovations to the dock. (And from the Useless Movie Trivia File, the Mill Bay terminal was used for a scene during the filming of the 1970 movie Five Easy Pieces that starred Jack Nicholson and Karen Black.) So with the ferry out of service for the moment, that's one less bit of marine traffic we needed to look out for.
Clearly this heron wasn't worried about other traffic as he groomed himself.

We crossed over to 15 Minute Island. It's actually called Senanus Island, but we refer to is as 15 Minute Island because the first time we approached the island from the north, Bernie kept saying it looked only 15 minutes away. And after we'd paddled for an hour, his opinion had not changed -- it still looked 15 minutes away.

Today we were approaching from the south, and for the record it was a 20 minute crossing.

Once at the island, we found a lot of geese honking up a storm...

...probably because eagles were around and undoubtedly hunting for goslings.

Fortunately for this guy, oysercatchers didn't seem to be on the eagles' menu.

After we paddled around the island, we crossed back to the shore went into Tod Inlet, and Gowlland Tod Provincial Park.

Tod Inlet is a gorgeous place to paddle, very sheltered and usually brimming with aquatic life, and today was no exception, although we were a bit surprised to find the inlet full of jellyfish.

It was a jellyfish jellyfest! Although the heron didn't seem particularly impressed.

Trip Length: 10.67 km
YTD: 70.90 km
More pictures are here.

2011.07.205 - The Little Group

2011-05-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

The ground hog did say six WEEKS, right? Not six MONTHS? The Spring That Never Came grinds on, with day-time highs well below normal and forecast to remain that way at least until the middle of May. The furnace is still coming on at night, for #$%#'s sake!

But today seemed more like a sunny summer day as Louise and I met Paula in Sidney to kayak out to The Little Group, a small clump of rocky islands and rocks that we haven't visited in quite some time.

We put in at the beach at the beach at the of Ardwell Road. As we left Roberts Bay, something very big broke the surface beside Paula a couple of times. We guessed it was a sea lion.
As we arrived at our first stop at Ker Island, we saw an eagle dive-bombing some geese. I thought it was a bit odd, as I wouldn't think an eagle go after something that big. Then again, we've seen an eagle after it brought down a raccoon on a previous paddle. The eagle flew off across the channel and we lost track of it for a moment. Suddenly, all the geese in the area took off and flew squawking and honking towards a small pocket beach where the eagle had landed. It had caught something, we weren't sure what. But whatever was going on, the geese were in a commotion. Finally, the eagle had had enough, and took off.

It obviously has something, was it a fish or a gosling? We didn't see any goslings around.

Maybe the eagle had got a small duck....

...but these harlequin ducks didn't seem too perturbed.

From there we headed to a couple of islets where we played a bit in the currents. We stopped in front of a rock outcropping that we call The Sphinx.

From there we carried on to Dock Island, where we found a few eagles relaxing.

We headed back and passed a rock near Ker Island that was covered in seals.

We gave them a wide clearance as its probably birthing season right now.

As we went by Ker Island on our return, right at the point that the eagle was hunting earlier, we finally saw some goslings...

....which confirmed for us that that's what the eagle had caught earlier.

And all too soon our paddle was over.

Trip Length: 9.31 km
YTD: 60.23 km
More pictures are here.

2011.06.204 - Signs of Spring

2011-04-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

Any Friday that you can get on the water isn't just a Good Friday, it's a Great Friday. Louise and I rolled our kayaks down the hill to kayak in the Gorge. Sunny and reasonably warm -- could Spring have finally arrived?

We headed up the Gorge towards Portage Inlet, accompanied by a flock of ducks....

...and it wasn't long before we spotted our first heron.

We passed what I like to call Cormorant Tree because it usually has a few cormorants sitting in it. And today was no exception.

We moved on into Portage Inlet, looking for the local swans. We found one pair nesting in their usual spot as they do every year. We'll check back later in the spring and see how the chicks are doing.

A few minutes later we saw what at first we thought was a strange-looking blue duck bobbing along the surface....

...but as we got closer we realized that it was a water bottle floating along. It took a little effort and teamwork...

... but we able to bring it ashore and empty it, thus performing our good deed for Earth Day.

We began our return...

...and passed Cormorant Tree once again, but this time we saw a heron in the tree...

...and he was spending all his time scratching himself. That's not something you see everyday.
We saw one more heron, and this one assumed a more classic heron pose.

Then we had to roll the kayaks up the hill. Oh, joy.

Trip Length: 8.99 km
YTD: 50.92 km
More pictures are here.

2011.05.203 - Back on the Water

2011-04-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

It's been busy round here. Weddings and funerals, and life goes on. This past week I took my Occupational First Aid Level 2 course. How well did I do, I hear you ask? (Yes, my hearing is that good). I do my practical and written exams on Wednesday, so I'll find out then. It's probably good set of skills for a kayaker to have, although firing up a defibrillator on the water could be a shocking experience.
Spring weather has sucked around here. It's as if we went straight from winter right back to autumn again. But today dawned sunny (if cool) so Louise and I decided to ignore the cool weather and headed to Cadboro Bay to join Paula for a paddle.

Richard was supposed to join us but there was no sign of him, so we headed out for a quick paddle to Chatham Island.

It needed to be quick for a number of reasons, among them the fact we were launching near slack, and the flood was expected to be a quick one. Also, although it was a sunny morning, there were isolated rain cells around. As we launched, we could see one off to the north-east, but it never came near us.

These oystercatchers were practising their Sunday morning yoga on Jemmy Jones Island.

We began our crossing to Chatham, but bailed on it halfway across. Paula's inner ear began to go wonky on her just as we encountered an odd eddy that came at us sideways and exacerbated her condition, and some sea lions were in the area feeding, and we decided to give them some space. We turned to head back to the mainland, content to putter through the nooks and crannies of Ten Mile Point.
But when we turned around, there was Richard heading off to Chatham Island! He'd picked a different line for his crossing, but he was only a couple of hundred metres away. We started calling him, but he didn't see us, and when we called, he didn't hear us, even when Louise gave her whistle a blow.

So there's a thought for you. If your shouts and whistles don't get attention on a perfectly calm day, will they on a stormy day?

We turned around at the Ten Mile Point light...

...and there was Richard!

He'd spotted us moving up the coast as he crossed back from Chatham, and he confirmed for us that he hadn't heard us earlier. We began our return to Cadboro Bay and stopped for a moment...

...to watch the sail boats play in the bay.

Trip Length: 8.52 km
YTD: 41.93 km
More pictures are here.

But wait -- there's more! After we landed and loaded up our gear, we headed down to the Inner Harbour for the "Celebration of Our Harbour" event to promote non-motorized uses of our harbour, and to continue the battle against the proposed mega-yacht marina.

There were races for various water craft, and we arrived just in time to see Mike Jackson win his kayak race...

...and do a victory roll.

2011.04.202 - Caddy Bay to Willows

2011-03-06T19:58:00.000-08:00

The weatherman promised sunshine. He did. I swear he did. But a rainbow in the sky...

...means it's raining somewhere, that somewhere being on the road to the launch point at Cadboro Bay. Louise and I drove through a quick rainfall as we motored down McKenzie Avenue towards Sinclair Hill, cursing the weatherman and another of his broken promises. Sometimes I think that being a weatherman is an excellent training ground for becoming a politician.
So with big rainclouds being pushed around us by a north breeze...

...we joined Paula to paddle out of the bay.

The sun was poking through the clouds in places...

...and we were catching the currents just before the slack on an ebb, but once we were out of the bay and out by Jemmy Jones Island we decided not to cross to Chatham today. Louise has a nagging shoulder problem, I'm still dealing with a minor foot injury that won't go away, and the dark clouds and cool breeze all helped us decide on caution today.

We crossed back to the mainland, preparing to meander south along the coast down to Willows Beach, but as we finished the crossing, we heard a strange sound from one of the multi-million dollar houses along the shore. A terrible cry. Was a cat being strangled? No, it was someone playing the bagpipes. We couldn't see whomever was playing, but now we've been serenaded on the ocean by native drummers and a bagpiper. (And no, not at the same time.)

The sailboats were out enjoying the breeze.

At Willows, we went around Mary Tod Island and explored some of the nearby islets. We saw a few ducks and and a lot of noisy geese today, but the only wildlife I could really get a good photo of was of this seal. He doesn't look particularly impressed with my photographic abilities.

From there, we headed back to the beach where I heard a hot chocolate calling me from a nearby coffee shop!

Trip Length: 11.21 km
YTD: 33.41 km
More pictures are here.

2011.03.201 - Portage Inlet

2011-01-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

The temperature was a relatively mild 2C when Richard and I launched for a paddle up the Gorge this morning, but the cold north breeze made for a chilly day on the water. Moderate wind forecasts and the chance of snow in the forecast prompted us to pick a relatively protected spot to paddle today, however we sure felt that cold north air whenever it crossed our path.

It was pleasant enough when Richard and I started out.

As we headed down The Gorge a pair of swans took off in front of us. I managed to get a shot of them taking off, as well as a shot of me getting the shot of them taking off.

They are big birds, and they need a lot of runway to get off the ground.

Once we got into the Inlet, we turned into that wind and started feeling the cold in a hurry. Fortunately for Richard he had a very fashionable lime green hood to pull up.

We ducked into a little estuary and stumbled upon another family of swans, two adults and three adolescents. It's always nice to see that the local swan population is doing well.

We carried on up Craigflower Creek...

...hoping that the water level was high enough that we could get around the fallen tree and into the tunnel under Highway 1. We've done this a few times over the years, and it's always a highlight of any paddle down the creek.
But today we discovered that the fall rains have brought down another tree off the bank, totally plugging up the channel behind the roots of the big tree that we would use to get around.

The way through is now totally impassable for kayaks, unless you want get out and haul your boat over the large tree trunk. Hopefully there's still enough room for salmon to get around come spawning season, but for kayakers this way is now permanently closed until someone brings in a chainsaw.
Needless to say we were disappointed, but what else could we do except take it in stride?

And by then it seemed like a good time to turn back and get warm.

Trip Length: 9.88 km
YTD: 22.20 km
More pictures are here.

2011.02.200 - A Quickie to Chatham

2011-01-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

This morning it was -2 degrees, a bit of a step up from Saturday's -4. But while Saturday's weather was sunny and clear, today was unexpectedly cloudy which resulted in a wonderful sunrise as we prepped for launch. We also had a bit of a breeze, not enough to be a worry while paddling, but enough of one to add an extra chill to the morning. The sun was trying to burn through the clouds but didn't look like it was going to accomplish much in that regard.

Louise, Paula and I got ourselves ready to put in at Cadboro Bay. Paula always likes to do a little air guitar before kayaking.

Richard joined us a few minutes later. He hasn't been in his kayak since September and couldn't understand why it was so heavy as he carried it down to the beach. Then he realized that since he keeps his kayak outside and he has a small hole in his rear hatch, rain water had spent the last three months dripping into his kayak, and that rainwater had frozen solid over the last few days.

Paula had a good laugh until she remembered that she keeps her kayak outside as well, and she hadn't checked her hatches either. She put ashore to double check.

A few minutes later we were underway...

...but some of us found the conditions just too chilly and couldn't get thoughts of chai tea lattés out of their heads. So we quickly did a crossing to Chatham....

...then headed back.

As we passed Flower Island, I peeled off to see if the otters I saw on Saturday were still around. They weren't, but two oystercatchers and a merganser were enjoying the cloudy day.

And as we neared the beach, as per Murphy the sun came out.

Trip Length: 7.57 km
YTD: 12.32 km
More pictures are here.

2011.01.199 - New Year's Paddle

2011-01-01T14:11:00.000-08:00

-5C and dark. That's what you get when you get up before the sun does. By the time Louise and I made our way to Cadboro Bay beach for the first paddle of the new year a couple of hours later, the temperature had risen to a balmy -4. But at least it was no longer dark.

We met Paula for a quick paddle to start the New Year. The highlight was going to be us taking pictures of Bernie taking his annual polar bear swim. Louise is fighting a cold but volunteered to photograph Bernie from shore and I was was going to take shots from my kayak. However, Paula informed us that Bernie woke up feeling under the weather and had decided to hibernate instead. So Louise didn't get any pictures of Bernie, but she did get one of me all geared up and redy to go.

Paula started out in her small inflatable while I was still gearing up. I told her I would catch up as she paddled along the south side of Ten Mile Point.

As I departed a few minutes later, I tried to keep an eye out for her but the sun was low to the horizon and she was lost in the glare. We finally connected near Sheep Cove and paddled together towards Flower Island.

We saw the occasional seal head pop up here and there, as well as a heron who seemed to take special delight in tormenting photographers. I spotted him on the shore off a small rocky islet, and I carefully maneuvered so that the low sun was behind me. I pulled my big camera out of its waterproof bag, but just as my camera was ready, he flew off. He didn't fly far, just from the shore to the top of the islet, but I had to pack up the camera and reposition myself to try again. And again, it was as soon as I had the camera ready that he moved, but this time he didn't fly. He merely took a few steps down the far side of the rocky outcropping and out of my sight. I could almost feel his disdain -- apparently I wasn't even worth the bother of flying away from!
Paula hung around Flower Island, but I ventured out a bit to watch the wind and the currents working. We were near the end of a huge high tide, and the current was going to pick up later in the day with a fast-flowing ebb. The breeze picked up a bit as I paddled into in the more open channel. I looked over saw Mount Baker looming in the distance.

Earlier in the bay we could just barely make out the top of Mount Rainer, so today was what Paula likes to call a two-volcano day.

As I headed back towards Paula at Flower Island, I could see she was over by Evans Rock on the south-ish side, and as I came closer, she paddled towards me with a look of concentration that made me think that she was trying to impart some message to me telepathically.

As we met, she said, "Go slowly around. On the left side of that rock there's two otters."
After being burned by that heron, I was certainly willing to try to get a few shots of the otters.
At first I only saw one otter....

...and he was busy rubbing his ass against a big log. How charming.
But as they scampered around the rock...

...I quickly realized that there were three otters on the rock.

I don't think the otters even realized we were there. Paula had drifted behind me as I took pictures, then the otters hit the ocean for a swim. They followed Paula for a while...

...until they finally realized that something big and red was behind them and they disappeared with quick splashes of their tails.

After that we headed back towards shore....

...where we looked down the beach and saw Mike Jackson and some buddies putting in for their first paddle of the year. Guess my lead over him for most paddles this year is not going to last long!

Trip Length: 4.75 km
YTD: 4.75 km
More pictures are here.

2010 Paddling Stats

2010-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

The 2010 weather stats break down like this:
36% of our paddles were on sunny days;
17% were on cloudy days;
17% were on rainy/stormy days;
and 10% were canceled due to bad weather

As we can see, sunny days were down, and thus cloudy and stormy paddling days were up. Or was it the other way around? Either way, the weather took a bit of a dip this year, let's hope it's better in 2011.
Happy paddlin'!

2010.29.198 - Ice Ice Baby

2010-11-28T17:37:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it's been a while since we hit the water, not counting our pool session a couple of weeks ago. I blame the weather. The weather was actually quite nice in October, milder and drier than normal, at least anecdotally. But we actually believed the weatherman when he said that most paddling days would have bad weather. And that was a mistake, of course, because generally the weather was good when the weatherman was calling for bad, but we, trusting souls that we are, had already made other plans for those days that were forecast to have sucky weather. You see where this is going, right?
This past week brought us our first real dose of winter this year, three snowstorms in five days. The snow might be mostly gone now, but it was still darn cold this morning. Despite this, Louise and I rolled our kayaks down the hill to go for a paddle on The Gorge.

It was cool, maybe about 1 degree when we started out, but it was forecast to be a sunny day and we were sure hoping the sun was going to poke through the clouds quickly and start warming things up. There was still a bit of snow left on the ground from the past week's snowfalls.

We paddled over to Gorge-Kinsmen Park hoping to spot the two swans that have been hanging around there the last few days, but they weren't there this morning. We were starting to wonder if all we were going to see was a few cormorants up a tree.

But after we passed under the bridge and into Portage Inlet....

...and passed the phalanx of geese....

...we spotted the swans. Or rather, they spotted us and headed right for us.

They showed no fear of us. Clearly this pair have had plenty of contact with humans.

Finally after a few minutes of swimming around us, they went on their way....

...and we went on ours.

I was hoping that we'd be able to get into the Western arm of Portage Inlet and up to the tunnel on Craigflower Creek, but as we approached the entrance to the arm Louise and I both had the sensation that paddling suddenly became a little harder as if the water had become thicker. And as I looked ahead I could see that the water had not only become thick, it had become solid. The way was blocked by ice.

We'd encountered ice here once before, but that was really just a thin layer on the surface. This time, we were dealing with some solid ice, maybe a half inch thick or more.

At first we thought we could break the ice but we were finding spots that were so thick that the kayaks weren't sinking through it, nor could we break it with our paddles. Flipping over in this could really ruin your day. We tried sneaking around through the thin ice near shore, but that proved to be futile as there wasn't nearly enough of it for us to pass. The whole western arm was frozen up as well as the northern shore, so we decided to head east and follow the outline of the ice.
Which didn't mean that we didn't occasionally try to be an ice breaker....

As we paddled along three or four seals kept up with us and checked us out. Here's one sizing up Louise....

...and I was so busy taking that picture of Louise and the seal that I didn't notice until I checked my pictures later that another seal that had popped up right in front of me.

As we followed the ice, we noticed a strange line in the water. You can see it just to the left of my kayak.

It followed the contours of the ice. Was it some sort of boundary layer either between temperature zones, or between salinity zones? The Gorge at one end of Portage Inlet is ocean salt water, but the Inlet is also fed by fresh water creeks, so they've got to meet somewhere.

We got as far as Colquitz Creek, then decided to head back because the sun never did come out for more than a couple of minutes and suddenly a cup of hot chocolate seemed like a really good idea.

Trip Length: 8.02 km
YTD: 228.10 km
More pictures are here.

2010.28.197 - The Gray Zone

2010-11-13T23:23:00.000-08:00

The Gray Zone. And no, we don't mean some sort of X-Files spin-off where Mulder finally finds out what happened to his long-lost sister while he investigates a conspiracy involving secret government organizations and an extraterrestrial invasion. Instead, we mean the gray zone in a kayak, the space between being upside right, and rightside down.
Louise and I headed to the pool for The Gray Zone course put on by the fine folks at Ocean River Sports.

During the course we brushed up on our edging, and our low and high braces, and our sculling (that's sculling, not Scully). Here, Louise practices her braces while the instructor stands behind her trying to flip her.

Then we tried the balance brace (that's when you and your kayak lie on the side and float, also called a static brace in some circles) and sculling for support, which is when you scull to support yourself in the balance brace position. This will take further practice as accomplishing this move requires you to turn body into a pretzel, and my body is more like a cupcake. Mmmmm, cupcake. Sorry, where were we?
We also practiced our sculling brace, and used it in a simulated situation when you may need to rescue someone by carrying them on the back of your kayak. I always thought that when someone was climbing onto your kayak, the proper procedure was to either whack them on the head with your paddle while laughing maniacally, or to attempt to bargain with them: "Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the tow rope! No time to argue!"
But it turns out that by using the sculling brace you can support your kayak while the rescuee scrambles onto to and off of the stern of your kayak, a technique known as the seal carry. Here's Louise trying to carry a fellow student.

We had a great time, but the thing we learned the most is that we need to practice more!

2010.27.196 - Switching to Glide

2010-10-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today was a rare mid-week paddle as Louise, Paula and I met at Cadboro Bay Beach to kayak out to Chatham Island.

Although somewhat overcast and rainfall warnings out for various spots along the coast, we had totally calm conditions. A higher than normal tide had come in and was going to be hanging around for most of the day.
And oddly, even though it was cloudy and hazy, the conditions allowed us the rare treat of seeing all three mainland mountain ranges (The Cascades, The Olympics, and the Coast Range), and two volcanoes. Mount Baker was plainly visible as it often is...

...but towards the south-east we could barely make out the cone of Mount Rainier about 200 km away.
We paddled out along Ten Mile Point...

...and out towards Jemmy Jones Island...

...where this eagle watched over our journey.

As we crossed from Jemmy Jones to Chatham, a couple of Navy ships crossed our path, first the HMCS Cougar...

...followed a few minutes later by the HMCS Moose.

These are Orca-class patrol vessels generally used for training and support surveillance. (Destroy these pictures right away, just in case Homeland Security comes knocking.)

At Chatham, we cruised down a channel and quickly discovered where all the seals were hiding.

Even if there isn't much current out in the open water like today, there's always some between the islands that make up the Chatham/Discovery group. We just pulled out our paddles and glided by the seals resting on the small rock outcroppings.

After puttering around Chatham...

...we crossed to the Chain Islands....

...where we found more seals...

...then reluctantly headed back to shore.

Trip Length: 12.45 km
YTD: 220.08 km
More pictures are here.

2010.26.195 - Not Quite What We Planned

2010-09-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Although the sun is still shining and the days are still warm, the occasional cool autumn breeze has made its way to these shores. We weren't so sure about the wind forecast for our paddle, but as we put in it was clear that the winds were not going to be much of a factor. Scattered clouds rolled in front of the warm sun as Alison, Louise and I headed out to the point of Albert Head.

Here, we found seals. Lots of seals.

Frankly, the point was crawling with them. We considered using "The Shortcut," a small channel that cuts the end off of Albert Head and shaves a couple of minutes off the trip around the point, but as I poked my nose in to determine if the tide was high enough for it to be navigable, I disturbed about a dozen seals who quickly lurched off the rocks and into water. We decided that we'd clearly overstayed our welcome here in seal country and decided not to go around the point. Further, we discovered that Alison had never paddled in the opposite direction from Albert Head to Esquimalt Lagoon, so we decided to alter our plan and paddle the other way.

After a nice paddle along the shore, we tried to enter the lagoon itself, but the entrance was too shallow and the current too quick. Although facing forward, Alison is actually going backwards in this picture.

We spent a few minutes drifting around the lagoon entrance where I snapped a couple of pictures (well, 40 actually) of this heron fishing in the surf before we headed back.

Trip Length: 13.30 km
YTD: 207.63 km
More pictures are here.

2010.25.194 - Ladysmith

2010-08-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

Readers may recall that a few months ago Louise won a free double kayak rental at the 2010 Vancouver Island Paddlefest from the fine folks at Sealegs Kayaking in Ladysmith. She finally collected her prize, and we took out a Delta 20T tandem for a few hours. (And no, it is not true the Latin for tandem kayak is divorcus boatus.)

The sun shone down out of a nearly clear blue sky, although the occasional breeze popped up to keep things interesting. We both found the Delta roomy and fairly maneuverable for a boat of it's size. Not the quickest tandem on the water, however, but we certainly covered more ground than if we had been in singles. We've not had a lot of experience in tandems, so it was a bit of a learning curve. Louise, in front, had to get over the fact that she really had little say in where the boat was going to go, while I had to get used to the fact that I was going to be taking a lot of pictures of the back of her head.

This is a gorgeous place to paddle, especially along the islands along the north side of the bay with their very interesting rocky shores. The erosion patterns in the sandstone (I'm guessing) are stunning.

The sandstone indents made a bed of sorts for this resting seagull.

We covered a lot of the same ground that we covered the last time we were here, but with two paddlers, we covered it a lot faster. We paddled past Bute and Dunsmuir Islands and headed to the navigational light on Coffin Island, hoping that the name was not reflective of how this trip might conclude.

Heading back in, we took our time and explored the shoreline's many nooks and crannies.

What a beautiful place.

Trip Length: 15.06 km
YTD: 194.33 km
More pictures are here.

2010.24.193 - Cadboro Bay

2010-08-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Yeah, the wind was going to get heavier and come up from the south in the afternoon. Yeah, the currents out near Chatham Island were supposed to drop off as the morning wore on so we could go across. But it just didn't happen.

So as Louise, Richard and Paula and I put in at Cadboro Bay, the slight westerlies had already swung around and were coming harder from the south as forecast, but hours early. "Damn you," I shouted at Richard, "this is all your fault!" As he stared blankly back at me, I told him not to worry -- I have an issue with misplaced anger. Richard, for his part, is a pretty gung-ho-damn-the torpedoes-full-speed-ahead kind of paddler. Except when it comes to wind, which he really dislikes. Sometimes it makes him cry like a little girl. No, really. It's quite fetching, actually.

So instead of paddling out to Chatham, we putzed around Cadboro Point...

...then headed down past Willows Beach to Mary Tod Island.
We noticed an eerie near total absence of sea birds today. Clearly they knew something was up with the weather and had hunkered down somewhere.

From Willows Beach, we returned paddling through small chop with the wind at our backs. There's just not much more to say about today's paddle -- a fun but unexciting one!

Trip Length: 10.28 km
YTD: 179.27 km
More pictures are here.

2010.23.192 - Sunglasses At Night

2010-08-27T23:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a beautiful slightly cloudy summer's evening, so Louis, Paula and I put in for a quick sunset paddle up The Gorge.

If you're kayaking at night, always carry a light...

...and a camera that shoots in the dark.

Another paddle done!

Trip Length: 6.90 km
YTD: 168.99 km
More pictures are here.

2010.22.191 - Portland Island

2010-08-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

Sunny. Very warm. Slight breeze. Totally flat calm. Gentle currents that ran with us instead of against us. Ferries that were exactly where we wanted them to be when we needed them to be (probably because we weren't actually trying to catch one). You could not ask for a better day. Well, I suppose you could ask, but that would be greedy.

Louise, Tracy, Paula and myself got together to kayak from Sidney to Portland Island. And not even the latest heat wave was going to stop us!
We meandered up the various channels and islands towards our first crossing at Coal Island...

...spotting this heron along the way.

From Coal Island, we crossed to Pym and into the open waters of the Gulf Islands, after making sure there were no ferries about. There's a lot of pleasure boat traffic in this area, so kayakers must keep their eyes peeled for small craft as well as massive ferries.

From Pym, we crossed to Portland and put in for a break at Shell Beach.

The mystery of Louise's recent bouts of nausea of the water may have been solved. She recently purchased some new contact lenses, and we grew suspicious that they were contributing to her motion sickness. Today she wore an old pair of glasses and she didn't suffer from any symptoms. Mind you, it was an utterly flat calm, but we're hopeful we may have found the cause of her problem. We left Portland for the return paddle...

..ever mindful that we are out playing in the big traffic.

Two swans welcomed us back to the sheltered waters near our pull-out.

Did we have a good time? I'd say yes!

Trip Length: 14.55 km
YTD: 162.39 km
More pictures are here.

2010.21.190 - Whale Hunting FAIL

2010-08-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Tired of being regaled by the other kayakers in our merry band who've been out paddling and seen the grey whale that's hanging around the local waters (Richard even got a picture of it), Louise and I had a couple of hours to spare this morning to do a quick paddle to the whale's favourite spot around Flower Island at Ten Mile Point.

The whale was being either not cooperative, or not present. I'm going with not present as we didn't see a sign of it as we kayaked out under cloudy skies. In fact, we barely saw a sign of anything.

We thought the whale may have been hiding behind this heron, but no such luck.

Then we spied a family of otters running over a rocky islet. Were they running from a whale? Probably not.

We turned a big lazy figure-8 around Flower Island and Jemmy Jones Island, but there was no sign of the grey whale. So we headed back to shore....

...and it was here that we finally saw a whale! No, not the grey, but a blue whale!

(Okay, you caught me. It's not really a blue whale. It's a blue salmon.)

Trip Length: 5.25 km
YTD: 147.84 km
More pictures are here.

2010.20.189 - Mill Bay

2010-08-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

We put in at Mill Bay this morning for a paddle down to Bamberton and back. Louise and I had never paddled this stretch before, while our paddling companions Richard, Tracy and Paula had. Tracy asked me if I'd ever been down this stretch, and after I answered in the negative she replied, "It's pretty boring!"
Well, it wasn't that bad, and if nothing else it's another few clicks to knock off our attempt at breaking the record for the Slowest Circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.

Richard squatted to take a picture -- at least, I hope that's all he was taking!

It didn't long to find where all the seal action was -- it was on the dock beside our put-in!

A rainstorm had blown through yesterday after weeks of clear skies. There were still some cloudy remnants but nothing that should have been of concern, although winds were forecast to pick up in the afternoon.

We approached the dock for the Brentwood Bay-Mill Bay ferry. A little warning if you're kayaking in this area: the ferry approaches the Mill Bay dock from the south and passes very close to shore. Very close. So close you could spit onto the beach from the car deck. So be Ferry Aware when you're kayaking near the dock.

Sometimes, there's other things to look out for as well. Louise and Tracy got a little ahead of the rest of us as we approached the dock. They became distracted checking out the clouds because Richard had been keeping us updated with weather reports and fog was rolling into some nearby locations. They were passing very close to the dock and as they passed by I noticed a large brown float of some sort up on the end of the concrete pad of the dock. As they passed only a metre or two away, the "float" unfolded itself. Richard and I began shouting, "Look out! To your right! A sea lion!"
They still didn't notice. It was only when the sea lion went "Bort! Bort!" right beside them that they realized that they were in a spot that maybe they didn't want to be in. The sea lion could have very easily rolled off the dock and landed on them swamping both kayaks. They quickly scampered out of the way.

We pulled in at a beach for a moment...

...where Paula and Richard discussed paddle shaft lengths.

Paula likes to use a 230 or even a 240, while some of us feel she should be using something shorter. Different strokes for different folks. The debate continues.

We'd been wondering about the fog. Although we could look back and see that Salt Spring Island was totally socked in...

...and hear the radio reports describing Fulford Harbour down to visibility of about two metres, it was holding off in our area. Besides, we weren't doing any crossings, just sticking to shore, so we felt reasonably safe.
We pressed on to the old cement works at Bamberton...

...then turned around for home.

As we approached the ferry dock again, we saw that the sea lion was still on his perch.

We're wondering if he is used to humans as the ferry had docked here once since we'd last seen him, but he apparently didn't move.

And then the wind came up a bit sooner than expected which made for an interesting paddle back to the take-out!

Trip Length: 15.94 km
YTD: 142.59 km
More pictures are here.

2010.19.188 - Abort

2010-08-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

So today's plan was for Paula, Louise and myself to head out from Telegraph Bay and go north-west-ish towards Mount Douglas Park. It was a partly cloudy day and the water was calm with occasional light swells. No sooner had we hit the water than Louise's stomach started doing the heebie-jeebies and she needed to head to shore.
She was utterly embarrassed (and needlessly so), as we had just been out in much bigger swells and rougher water just a couple of weeks ago, but there is something new about the motion of the water in this area which has started setting off nausea in her every time we've paddled here this year.
After retreating to shore, we tried again a few minutes later, but Louise's stomach lurched again and as much as she enjoyed her breakfast the first time, she didn't care for a repeat performance of it. So we retreated back to shore, and that was that.
Well, almost that. While Louise rested near the beach, Paula and I quickly zipped around the point for a short paddle, where I managed to snap some seal photos.
Better luck next week!

Trip Length: 3.88 km
YTD: 126.65 km
More pictures are here.

2010.18.187 - Nature's Smörgåsbord

2010-07-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

On this gorgeous Sunday morning, Louise and I headed off for a paddle from Albert Head Regional Park, around Albert head, to Witty's Lagoon Regional Park. This is one of my favourite places to paddle. Current and conditions are always good here, and there's always something to see.
And it didn't take long to spot some seals on the first rock that we passed.

We knew that just around the point there's a couple of big rocks where seals love to congregate. We thought that having spotted seals so soon into our paddle that these rocks would be covered in seals.
But in fact, they weren't. Not a one.

But that didn't matter on this day. The sun was warm, but not too warm, and the wind was blowing but not too strong. Everything was just right. It was like Goldilocks had designed the weather program for the day.

So the seals weren't around, but the birds were out. We saw a lot of turkey vultures during the day, but I didn't get any good shots of them. I got a nice shot of this bird....

...and I have no idea what it is. A jay of some kind?

Then there was the heron.

Then there was the other heron.

We reached the entrance to Witty's Lagoon...

...and quickly discovered where all the seals were hiding.

I love the spots on this one.

This eagle was up in a tree, seemingly keeping watch on the seals around it.

It was like a nature smörgåsbord. "Yes, I'll have two herons, two eagles, lots of seals, easy on the vultures, and just a dash of otter for flavour."

Trip Length: 11.72 km
YTD: 122.77 km
More pictures are here.

2010.17.186 - Current Affairs

2010-07-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

You might expect that if we had two weeks off work during the beginning of summer that we might get a lot of kayaking in. Sometimes things just don't work out the way you would expect. We had out of town family visiting, plus we adopted two new kittens (and they are a more than a handful). Add to that a few days of record-breaking heat which rendered me into an immobile puddle. So it wasn't until the last day of our vacation that Louise and I were able to drag our kayaks out of the basement and hit the water, taking another kayaking course through the fine folks at Ocean River, this time on navigating currents.

We were joined by six other students and two instructors, Gary and Gary. Although it was a clear sunny day, the forecast was calling for strong winds, with a gale warning up for Juan de Fuca Strait, our destination.
Still it was hot enough that there was much complaining as we slipped into our neoprene and headed out. Helmets were the order of the day, not only to protect our heads should we go over in shallow water, but to protect our heads from errant golf balls as we paddled alongside a golf course on the way to Gonzales Point.

Down near Gonzales Point, it was obvious that a strong wind was coming up. There was no more complaining about how warm we were in our neoprene. Gary and Gary left us in a small protected cove to scout ahead, telling us they'd be back in five to ten minutes. From the cove we could see the waves out in the channel getting whipped up, and we knew that it would be worse around the point and out in Enterprise Channel. After they'd been gone 20 minutes, the general consensus amongst the students was that they were going to call the course off, so we were all a bit surprised when they reported back that we were going to proceed with the lesson. They said that conditions were right on the cusp of what they felt comfortable in exposing us to, but felt that we could handle it. Also, because the wind was blowing from the southwest, roughly the same direction as the current, if any of us got blown away, we would be blown back around Gonzales Point towards where we'd come from and into relative shelter.

So we headed out and around the point and into some swells and a strong wind. We put in for a brief respite at another beach...

...while Gary and Gary surveyed the waters and got weather updates. We clambered up a rock to see what we were getting ourselves into.

Finally we began the lesson, which turned out to be not entirely successful due to the strong wind and currents. Keeping track of eight student kayakers under these conditions must be the equivalent of herding cats. And with the wind, it was sometimes difficult to hear instructions.

But we plugged away at it, even though most of the students had moments when we felt way out of our comfort zone. Near the end of the lesson, we even did a little surfing out in the channel.

Before everyone had a chance to surf, the wind picked up really hard. We turned and headed towards shore to regroup to return to our launch point. It was clear that some of us were struggling in the conditions, but a few minutes of paddling got us around the point and into calmer waters.
While the lesson might have left something to be desired because of the conditions, the experience of being out in it was terrific. This was easily some of the worse stuff Louise and I have ever been out in, and the confidence and experience gained is immeasurable. (Gary and Gary also realized that the lesson was less than ideal because of the conditions and will provide an opportunity for everyone to retake the course. And we met some prospective future paddling partners, too.)

Trip Length: 8.68 km
YTD: 111.05 km
More pictures are here.

2010.16.185 - Chatham Island Deer Crossing

2010-06-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

Paula joined Louise and I for a paddle this morning from Cadboro Bay out to Chatham Island.

Once we got ourselves squeezed into our kayaks, we headed out under cloudy skies. The weather was generally calm, but winds were forecast to pick up in the afternoon, so we wanted to make an early start and make our crossing quickly just in case the weatherman turned out to be right for once.

As we made our way down Cadboro Bay, we paddled through an area with a light sheen of oil on the water. It gave us pause to reflect on the terrible disaster going on in the Gulf of Mexico, and how lucky we are it hasn't happened here.

At Jemmy Jones Island, we paused to asses the Chatham Crossing. Conditions looked good, so we quickly skedaddled on our way....

...letting this seal take the lead.

He pretty much followed us the whole way across, and hung around as we did a quick exploration of a small bay on Chatham.

He popped up for a quick good-bye, and then he was off...

...and so were we. Mind you, we had to wait for the geese to cross the passage at Flower Island.

And another paddling day is done!

Of course, it was after the paddle that we saw the most wildlife. Driving back through the University of Victoria, we saw a pair of deer happily munching away on whatever greenery the rabbits haven't eaten yet.

Trip Length: 9.54 km
YTD: 102.37 km
More pictures are here (including more deer pictures).

2010.15.184 - Strokes Course

2010-06-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

I have no way of checking this for sure (actually, I do have a way -- it's called the Internet. Maybe you've heard of it? The awful truth is that I'm too lazy to check), but it seems like this is the first day in three months when the high temperature for the day has been above normal. Gorgeous and sunny for a change.
And so on this sunny day, Louise and I made our way to Cadboro Bay for a course called Maneuverability and Agility, put on by the fine folks from Ocean River Sports.

It was a small class; the students were just myself, Louise and a young lady named Alex. She was paddling this beautiful skin-on-frame boat that she had just finished building a few days ago.

What a sweet looking boat. Out on the water, she quickly discovered that her boat could, as Bernie would say, turn on a dime and give seven cents change.
There was also an instructor -- that goes without saying -- but also an instructor-in-training, so basically we had two instructors for three students which means we all got a lot of attention.

We weren't the only paddlers in the water -- an outrigger race was taking place...

...and there was a slight breeze, so some sailboaters headed out as well.

The course involved tuning up our sweeps, edging and low brace turns, and moving onto high brace turns, stern draws, bow rudders, and then putting them altogether. I've never had my boat as far on edge as I had it today. I mean apart from when I've tipped over.
Speaking of tipping over, we were encouraged by the instructors to really let it all hang out when we were edging. Push it to the edge, as it were. And Louise did...

...and over she went. We were in shallow water, so not really a rescue issue (although I do recall shouting "Don't save her yet -- I need to get a picture!" at some point).
But after a moment to regroup, she was back in her boat and back at it.

We had a great time and learned lots. One of the things the instructor said as we practiced our strokes was not to think of the paddle moving around the kayak, but the kayak moving around the paddle. That was a very inspiring (and inspired) visualization that really helped me. That's why he's the teacher and I'm just the student!

The red track is the morning session, the green the afternoon session. Note how far the tide came in during the day. It was an exceptionally low tide when we started in the morning.
Trip Length: 4.75 km
YTD: 92.83 km
More pictures are here.

2010.14.183 - Shell Games

2010-06-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, forget what I said Saturday about the fact that maybe Summer was finally here. It isn't. Maybe soon, but not yet anyway. Yesterday, we were hoping to possibly head to Sidney for a paddle, but, no, we had rain instead. And today, it was blowing a stiff breeze. So Louise and I decided to head to the shelter of Thetis Lake. As least we'd get some paddling in this weekend!

Sheltered on the lake, we didn't feel the wind very much, although occasionally it swept little ripples along the water. I was hoping to see an eagle or two today, but wasn't having luck. But quickly it became obvious that I should be looking down instead of up.

As we paddled down one of the arms of the lake, a saw a lump on a log. As I moved closer, the lump turned out to be a turtle, most likely a Slider and probably a former pet turtle released into the wild. (And if you're a hardcore turtle fan, you can click here and find a survey prepared for local municipal governments on the Western Painted Turtles habitats in local parks.)
The turtle was camera shy and disappeared, but these otters weren't the least bit put off by my camera.

With one turtle spotted, we wondered if we might find some more. They're fairly rare in this area. We've only seen turtles in the lake a couple of times before, but both times they were on an old fallen tree we call Turtle Log.
The lake's water level was higher than normal, so Turtle Log was under water, but on another fallen tree across from it, we saw another turtle. (That's #2 for those of you counting at home.)

This turtle quickly fell into the water, but as I had my video camera out just panning around the trees, Louise called out to me:

The turtle had climbed back on the log, and he was posing.

Wow, two turtles, and some otters! We could have gone home at that point and be satisfied with a great paddle. But the turtles had other ideas. We continued down the lake's arm and turtles starting popping up everywhere. (They were popping up slowly, mind you. They are turtles, after all.)
Number three...

Number four...

Number five...

We finally exited the arm, and headed back into the main body of the lake. The sun had come out and the day began to warm.

But even here, the turtles were about.
Numbers six and seven...

...okay, you'll have to trust me about number seven. He jumped off the rock he was sharing with number six before I got the picture.

These turtles were really fuzzy for some reason.

The reason is that they were actually goslings, not turtles. Mom and Dad gathered them up and took them on their way.

You think we didn't have a good paddle? Check out that smile!

Trip Length: 6.80 km
YTD: 88.08 km
More pictures are here.

2010.13.182 - Victoria MEC Paddlefest

2010-06-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

This time last year, a record-smashing heat-wave had just broken; this year, we've been waiting for Spring to start. We're into our third month of unseasonable cool temperatures. Yes, there's been the odd day when temperatures have climbed into high double digits and a mysterious burning yellow ball has been spotted in the sky, but the last few days, like many before them, ain't been anything special.
But today turned into a bright sunny and warm day. Often in this part of the world it seems like Spring only lasts a couple of weeks and we jump straight from Winter into Summer. This year, we seem to have skipped even that meager portion of Spring altogether, as today -- finally! -- felt like a summer's day. And that made it perfect for Louise and I to go to Cadboro Bay to check out the 2010 edition of the MEC Victoria Paddlefest.

After we checked out some of the information tents, including the fine folks at Ocean River, Straitwatch, SISKA, and Wavelength Magazine, we pulled on the neoprene and climbed into some demo boats.
After my rolling lesson last week, I couldn't help but notice that my instructor (as well as some of the instructors with SISKA who were sharing the pool with us) were using Valley kayaks. Hey, if they're good enough for the pros, they must be good enough for us pudknockers, eh? I headed out in an Aquanaut HV...

...while Louise tried a Nordkapp LV.

We found these boats to pretty well made and a decent ride. We both noticed that they had less initial stability then our much stabler (and wider) Deltas, something which Louise wasn't fond of but I didn't mind too much. I found it to be a bit of a tight fit, but I certainly wouldn't mind giving these boats another try. Louise, not so much.

Next, Louise tried the Delta Sixteen.

She currently paddles a Delta Seventeen which she really likes, but often feels a twinge of buyer's remorse and wishes she had waited until the Sixteen was available, often saying the the Seventeen is just slightly too big, while the Sixteen fits her like a glove.
Yeah, I know. How often do you hear of a kayaker who wants to trade down?

Then Louise gave the Necky Chatham 16 a whirl.

She liked it a lot and had it out on the water for a good while. She found it a little snug to get in, "...but once you're in, you're in." She liked it so much she almost flipped it. It's definitely been added to her wish list.

Next we tried the Seaward Infinti. I went out in the 175TX, Louise tried the shorter 155TX.

No question, this is a fun boat. It carves edges like a knife through low-fat margarine with no Trans Fats. There's no question you could get a lot of play out of this boat.
We tried a few more Seaward boats but with a little less success. I tried to get in to an Ascenté but I got stuck and then my legs started cramping. That wasn't any fun! And too bad, because it's a sweet looking ride.
Louise got into a Legend...

...and after about 10 seconds on the beach said, "No. I need to get out." Sometimes you just know right away.
But Seaward redeemed itself when Louise and I took out the Passat G3 tandem for a spin.

This kayak can motor! And fairly responsive for a boat of its size as well. I've never really given much thought to tandems, but this one certainly opened my eyes to the possibilities. Now if I could just stop Louise from splashing me in the face all the time....

Trip Length: 1.42 km
YTD: 81.28 km
More pictures are here.

2010.12.181 - Over and Out

2010-05-29T23:02:00.000-07:00

So the last time I took a rolling lesson, the instructor kept reminding us to be careful in our technique lest we dislocate our shoulders. Less than 24 hours later, I did all that and more to my left shoulder after taking a tumble on my bike.
Broke the arm in three places, broke a bone in the shoulder, assorted muscle and tendon damage, and, oh yes, dislocated the shoulder as well. Four hours of surgery.
To answer your question, it did hurt as bad as sounds.
But that was some time ago now, and I really should learn to roll one of these days.
And today was that day, as I headed down to Crystal Pool for a rolling lesson from the fine folks at Ocean River Sports.

Louise was manning the camera as my three classmates and I hit the water. Unfortunately we'd all forgotten to bring kayaks. So instead we practiced some paddle fu.

Well, no, I'm kidding we did bring kayaks. Our instructor began by demonstrating a couple of rolls, then we practiced some paddle strokes and grips that we would need for the roll. Then we finally entered our kayaks and practiced our hip flicks on the side of the pool.

The roll we were being taught was the Pawlata Roll also known as the Extended Roll, and I found this to be an interesting choice. There certainly doesn't seem to be any consistency in terms of what roll a newbie roller should learn first. The first rolling DVD I watched taught the sweep roll, the aforementioned lesson I previously took taught the C and C. (And now I can quite confidently say that I can do them all equally badly. Which is to say, hardly at all.)
Being upside can makes things very confusing. Here I confirm with the instructor which way is up.

This attempt didn't go so well...

...but this one got me out of the water. (Although the pictured roll attempt was not one of my best efforts, it was one of the best pictures. And yes, I noticed a lot of flex in that blade when I saw the picture, and that certainly isn't what should be happening.)

After numerous attempts, I'd say that I only landed a couple of rolls, and I know I didn't score any style points. But I did gain some experience with another type of roll, and I certainly got a sense of the technique involved. I was certainly able to tell during the course of a roll attempt when it was going well, and when it was going badly, and I was surprised how early on in an attempt that that distinction could be made. Clearly, it is a precise maneuver and that, as opposed to brute strength, is what will get you and your kayak upside right when you've both gone upside wrong. More practice is needed. Thetis Lake, anyone?

2010.11.180 - Green. But Not Necessarily With Envy.

2010-05-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

Look, if you don't like pictures of fuzzy little baby geese, you might as well stop now. If your cuteness absorption system is over saturated, just turn off the computer and walk away.
Don't say I didn't warn you.

On this fine and lovely Victoria Day, Louise, Paula and I put in for a jaunt around Telegraph Bay. Although skies looking somewhat threatening to the east, the weather forecasters were assuring all that there would be no rain to spoil the parade (when you live in a city called Victoria, there has to be a parade on Victoria Day), and weather that's good enough for parade watchers is good enough for kayakers as well.

We checked out the geese on the beach as we loaded up...

...and headed out.

Almost immediately, Louise began to complain about the seat in her Delta. She'd wanted to make some adjustments to it before we launched but had forgotten, and she was having trouble making any adjustments now that we were underway. But she gamely pressed on.

We were being pushed along by a flood tide and a slight breeze, nothing crazy or severe but we were noticing that the water was getting a little squirrelly here, as if it didn't know which way to go. We have encountered odd wave action along this shore before. We surmise that as the current comes around Ten Mile Point behind us on a flood, it must bounce off the rocks and reflect back on itself somehow, just enough to sometimes not feel quite right.

Just ahead of me, Louise and Paula were heading for a small beach nestled in a rocky cove. I thought that Louise had finally had enough of her misbehaving seat and was going to put in and make some quick repairs or adjustments, but as I beached beside her I saw that see was a slight shade of jade, while Paula was positively emerald.
Louise said she was more or less okay, but Paula was not doing as well. And so while Louise and I futzed with her seat, Paula quietly excused herself and yakked into the surf.

After a few moments for recovery, we tried to figure out what was going on. Paula's inner ear had gone wonky (a chronic condition) in the oddly churning water. Louise had also felt unsure in the conditions, and said she'd been shaking by the time she hit the beach. To be sure, it was confused water, but it certainly wasn't very rough. We've paddled rougher water in this very spot. But somehow the conditions, a seemingly innocuous following tide with a slight swell and a breeze, were just right to hit the sweet spot in Paula's and Louise's nausea controls. (Or the un-sweet spot, I guess.) "Chittering," was the word Paula used to describe it, "the water was chittering about, just sort of vibrating and not sure where it wanted to go."
We carefully headed out, and the water seemed a little calmer as we made the return trip.

But as we returned to slowly to the beach we had launched from...

...came the part you were warned about: baby geese!

Three families of geese were all over our exit point, so we happily drifted for a few minutes, cameras snapping away.

Finally, the geese started giving us the evil eye. That means it's time to go!

Trip Length: 6.75 km
YTD: 79.86 km
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

Bonus Quiz!
One of These Birds Doesn't Belong!
Can You Guess Which One?

2010.10.179 - Warning: Cuteness Quotient Exceeded

2010-05-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

Louise and I wheeled our kayaks down the hill for a quick Sunday paddle up The Gorge this morning.

Our plan was to go into Portage Inlet and discover if the swans we saw nesting last month have had their eggs hatch yet, and discover if there were any little baby swans swimming around.
But first, only minutes after we put in, this heron posed for us.

A few minutes later, we saw our first signs that were baby birds around. You can see a the back of a baby goose as it has its head down in the lawn.

We passed another heron. No, he's not drunk -- he's hunting. Some birds with eyes on either side on their head turn their head to one side if they are intently watching something. In his case, he was intently watching his breakfast-to-be.

In Portage Inlet, we passed by the nesting swans. Mom was still hunkered down while dad kept watch, so not much change from when we last checked in with them a month ago. It's possible the chicks had hatched and were under mom, but clearly this was something that we were not going to try to find out.

But we were starting to wonder about the geese. Last year by this time we had seen tons of baby geese but with the exception of our sighting earlier in the paddle, we hadn't seen any at all this year. We've seen the occasional one doing yoga...

...but so far very babies. We were wondering if the late spring had had some effect on goose birth rates, but we soon realized we had nothing to worry about. We paddled into a small estuary...

...and found where the baby geese were.

It looked like lots of baby geese were around, and some baby ducks as well. Better still, we didn't spot any eagles, which sucked for me as an amateur photographer, but was good news for all the feathered families in the estuary.

Then we passed by another heron.

But was it really a different heron? Heck, for all I know it could have been the same heron following us the whole day!

Finally we discovered this seagull, who clearly wanted to be the captain of his own destiny. Either that or he was tired of flying.

Trip length: 9.15 km
YTD: 73.11
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2010.09.178 - Vancouver Island Paddlefest

2010-05-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

A warm sunny day today -- a perfect day to head up to Ladysmith for the 2010 version of Vancouver Island Paddlefest, an annual celebration of paddling and spending money on gear.
Louise, Marlene and I drove up from Victoria, while Paula and Bernie planned to take the train up. Tracy was up island on other kayak-related business, so she drove down and spent some time at Paddlefest as well. Richard was busy elsewhere this weekend, so it gave us a good chance to talk about him behind his back.

Almost as soon as we arrived, however, the day turned surreal and amazing. As we stepped out of the car and began walking towards the beach, the couple in the next car stopped us. "Excuse me, are you John?" they asked. When I replied that I was, they said that they recognized my voice from the videos posted here on the blog! Holy smokes -- our first encounter with fans! And me without my stack of 8x10 autographed glossies! As it turns out they were from Medicine Hat but they used to live in Victoria (in fact, not far from where Louise and I live now) and they like to read the blog to keep up on kayaking activities in their old home town. (They also follow Richard's blog but they noted that he seems to disappear for weeks at a time. See? I told you we were talking Richard behind his back.)
We bid them adieu and began our initial reconnoiter of the beach. The first thing we saw were these amazing wooden kayaks....

...built by 8 Dragon kayaks on Gabriola Island. Gorgeous boats. My pictures do not do them justice.

Next we checked out Delta Kayak's new rotomolded twin-hulled sit-on-top, the Catfish.

By this time Paula, Bernie and Tracy had arrived. We told them about the couple from Medicine Hat as everyone gave the Catfish a good grope.

After that, it was time to hit the water and try boats!

Paula, as usual, was first in the water.

At first, Louise and I took out some Current Design boats, trying various permutations of the Solstice family, the GTS, the GT and the GT Titan. (I made a big list of about 20 boats I was hoping to try -- the Solstice was the only one on my list on the beach.)

They didn't make any really impression on us. Not to say they were bad boats -- they're clearly not, they're well made and kitted out -- but they just weren't the boats for us. Louise found that they seemed to hit her in a tender spot in her hips and that made them uncomfortable for her to sit in. I found them acceptable but uninspiring. But that's just us. Your mileage may vary.

Next, she tried a Current Design Storm, while Paula took out a new Advanced Elements model, the Airfushion.

Louise had wanted to try a Storm for a while now, as she has admired the look of them for many years, but again she found something in the way her hips connected with the boat to very uncomfortable.
Paula on the other hand found the Airfushion quick and sporty, for an inflatable anyway.

Then Louise tried a Valley Aquanaut.

She liked it, but it was probably too large a model for her to really get a feel on it. I'd wanted to try some Valley kayaks as well but there was a dearth of them on the beach. Next year, more Valley, please!

Then Paula took out an Old Town Vapor, or she jokingly referred to it, The Deathtrap.

See how dangerous it is? People were falling over just to get out of her way!
Why Paula calls this a "deathtrap" is that the kayak is just sea-worthy enough that she can visualize young or inexperienced paddlers having a lot of fun in this boat up to the point that they get into a lot of trouble in it. (She's the mother of twins. She knows all about this sort of thing.) On the plus side, there is a version of the Vapor that is made from 100% recycled post-industrial plastic.

After watching Mike Jackson and his friend do a rolling demonstration, we tried some Wilderness Systems kayaks.

I went out in a Tempest 180 Pro, while Louise was in a Zephyr 160 Pro. I gotta say these were the best boats we tried all day. We found them to be quick and nimble, and Louise didn't experience any hip issues, and thought it was the best fit of what we tried.

Having had enough paddling, Louise and I moved out of the water and out of the way of the rolling lesson...

...and changed back into our dry land clothes, where we caught up with Paula and Bernie who were having a late lunch with the couple from Medicine Hat! It seems that Paula and Bernie got recognized, too!

Soon our attention was drawn to a strange-looking craft in the parking lot....

...a Huki S1-R Surfiski with Gullwing outriggers. I immediately knew that I needed at least three of these. Why I would need them, I had no idea, except that they are awesome cool looking.

And finally the day drew to a close, and the last thing to do was to win a door prize, something we do every year here. No, really. I kid you not. Our luck with these things here is phenomenal. The last four years we've won hats, t-shirts, a dry bag, and a PFD.
And the streak continued as Louise won a free double kayak rental from Sealegs Kayaking in Ladysmith. So it looks like another trip up here is in the future sometime this summer!

Trip length: 2.5 km
YTD: 63.96
More pictures are here.

2010.08.177 - The Kind Of Day We Live For

2010-05-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

This was the kind of day we live for.
We had spring in winter, then winter for the first part of spring. But now it looks like summer might finally be approaching as we had a paddling day under clear warm skies for the first time since I don't know when.

Before we began, Louise and Paula compared toe-nail colours. Louise was in teal and Paula in silver. My toe-nails were going commando.

Tracy joined us as well (she declined to mention what colour her toe-nails were), and the four of us put in at Cadboro Bay for a paddle out to Chatham and Discovery Islands. We were facing a mild flood tide that wasn't really going to amount to anything, a perfect day to explore this small off shore island group.

At Chatham, we noodled around and explored. We thought we saw Richard paddling ahead of us. He was supposed to join us for today's paddle, but by the time we were ready to launch there was no sign of him. (Were his toe-nails still wet? If that was the case, they must have dried eventually because he did make it out after us.)

Whoever it was, we never caught up to him.
We paddled between Chatham and Discovery, then decided to do what we call the Grand Tour and cross over to the Chain Islands.

Here, we saw a few seals. We gave them a wide clearance as it's seal birthing season.

From there we returned to Cadboro Bay for a happy landing...

...and a big cup of coffee.

Trip length: 12.73 km
YTD: 61.46
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2010.07.176 - Cadboro Bay to Willows Beach. And Back as Well.

2010-04-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

We headed to Cadboro Bay beach for a quickie today as Paula had some other plans for later in the day. Louise and I geared up...

...while as usual Paula hit the water first.

Not many pictures today as I forgot my waterproof camera at home, and just had my big camera that I was hauling in and out of my camera bag. And there just wasn't much out to take pictures of as most of the ocean critters seemed to be sleeping in on this cloudy Sunday morning.

We headed down towards Willows Beach and around Mary Tod Island.

Our course took us past the expensive mansions of the Uplands district of Oak Bay. Here we discovered the secret of how families were able to afford these multi-million dollar homes. They keep their children locked in cages in their back yards where they perform clandestine anti-gravity experiments on them.

Trip length: 8.89 km
YTD: 48.73
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2010.06.175 - Splish Splash, Camera's Taking a Bath

2010-04-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

Louise and I rolled our kayaks down the hill to the Gorge for a paddle with Paula and Marlene....

...but they were looking like no-shows, so we launched without them and headed towards Portage Inlet.

I was loaded up with camera gear, including a camera mounted high on my rear deck shooting interval shots. I set it to take a picture every ten seconds, and come back home with a few hundred dull pictures and a few interesting ones.

We saw some cormorants drying their wings in a tree.

We also watched this swan chasing geese away from his nesting mate. He's not actually doing any chasing in this shot, but this is what he looked like when he was, head lowered like a battering ram.

These geese were nesting just a few metres away from the swans. For some reason the swan left this couple alone.

We entered Craigflower Creek. We were facing an ebbing tide, but I was hoping to get up to the tunnel at the end of the creek, thinking that I might get some interesting shots with the deck cam. But it all depended on the water level. Too low, and we would not get around the fallen tree.

And that was the case. If the water level is high enough, you can sneak around this tree on the right. But no luck today.
So I began paddling backwards and the deck cam hit some branches...

...and off it came.

I heard a splash, looked down, and saw my home-made camera mount and my camera slowly sinking into the muddy waters. Before they disappeared out of sight, I reached down and grabbed it...

...and as I fished it out of the water it took my picture. I'm not sure why the mount failed, but I suspect it was loose and then got caught in a branch and torqued.

The Pentax Optio W60 -- take's a licking and keeps on clicking (although it would be nice if the batteries lasted longer).

We headed back and found that Paula and Marlene had indeed shown up and had their own paddling adventure.

Trip length: 10.13 km
YTD: 39.84
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2010.05.174 - More Wind

2010-04-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

As Louise and I were approaching a period of ten days off work starting with Good Friday, the weather forecast at the time looked rather bleak. Eight days of rain, followed by a day of rain and snow. The only decent day in the forecast was April 11, tomorrow, which unfortunately was no good for us as we had already planned some inside activities for that day. So much for kayaking plans.

The weather didn't quite follow through on this prediction. It did start with the Good Friday wind storm, a once-a-decade kind of storm, but afterwards not every day was a rainy day. Just most of them. The rest were windy. And the snow came one day early. There wasn't much, and it didn't stay long. But it snowed just the same.

Today was looking like another windy day. A gusty 20 knot breeze was coming down from the north east as we met Paula at Cadboro Bay, and so despite the fact the currents were with us, for us wimpy paddlers it was looking like maybe we weren't going to cross over to Chatham Island after all as per our plan.

But even a short paddle would give me a chance to try some new gear -- my new Werner Kalliste 230 paddle...

... and my new Sanyo Xacti HD waterproof camcorder (although in the video below I misspeak and call it a Sony. Nope, it's a Sanyo).

We went along the south side of Ten Mile Point...

...but when we got to Flower Island the wind was getting worse, so we decided to move around to the light at the end of the point. There we could see that Baynes Channel was roiling and rocking. No doubt it would be fun for some kayakers (and we saw some heading out) but we followed the advice of another kayaker we met on the beach while we were gearing up who said, "I want to come home at the end of the day."

So we turned and headed back. A short paddle is better than no paddle.

How'd the new gear work? I like the new paddle a lot. I didn't feel the usual shoulder strain or fatigue out there. This paddle is slightly shorter than my other paddle, a straight shaft Aqua-Bound 240cm and after today I think that it may have been too long for me. The new Werner at 230cm just seemed to allow me to have an easier and more natural rhythm. I did notice that sometimes when I was starting off it would stutter or shudder. I'm not sure what was happening...was the wind shaking the paddle? Or did I have the paddle at too high an angle? I suspect I might be digging it in too steeply when I begin paddling from a stationary position. No big deal, it only happened a couple of times, but I've not felt that with my other paddles.
And the video camera? Another case of so far so good. For close in work and medium shots, it seems to be pretty nice. For longer zooms, well, not sure yet. Needs a little more experimentation. Check out the video below.

Trip length: 5.91 km
YTD: 29.71
More pictures are here.

2010.04.173 - Gone With The Wind

2010-03-13T18:11:00.000-08:00

Whoooeee, did we have fun! We knew we were running a bit of a risk with the weather by planning a paddle for today. As much as the last few weeks have felt like summer, the last week has not, and it even snowed Friday morning, although it didn't stick in town. And although Saturday was sandwiched between two fronts, we really wanted to paddle today as the currents were perfect for a jaunt out of Cadboro Bay and over to Chatham and Discovery Islands -- a slight ebb, almost slack. Last evening's check of the weather reports looked good, too -- the system that had brought the snow had moved on, leaving a clear and calm evening that looked like it might hold through the morning.
But the weather report this morning looked a little less promising. Winds were up higher than forecast, but there were no warnings up and the wind was expected to not be too bad. Also, it was due from the southwest, so we should be somewhat protected in the south-east facing Cadboro Bay.
Ha! Those would be what you call Famous Last Words!
The wind was blowing in from the south-east -- what the hell? No report was predicting south-east winds! Louise and I arrived at the beach to survey the scene. A crossing to Chatham seemed doubtful today. We were wondering what Paula would think of the conditions but just then she hit the beach pulling her kayak with a big grin. No, actually she was pulling her kayak with a pair of wheels, but she was wearing a big grin. Well, you know what I mean. She'd already checked out the waves and was raring to go have some fun.
Richard pulled up and said no, this wasn't for him. He doesn't like to paddle in conditions like this on purpose. He prefers to have them sneak up on him unexpectedly. He figured the winds were blowing 20 knots. But he did shoot this little clip of us as we launched:

But the rest of us were game to go. A sheltered bay like this is the perfect place to play in rough conditions and expand your comfort zone.

We headed out the south side of Ten Mile Point. Our idea was to head out to the end of the Point to visually check just what the conditions were really like out there between us and Chatham. But progress was slow. The wind was straight in our faces. We gamely pressed on.

I can't tell if my companions are enjoying themselves or cursing. They may be doing both. I'll let you be the judge.

We finally decided enough was enough, and we swung around a small island near Sheep Cove to head back. There were some great surfing waves here, then a brief and calm reprieve before the wind pushed us back out in to the bigger waves.

We headed back to the beach, and a lot faster than we headed out! As we approached the beach, we knew we were having too much fun to quit yet, so we headed out again, this time along the Yacht Club side of the bay.

We took a little break by paddling inside the small breakwater, then we turned and headed back to the beach.

The wind had picked a bit and the waves were a little higher. (Checking the weather reports later, it looks we were getting 30 kmh winds from the south-east, right at our backs at this point, the height of the wind storm).

Louise had moved off to the left and become a little separated from Paula and I. Still, everything seemed to be going well. But as Louise neared the beach, I looked over towards her and saw nothing but the white bottom of her kayak. Louise had Maytaged in the surf! I'll let her continue the story:

"Paddling back from Yacht Club, John was being sweep keeping behind Paula and I. It was hard to keep an eye on Paula and know where John was as well while battling the waves which to me seemed much higher than when we had ridden them back from the other side of the bay earlier. I kept paddling but noticed that I was quickly getting separated from Paula and John. It was just best to head back to shore rather than paddle across the waves to meet up with Paula and John. As I came closer to shore, using the skeg to keep as straight as possible, my speed accelerated and it was time to get the skeg up. I think that's when everything happened in a rapid sequence of events: pull cord to get skeg up, wave hits from behind, kayak starts to surf, come closer into shore, surf is now more powerful, kayak turns on side and dumps me out. It wasn't deep water at all -- I pulled my skirt pull tab, floated out of the kayak and didn't get wet below my waist. Everything stayed on the deck, only my gear bag unclipped and started to float away. My paddle leash got twisted around my ankle causing me to almost trip. The kayak on the other hand was upside down. By this time Paula and John arrived, and we turned the kayak over and dumped out a ton of water. No injuries, just one cold wet person and some soaked gear."

Okay, so her Maytag may have only been set on slow rinse rather than spin, but still she pulled through with flying colours. Paula and I quickly beached and made sure she and her boat were okay. Then we packed up and headed out for a much deserved, and much needed, warm drink.

Trip length: 4.36 km
YTD: 23.80
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2010.03.172 Cadboro Bay to Willows Beach

2010-03-06T20:33:00.001-08:00

It's summer in March. By the time we hit the water it was already 8C, despite the fact there had been frost on the car in the morning. Officially the temp today would reach 12C but it must have been warmer -- people were out in shorts and t-shirts.
Louise, Richard and I were dressed a little more warmly as we took the gorgeous weather to mean only one thing -- time to hit the water!

We put in at Cadboro Bay, but we weren't sure what to expect. The tide charts were suggesting the ebb current would be quite strong today and the weather reports indicated a slight breeze from the north, with no wind warnings posted. But on the beach it was clear that the northerlies were more than a slight breeze. It wasn't blowing a gale or anything like that, but it was stronger than we had been expecting. We decided to head along Ten Mile Point and noodle through the rocks and see what conditions were like at the point.

Near the point, the breeze was still blowing and we could see that the water out in the channel was bumpy but no overly so. Where was the current?
Richard and I amused ourselves by taking pictures of each other. (The other side of the equations is here.)

At the point, we could see that Baynes Channel was pretty rough. We sneaked a look around the point and could see small breakers off Telegraph Bay, another put-in in this area. So clearly the current was running in Baynes, but it really wasn't coming down where we were. I quickly grabbed a few snaps of Mount Baker.

From there we turned and headed south. Richard wanted to ride the current down to the Chain Islands, but Louise declined. Her stomach was doing the heebie jeebies and she didn't feel like venturing too far from shore. So Richard headed off and Louise and I headed along shore, with plans to meet Richard near Willows Beach.
Richard made it to the Chains, but all he got pictures of were seagulls. He missed the eagle on Jemmy Jones Island.

This is my first time out with my new Olympus e510 that I picked up used over the winter. I was using a 140-600mm zoom lens on it, and I have to say that I wasn't sure about it. It was a big lens and hard to hold, especially in the bobbing kayak. I took about eight pictures of the eagle and I was sure that most of them would be blurred because of the motion of the kayak and the extreme magnification. But I was amazed how well the eagle shots turned out. If nothing else the Olympus has insanely good image stabilization. I'm still not sure about taking it out on rough water days -- I'll think I'll stick to my smaller Sony DSC-H9 for that -- but on a lake or a flat sea, the Olympus may become my weapon of choice.

We met up with Richard and started back. We weren't the only kayakers out today, as we spotted two other groups on the water.

And who could blame them? What a gorgeous day it was. Even the herons were enjoying it!

Trip length: 11.22 km
YTD: 19.44 km
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2010.02.171 - Telegraph Bay

2010-02-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

The winds were up higher than forecast, and a stiff breeze was blowing right off the water into the usually sheltered Telegraph Bay and our planned launch point.

So we decided to stick to the bay. Louise is not a confident paddler and abhors the wind and Paula has inner ear issues and occasional balance troubles and she abhors rough water, so it was a good chance to safely practice paddling in windier conditions than we normally do. Richard however abhors anything with the word "practice" in it and set out by himself on a quest to find calmer waters. (He eventually found a new car.)

One of the things we did was practice something I had read early in the week over at The Gnarlydog. There, he posed a question to a number of experienced kayakers: In the event that I should be caught out on the water in a group of 6-8 paddlers (too far from shore to be reached in time) what would be my best way to ride out a short storm? The post makes for an interesting read and I recommend you check it out. Nigel Foster suggested a couple of training exercises, including this one.

"Another useful practice session in similar conditions is to paddle a figure-of-eight path around two anchored floats. It gives practice in turning in every direction to the wind and shows how effectively you can control the kayak in that strength of wind. The more practice, usually the quicker and more effectively you can do it without getting blown onto the beach."

And that's exactly what we had here in the bay. There were a couple of floats out that we did some figure eights around.

We went to the edge of the bay and enjoyed surfing the waves back in.

We also saw otters (I couldn't get any pictures), 3 deer (I couldn't get any pictures), and two eagles arguing over a tree (yeah, that's right -- no pictures). But we did see some geese, and I did get a picture. (Fortunately, these geese were of the pacifist variety, unlike this one.)

Finally came the best part of the day, a warm drink at Olive Olio's!

Trip length: 2.18 km
YTD: 8.22
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2010.01.170 - Thetis Lake

2010-02-14T19:21:00.000-08:00

It was supposed to be sunny, but last night's wind and rain storm hadn't quite finished passing through and when the dawn broke, it did so behind wet grey clouds. Which was okay actually, because we hadn't really planned for a major excursion today. Today was the first time out with our new paddle wheels, so all we wanted to do was a quick jaunt somewhere to work out the bugs of loading and unloading the kayaks onto our new (to us) vehicle. Of the other regulars, Richard was also only interested in a quick paddle and Paula was spending the day helping a friend in a flower shop sell Valentine's Day flowers. Richard had suggested Thetis Lake, and after a long lay-off from the water this seemed like a fine idea to Louise and I.
We were able to work out the transportation kinks and I think this is going to turn out to be a fine kayaking vehicle.

At Thetis, we quickly put in and started paddling. There wasn't much in the way of wildlife around, just this dogfish.

The reason why the animals weren't around became plainly obvious a few minutes into our paddle as the sky ripped open and we were pelted with rain. Cold winds whipped up as well and we laughed at our lousy weather luck.

The windy squall was brief and a few minutes later the sun finally dealt the clouds a fatal blow. A modest beginning, but my 2010 paddling season is finally underway.

Trip length: 6.04 km
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

Paddle Stats 2009

2009-12-29T22:01:00.000-08:00

Here's how this year compares to past years (in percentage of paddling days):

Some things to note:
- It was a sunnier year, up 15% from last year and double the sunshine of the crappy weather year we had in 2007.
- Interestingly, days that are just cloudy show a decidedly downward trend. Of course, that shouldn't be a surprise this year with all the sunshine, but interestingly this trend occurred doing years when sunshine was down.
- Weather-related cancellations were down this year probably for a couple of reasons. First, as we have gained experience we have ventured out into weather conditions that we might not have before, and we've been become a little more adept at planning safer Plan B paddles when the weather forecasts aren't looking so good. Second, my definition of a weather-related cancellation for this chart is if we'd made plans to paddle, and on the day of the paddle we've decided the conditions weren't acceptable. This year we changed tactics slightly and didn't even bother making plans some weekends based on the forecast. So those occasions wouldn't have counted as cancellations and that may have skewed the figures a bit. (The decision to cancel a paddle can be made at the launch site, or in while still in bed under the blankets and listening to the radio. Many a paddle has been cancelled this way. Especially in December. But I digress.)

None of this is terribly scientific of course, but it is interesting to see long term trends, even if they are as subjective as this.

I hit the water 38 times this year. Not as much as I would have liked, as I was held off the water by eye surgery at the start of the year, and some minor back issues at the end of the year, as well as the van blowing up, essentially leaving us vehicle-less for kayaking purposes. Still, not a bad total as some unlucky people never get on the water.

You may well be asking yourself just how far I've paddled over my short paddling career. Or you may well be asking yourself if you want a cheese sandwich. Actually, I really don't know what you're asking yourself -- what am I, a mind reader?
The answer to how far I've paddled is 1162 km. You can see the yearly breakdown on this handy dandy chart:

Now it's time to see about getting some wheels so we can get those kayaks back in the water. However you are on your own for that cheese sandwich.

2009.38.169 - Spawning On Sunday

2009-10-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

After a couple of weeks off, we return to the waters of The Gorge.

We are deep into autumn now. Many of the tress on the We(s)t Coast are evergreens so we don't see the dramatic changes in leave colours that occurs further east in Ontario and Quebec, but if you look carefully you see some shades of yellow and a splash of red here and there.

Richard returned after a summer of sailing, bike riding, and scootering. Something had to give and it turned out to be kayaking, but he's here today under a cool but sunny sky, putting his boat in the water and about to discover if he remembers how to do any of this kayaking stuff.
While Louise and Paula got ready, Richard and I took a quick paddle down to Tillicum Bridge to check out the current.

We rejoined Paula and Louise and started down towards Portage Inlet. It wasn't long until Paula spotted....

...a deer on the shore. Louise and I saw a deer in our backyard a couple of days ago, and today we saw this one across The Gorge on the edge of a house construction site. I'm not sure if it's the same one; this one seems to have a bigger rack on it. Although there are lots of trees, shrubs and green space in this area, it is an urban area so I hope these deer are able to find their way back to a more suitable area before they become someone's hood ornament. And I hope we leave enough land undeveloped so they don't have to come wandering into urban areas looking for food.

And soon after that we saw cormorants in a tree. One was posing in a very seasonal Hallowe'en style. Was he trying on his bat costume? Maybe he thought he should go as a cat this year and was trying his best to make himself look big.
Most likely he was just drying his wings. But they must have been very wet because he kept them outstretched like that for the entire time it took us to paddle by him.

As we moved into Portage Inlet from The Gorge, we noticed how high the water was. We were on a flood tide, plus we'd just had a couple of days of monsoon rain. So conditions were right to try to paddle up Colquitz Creek.

Richard and I pulled a little further ahead, but soon the way was blocked with brambles and bushes...

...and since none of us had machetes handy, we headed back.

Back in Portage Inlet, we found the swan family, two adults and three juveniles, enjoying the lovely morning.

With the water high, we decided to head to Craigflower Creek and see if we could get around the tree trunk and into the tunnel. We had tried a couple of months ago, but our big boats couldn't sneak through the narrow channel between the tree trunk and the shore. But it appeared that since then part of the bank collapsed just enough that we poke our way through. Richard made it through...

...as did Louise.

Then the tunnel awaited.

It goes under the Trans Canada Highway just east of Helmcken Road. The highway is about six or seven lanes wide at this point.

We made it through to the other side....

...when Paula said that she saw a fish swim by. Louise saw one, too. I saw a splash. Oh crap, it's a salmon stream! Coho salmon were taking a break here before heading further upstream to spawn. We quickly turned around...

....and headed back down the tunnel.

As we paddled back towards the inlet, the surprise discovery of salmon in this stream (and it is a surprise -- 40 years ago The Gorge was so polluted you would rarely find any fish in it, let alone salmon) also solved another mystery we were seeing today -- harbour seals. We'd seen four or five seals in The Gorge today heading into Portage Inlet. Seeing the occasional seal in The Gorge is not unheard of, but today it was almost like rush hour. We realized that they were chasing the salmon. In fact we saw a couple of seals splashing around hunting down some salmon on the far side of the inlet. No pictures, alas.

Trip Length: 16.11 km
YTD: 336.25
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2009.37.168 - The Gorge Redux

2009-09-27T21:20:00.001-07:00

Another sunny Sunday, another paddle in The Gorge. With no solution to the dead van problem, we are still limited to the home waters of The Gorge. Paula joined Louise and I for another paddle under clear warm skies.

We headed down to the narrows at Tillicum Bridge and paddled through. Today there was just a small current flooding current, and not the often seen roaring rapids.

We weren't the only paddlers out. This outrigger canoe passed us a few times, and we saw other kayakers enjoying this gorgeous Autumn weekend. There won't be many more weekends like this so we better enjoy them when they happen.

There were lots of geese out today. I'm guessing that a lot were passing through on their way south, although there is a sizable number who live here all year.

And later, we caught up with the local swan family. We were a little concerned as we saw the parents and only two of the (now very large) baby swans. We'd seen all five swans last weekend, so we eared that something might have happened to the other baby swan.

But a few minutes later we found the final baby feeding on his own. It looks like he's all grown up now and has moved out of his parents' basement.

Trip Length: 8.91 km
YTD: 320.14
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2009.36.167 - The Gorge

2009-09-20T20:35:00.001-07:00

The last weekend of summer. And a glorious weekend it was. Warm temperatures, clear skies, calm winds. All weekends should be like this.
The only downside is that with the death of the van last week, we temporarily have no wheels to take our kayaks anywhere. But perhaps I should amend that. We have no motorized wheels to take our kayaks anywhere; we do have our kayak wheel carts to push our kayaks down the hill to launch on the Gorge. Paula and her inflatable joined Louise and I in our Deltas for a paddle under bright sunny skies.

We saw this cormorant high up in this tree, usually at the height where the eagles sit. Speaking of eagles, we've hardly seen any around the last few weeks. We think they're probably congregating near salmon streams for some easy pickings as the salmon are now running upriver to spawn.

These ducks found a nice spot to sit and laze away the day.

As we moved into Portage Inlet, we saw the swans floating towards us....

...but they weren't coming to us, but to a family that had called them over to give them a little breakfast. These just might be the best-fed swans on the planet.

The cat looked on jealously.
Then the cat soon became interested in me: a huge half-person, half-fish. I bet he thought that he could feed on me for a year.

We wandered up Colquitz Creek to Admirals Road where this new bridge is being built. It was supposed to have opened two weeks ago, but it's still closed. It looks finished. Skateboarders are enjoying the new pavement on it.

On the way back, this heron posed for a few quick snaps.

As we neared the end of our paddle we spotted Brian and Marie on their recumbent tandem, and Brian hopes to join us for a paddle next week.

Trip Length: 8.14 km
YTD: 311.23
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

2009.35.166 - The Last Roundup

2009-09-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling like an old man for the last few days. I've been troubled by some low level back spasms, something that's never bothered me before, which naturally leaves me wondering if this is just a minor injury or strain that will heal in a few days, or is this the start of chronic middle-age stiffness and the slow start of declining abilities and health. I also seem to have banged my right foot on something and bruised the underneath of it which is causing me a bit of a limp which is obviously not helping my back at all. Even worse, I can't remember when or how I banged my foot, so clearly my memory is rapidly failing me as well. Alzheimer's can't be far behind.
Through a bit of a communication gaffe, we ended up paddling on Saturday instead of our usual Sunday paddle, but it was probably all for the best as Saturday was terrific for paddling, a gorgeous late summer day that was warm and full of sunshine.
We decided to head up-Island to Ladysmith. And although we have been there many times before for the annual Vancouver Island Paddlefest, we've never gone there and explored the area.
The start of our journey involves driving north from Victoria along Highway 1 over the Malahat Summit (what we locals call "over the 'Hat"). You can see from this picture taken at the summit that you make quite a climb considering that the drive from Victoria starts at sea level. Keep that thought in mind -- we'll get back to it.
You can also see in the photo some of our other paddling places in Saanich Inlet. The island across the inlet is what we call among ourselves 15 Minute Island (because it always seems about 15 minutes away) but is really called Senanus Island. The cove to its right is Brentwood Bay and further down to the right behind the trees is Finlayson Arm.

We arrived at Ladysmith and our put in at Transfer Beach. Sealegs Kayaking operates right on the beach and it looked like they were doing a rip-roaring business renting kayaks.

Soon we were in the water and underway. Paula and Bernie had rented a vehicle from the Victoria Car Share Co-op and Louise and I used my van, so we were able to get all four big boats on the water today, and it was well worth the effort. We crossed the inlet to the far side and meandered around the islands.

The islands seem to be made mostly of sandstone. It's so odd to see solid rock with holes like a sponge and as bubbly as an Aero bar. And yet, here we were surrounded by these beautiful formations.

We found long shelves of sandstone that paralleled the shoreline, and at the water line these shelves seemed to have been compressed to the thickness of paper or cardboard.

Then Bernie had what he called "a serious WTF moment."

Looking down he discovered a trailer sitting in the water just off a small uninhabited island. Go figure.

Bernie's back was bothering him, so he returned early. Louise, Paula and I pressed on to Coffin Island...

...then made our way back to Transfer Beach.

As we put in, Bernie, feeling better now that he was moving about a bit, cheerfully told us how he'd holed his kayak while loading it on their rented van. A small hole, about a couple of centimeters square, but a hole just the same. He was so cheerful about it, however, that we were wondering if he was overmedicating on his pain meds. But no, he was fine and looking forward to repairing it. I mentioned out loud that it might be a good article for the blog (hint hint).
After a quick bite from the concession stand, it was time to return to Victoria. Louise and I bid good-bye to Paula and Bernie as they were going to hang out in Ladysmith a little while longer.
As Louise and I headed south, we got closer to the Malahat and the climb we and the van would have to make. Leaving Victoria heading north, as we had done in the morning, the climb is long and mostly gradual, but heading south, as we were doing now, the climb is a quick and steep ascent. It has claimed many a car. It was about to claim another.
As we started up the hill the van responded fine, but about half-way up, an unusual knock started in the engine. As we crested the summit, the van began losing power, and the knock grew louder. Louise and I exchanged worried looks. Getting stuck here, halfway between nowhere and nothing was going to make a long day even longer. We made the summit and we began the long downhill. The van seemed to have enough power to handle flat stretches, and I was hoping we could nurse it home, but another small hill loomed and that was the end of that.
The knocking increased and suddenly something snapped. It sounded like something broke free in the engine and fell off, but we never found anything.
A loud bang, total loss of power, puffs of smoke. None of these things were good.
I pulled the van over and we jumped clear. Something had gone seriously wrong under the hood. Smoke was coming off the engine, and we quickly began preparing to off load as much gear as we could and our kayaks onto the shoulder of the highway. But soon the smoke cleared, and any immediate danger passed. We were just stuck on a dangerous and busy highway with a dead van carrying two kayaks on its roof.

We phoned for a tow truck -- it was going the cost the equivalent of the national debt to tow the van back to Victoria. But what else could we do? Paula and Bernie drove up a few moments later and they offered to take Louise and some gear back to town while I waited for the tow truck. They scrounged up all their half-drained water bottles and left them with me as they took Louise back to town.
Soon the tow truck arrived and I told to the driver to take it my house. The van looked to be in a sorry state as she was loaded up for the trip home.

My father bought the van new in 1981, and when he passed away eight years ago, it became mine, and since I discovered kayaking four years ago it has served yeoman's duty in transporting my gear and myself, as well as my fellow paddlers. But like me these past few days, it has been feeling its age the last few years. It has served my family well, but it has served its time. After some expensive transmission repairs last year, it is just not worth sinking more money into it. And from the loud bangs, I'm sure that whatever's wrong will cost major moola.
The tow truck operator hooked up to the van, and I climbed into the cab of his truck. My faithful steed made its last trip home empty and alone.

Trip length: 11.74 km
YTD: 303.09
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.