2012.17.242 - Esquimalt Shores

It might very well be summer's last gasp, but you wouldn't know it from the sunny weather this week. Today's daytime high temperature was a smidge off the record, but we'll get another crack at it tomorrow. Then we'll cool off to more normal temperature readings over the weekend. That figures.
Louise and I are also enjoying our last gasp of vacation time and today we headed out from Albert Head, one of our favourite launch points. Usually we head southwest along the coast towards to Witty's Lagoon, but today we decided to head northeast towards Esquimalt Harbour.


But before we headed that way, we watched an otter family playing in the water.

The otters finally noticed us and swam away. It was only then that we realized that one of the otters was actually a small baby seal. It nervously checked out Louise's boat before sliding beneath the surface and swimming away.

A couple of seals watched us from shore.


We discovered what the otters were fishing for. No, not the jellyfish, although that was pretty cool, but the little fish. The little cove was swarming with them. No wonder the otters were out!


The otters climbed the rocks headed into the brush. We think there were five of them in all.


From there, we began our paddle towards Esquimalt in earnest. Mind you, we had to paddle past a few seals first.



The shoreline is mostly a long pebbly beach. Eventually the shoreline behind the beach gives way to Esquimalt Lagoon, and across the lagoon is world-famous Hatley Castle, which you may recognize as Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in the X-Men films.


At the Fort Rodd Hill lighthouse, we were planning to turn into Esquimalt Harbour....

...but as I looked across the entrance, I realized that we have never paddled along the Esquimalt shore on the other side. So instead, we crossed the harbour mouth...

...and puttered around some of the small islands on the other side. The water was crystal clear and we watched a seal swim around under our boats.

We get to check another couple of kilometers of the world's slowest circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.

As we headed back....

...the currents turned right on time. The gentle flood that pushed us out became a gentle ebb that guided us home with some gentle swells that we had fun riding, which was a welcome distraction from the man who was sitting on a log in a secluded area of the beach working on his tan. His "all over" tan.

We pulled in back at Albert Head and looked back and saw Mount Baker rising over the city. Wow.


Trip Length: 13.65
YTD: 139.75 km
More pictures are here.

2012.12.237 - Apparently, It's Easy Being Green After All

A gloriously sunny day. Totally flat water. A (almost) new green kayak.
Louise and I put in at Albert Head Park for a paddle around Albert Head to Witty's Lagoon. Low tide so we knew we wouldn't be entering the Lagoon itself, but would be stopped by sandbars at its entrance.

This was Louise's first outing in her new to her green Delta Sixteen after trading in her old Delta Seventeen. It's clear from her comments on the water today that the Seventeen was totally the wrong boat for her. She clearly enjoys a boat with greater primary stability and the soft chine of her new boat fits her needs more than the sharp chine of the Seventeen. She's a happy kayaker now!


Just off the rocky beach at Albert Head, seals lazed about on a couple of small islets.


We paddled past more seals....

...until we reached the entrance to the lagoon.


We poked around the entrance, as well as some islands off-shore, but as I suspected we kept encountering sandbars just below the surface that blocked our further passage.
A heron watch us paddle by.


Heading back, a pair of deer looked down on us. There were three in total, a mom and two fawns.


We took a little shortcut through the end of the head that we unimaginatively call The Shortcut.


Paddle #1 with the green machine is a success! Looking forward to paddle #2!

Trip Length: 9.22 km
YTD: 93.25 km
More pictures are here.

2011.15.213 - Albert Head

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.

2010.26.195 - Not Quite What We Planned

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.

2010.18.187 - Nature's Smörgåsbord

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.