2006.25.40 - A Foggy Day off Cadboro Bay

Wow, a day full of surprises! The first surprise was a pair of deer in Paula's back yard! Paula can't ever remember deer at the house. This was a little disconcerting, as Paula lives about a block away from a major street (Shelbourne Street), but the deer soon ambled on their way away from the busy traffic.


Then we got to Cadboro Bay: surprise number 2 -- a low tide. Not just an ordinary low tide, but an über low tide. This is as low as low tide gets in these parts.


And now surprise number 3 -- fog! In spite of it, Tracy, Louise and Paula gear up.


We couldn't miss a paddle on such a wacky day as this! We decided because of the fog to stay close together and hug the north shore of the bay, then turn north at the point and go towards the light house. If we went slow and kept in visual range of each other and the shore, we should be okay. We'd have to be careful -- maybe more surprises were coming!


This heron was grounded -- nothing was flying in this fog!


The fog made everything look a little surreal. Places that we have paddled by many times before look very different and mysterious.


Adding to the strangeness was the low tide. What looks like a small gravel beach in the picture below is usually a small channel between islets that we often paddle through. It's hard to say for sure, but I'd guess that the water level was at least two metres below the usual low tide mark.


Another example of the extreme low tide. These boulders are usually totally underwater.


We continued on through the fog, eventually arriving at the lighthouse.




Hmmm. Is that something on the lighthouse?


Yep, it's an eagle. This guy must be local. He's always around when we go paddling in this area.



There was a real danger of being totally disoriented in the fog. Here's what looks like a snow-capped mountain in the distance. The only problem is that there is no mountain there. I'm not sure what it is. If we'd returned after the fog had lifted, I'm sure we'd never have found this spot again.


Some geese came out to play.


Then ghostly shadows surprised us in the mist.


A flotilla of sail boats from the nearby yacht club swung by us, dipping in and out of the fog.


We had reached shore when Louise spotted the last surprise of the day. "Is that my old boat?" she asked.


Yes, it was! Out of the fog came Stephanie in Louise's old plastic Dagger.


And then along came Karl in my old boat. As it turns out, they had left the beach a few minutes after us, but they went south instead of north.


Naturally, the fog lifted just as our paddle ended.



A great paddle ends with a big smile.


My pictures are here.

2006.24.39 - Elk Lake

Today we went for a rare evening paddle at Elk Lake. Tonight was training, trying out stuff like edging, bracing and rescues while being close to shore. It was a cloudy day with rain threatening.
It was also a chance for me to try out my new paddling jacket from Pacifica Paddlesports (check out their fancy new website).


We thought we would have the lake to ourselves, but there were a couple of other paddle groups out, also using the lake to learn and practice rescue techniques.
After a little paddling around, Louise and Paula headed off for a short jaunt, while Bernie and I continued to learn how not to drown.


Here's Bernie practicing edging. He's using a sculling brace to balance himself.


Here I am leaning over and grabbing the bow of Bernie's boat. This is part of the process of learning how to roll your kayak.

Here's Bernie trying it.


I won the prize for being the first one in the water! Bernie and I performed an assisted rescue.


Bernie goes for his roll attempt. He steels himself, he takes a breath...

...and over he goes! I thought about moving in to help, but taking pictures is so much more fun!

He's out, he's up, he's mostly alive!

Paula moves in for an assisted rescue. Here they are lifting Bernie's boat onto Paula's so they can turn it and drain it.

Now with their boats stern-to-bow, Bernie is scrambling onto his stern. He will have to swing his legs into his cockpit, scrooch down into his cockpit and spin around.

He's just about done it. It's Bernie 1, Floating Bloated Corpses 0.


With the light fading, I try another wet exit, this time doing a solo entry. Here, I'm getting my paddle and paddlefloat ready.


A fun way to spend an evening. We need more practice time at Elk Lake.

My pictures are here.

2006.23.38 - James Island Circumnavigation

Today, we headed out to Island View Beach. South of Sidney, it's a rocky launch point, especially at low tide. And that's what we were facing: an ebbing tide, with a strong breeze forecasted. On arriving, the wind was absent, and we decided on a long paddle.

This was our largest group yet. After a couple of weeks away, Alison came out of hiding to paddle, and Dennis, now recovered from his West Coast trek also came along, joining The Usual Suspects, Paula, Louise, Bernie and myself. Also along for the trip were Louise's friend Tracy and her friend Maureen. We decided on a circumnavigation of James Island.
Our large fleet heads out!



Tracy and Maureen took an early lead in their longer and faster boats...

...but the rest of us kept up (nearly)!


Bernie's back was a little sore so he and Dennis decided to go to the south tip of James Island and beach so Bernie could stretch it out. They planned to meet us on the other side of the island, but they ended up having quite an adventure of their own. (But whatever happens on Brokeback Island stays on Brokeback Island.)


The Obligatory Self-Portrait.


We continued on to the north. We were going against the tide, hoping that when we went around the island we'd catch a break with the currents coming back.


We finally reached the northern tip of the island and swung around. (That's a Washington State ferry in the background.)


The north side had some nice sandy beaches and shoreline. What it didn't have was a cooperative current. The tide turned around just as we did. Lucky us. So we spent the return trip also fighting against the current. And the wind came up, too. Yay.
It was turning into the longest paddle ever for some of us. A stretching stop was in order.


The yellow plant all over this cliff is called broom. It spreads like crazy and chokes up anything else that tries to grow. Broom was imported and is not native to this area. (When I was a kid, my mom used to say the same thing about broom not being native to my bedroom).


Now's here's something interesting... there's a wonderful but steep beach on the backside of James. You can see the flow patterns that the water running off the beach. These patterns are similar to patterns found on Mars and lead scientists to believe water once flowed over its surface.
Mars:

James Island:


Oh, look! More geology! Check out the layering in this cliff at the south end! (You just thought this was a plain old Kayaking blog, didn't you? You didn't think you'd actually be learning stuff!)


After a long four hours, the last hour a tough slog against wind and currents, we made it back to shore.


Bernie was especially pleased that I didn't take any pictures of him doing something goofy.


My pictures are here.