Seven of us launched our kayaks from April Point Marina.  The weather was great – sunny and clear, except that the wind forecast was more than we wanted – strong northwest.  The short first leg of the trip was into the wind, but still a bit protected, so we got a taste of what the actual wind was.  Northwest, but not strong, without big waves.  So we elected to continue north along the west side of Gowlland Island, which has a nice view of the snow-covered Vancouver Island mountains.

There was one short stretch just before Steep Island where the wind-against-tide was causing some short, steep waves.  After we passed Vigilant Island the wind was behind us, pushing us into Gowlland Harbour.  We wound around several small islets, then had lunch on the south end of Stag Island, with sunshine and wildflowers.  After lunch it was a short paddle back to April Point, with a good view of the sea urchins and sea stars at a low tide.  10.1 km; 3¾ hours.

With Les’ kind invitation, most of the group continued on to his deck for libations.

Norris

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Kayaking – Gowlland Harbour – 24 April 2019