Four paddlers put in from the Len Road access on a rare dry spring day, and headed off on calm waters. We picked our way through the rocks between the Bretons (staying well clear of the seals with pups) and then made the two km crossing to the Dunsterville Islands on the Read Island side of Hoskyn Channel. Circling the middle island of the group we observed many purple ochre sea stars, urchins, sea cucumbers, and an abalone or two. Landing on these islands is always a challenge as there is no beach, just large rocks covered with bladder wrack. With the work of landing and securing our kayaks on a rock shelf done, we turned to survey the channel we’d just crossed and immediately spotted a few Orcas on the far side. Four Orcas appeared to be feeding and moving north. To add to the excitement, the other half of the pod, another four to five Orcas surfaced very near to our vantage point and swam past us. All eight to nine of the pod soon submerged and moved off to the north out of our line of site.

We enjoyed a lunch break on the rocks under the watchful gaze of a pair of nesting geese, explored the island/campsite, and then relaunched our kayaks with a very light rain beginning. We decided to cross towards Shellaligan Pass and then meandered along the Quadra shore noting the abundant sea stars and several more abalone. As the tide was getting close to maximum low and the surface was quite calm we were able to view the bottom dwellers very clearly as we cruised along admiring the rock formations. We were rewarded for our diligent observations with a sighting of the Valdez cave formations in the rocky shoreline.

We crossed the mouth of Open Bay and Hyacinthe Bay and soon landed on the beach, at low tide, about 200 m from our cars! Luckily we’d brought wheels and managed to get our gear to the foreshore without too much effort. Some wheel systems proved to be more effective than others!  13.0 km; 4¾ hours.

Vic Gladish

(click on photos to enlarge)

Kayaking – Bretons and Beyond – 1 June 2022

This trip was rescheduled from May 11 and this time the weather was perfect. The first paddle of the summer in bright sunshine with a light breeze. Three kayaks met the other two kayaks at April Point Marina. From there we went up the west side of Gowlland Island to Steep Island.

Between Steep and Gowlland we found a three meter wooden dinghy barely floating. One gunwale was a few inches above the surface while the other side was a few inches below. The stern and bow were also only marginally above water. The decision was made that we should move it out of the passage and the Gong Show began. Being submerged it was very hard to tow and constantly weaved back-and-forth. Finally with two kayaks towing and one on each side keeping it moving straight, we got it to the north end of Gowlland Island.

We then proceeded to May Island and around the north end of Gowlland Harbour. Jill Sampson was very gracious and allowed us to have lunch on her beach. After lunch we weaved down through the smaller islands looking at the spring flowers. The nicest seem to be on Stag Island.

The group stopped at my place and had refreshments and snacks on the deck. From there the paddlers went to each of their own launching spots. About four hours and six nautical miles travelled.

Les

(click on photos to enlarge)

Kayaking – Gowlland Harbour – 21 May 2022