October 30th - Port Renfrew (#104)

I joined Reale, Jo, Jeff, Tony, Heather and Beverly for a paddle in Port San Juan. We paddled over to the north side of the bay and then poked our way along the shoreline up to Thrasher Cove (One of the starting/ending spots for the West Coast trail). There were magnificent caves, arches and stacks as well as pour-overs and slots to paddle through/over/around and I had a blast. I ended up high and dry a couple of times... It has been a while since I paddled this stretch of coast and it was well worth the drive! My only compaint is that the Hammer is slow! It seemed especially so when I was paddling against the river flow and tide near the end.

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13 km, YTD 882 km

October 29th - Discovery Island (#103)

Dan, Rob, George and I went for a morning paddle around the Islands and had an outstanding paddle. Conditions were overcast, slightly drizzly, but mostly calm which made for very comfortable paddling. The real fun began when I spotted a small group of humpbacks out in Haro Strait off Seabird Point. As we were watching the whales we heard some low barking and turned around to see the wolf on a bare knoll behind us. He watched us, howled at us (or the world?) and followed us along the shore for a short while. I feel sorry for him. It must be especially lonely now that people cannot visit the park. I almost felt like he was calling us for company's sake!

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16 km, YTD 869 km

October 23rd - Cadboro Bay (#102)

I went for a quick afternoon paddle around the bay. Conditions were nice and there was no one around! I used the GP with the surf ski and was able to keep up a good pace.

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4 km, YTD 853 km

October 22nd - Discovery (#101)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle out to the Islands. Conditions were pretty good with no more than 10 kts of wind and not too much current. Since the tide was high, we were able to explore and pass through places that we normally can't go, so that was fun! I ran into Ian, the Songhees patroller, and chatted with him about the park closure. We heard the wolf howling when we were on the west side of Discovery and spent some time looking for him, but did not see him. Lots of gulls and harlequin ducks around. Dan and I were "out of practice", so we did not maintain quite our usual pace but did fit in a slightly longer than usual paddle.

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16 km, YTD 849 km

October 19th - Jemmy Jones (#100)

I was able to sneak out for a quick afternoon paddle around the bay. It was rainy but not too windy/wavy. I saw sea lions, seals, an eagle chase some ducks that were trying to land in the Killarney pond, as well as a grebe, gulls, and harlequin ducks. Today was the first time that I had really noticed the fall colours as I was making my way back into the bay. I saw several SUPers as well.

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5 km, YTD 833 km

October 11th - Cadboro Bay (#99)

I went for a short afternoon paddle in the Aquaglide inflatable to try it out and get a quick breath of fresh air! It handles well, though it is a tad slow (see the track!), but it will make a good fishing platform.

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2 km, YTD 828 km

October 8th - Jemmy Jones (#98)

I went for a short afternoon paddle to take advantage of no rain in the afternoon! Conditions were nice, but there was hardly anybody on the bay. Even paddling the surfski with a GP, it goes pretty fast! The wind was from the NNW at about 15-20 kph, which slowed me down a bit on the trip back from Jemmy Jones.

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6 km, YTD 826 km

October 1st - SKGABC Guides' Exchange - Pender Island (#97)

I went to Pender Island for the weekend to participate in the SKGABC Guides exchange. It was a great opportunity to meet guiding colleagues and also hear a presentation by Jim Stafford on coastal archaeology and also a wonderful evening talk on humpbacks by Jackie Hildering, the Marine Detective. I did not get much paddling in as I was instructing some shore based sessions, but had a good time! Having an exchange in a campground by a pub was a brilliant idea! :)

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5 km, YTD 820 km