December 13th - Cadboro Bay (#57)

I went for a late morning paddle in nice calm conditions around the bay. It is my last day in town for a while so it was nice to take a last opportunity to explore the bay. The usual birds were out and I came across a largish group of 35 black oystercatchers on a rock! I also ran into Dixie who was on the beach with a group of kids - school was out for them!
I did a counter-clockwise route this time since the wind was from the SW and there was a flood current in the channel. As a result, I was able to maintain a 7.5 kph average speed. - nice blue track!

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8 km, YTD 427 km

December 9th - Chatham Island (and wolf!) (#56)

Dan and I went for a paddle around Chatham Island. We decided to make it a shorter paddle and I am so glad we did! We checked out the lagoon on West Chatham and did not go far in as there were 14 great blue herons perched in the tall trees around the lagoon and I did not want to disturb them. As we made our way around the top end of West Chatham (after passing the "sluice" between Vantreight and West Chatham) Takaya trotted across the shallow channel right in front of us! It has been quite a while since I have seen him and to have such a phenomenal view was a real treat. He stayed around and watched us until we left...

I have posted a bunch of images and video of the wolf which I took with my phone at the following link: Wolf Photo Album

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11 km, YTD 419 km

December 8th - SISKA paddle to Spectacle Falls (#55

I joined 14 other SISKA paddlers for a Sunday paddle out into Saanich inlet. We were ably led by Gary and it was a perfect day for a paddle with no rain and calm seas. We paddled across to Bamberton and then along the shore to Spectacle Falls before heading to Mackenzie Bight for lunch. On the way back from lunch to the launch site I managed to paddle under at least 20 docks! We saw a good number of birds: buffleheads, surf scoters,  bald eagles, great blue heron, hooded merganser, common merganser, belted kingfisher and glaucous-winged gull.
This was the first time I have taken the kayak on the roof for a day paddle since March! It was great to chat with a bunch of old friends and make some new ones.

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15 km, YTD 408 km

December 6th - Cadboro and Cattle Points (#54)

I went for an afternoon paddle in nice calm conditions. The usual birds were around: bufflehead, hooded merganser, bald eagle, Canada goose, black turnstone, pelagic cormorant, common merganser and harlequin duck.

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8 km, YTD 393 km

November 28th - Cadboro Bay (#53)

I went for a 1 hour afternoon paddle around the bay. The winds had died down a bit and since they were from the north, the bay was quite protected. I had nice views of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker. As I went past Cadboro Point, I encountered some lumpy water and decided to take it easy and went back to the bay! I saw most of the usual birds, including buffleheads, hooded and common mergansers, Canada gees, bald eagle, great blue heron, glaucous-winged gull, harlequin duck and pelagic and double-crested cormorants.

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7 km, YTD 385 km.

November 23rd - Cadboro Bay (#52)

I joined 11 others on a SISKA club paddle. The intent was to head up the coast to Glencoe Cove for lunch and then come back. However the wind and waves were strong enough around Ten Mile Point that we decided that the prudent option was to head back across Cadboro  and Oak bays to Willows Beach where we stopped for lunch.When we left the beach, we could see Mt. Rainier poking its summit above the Seattle clouds. I always like it when I can see that far away (~215 km)! There were plenty of birds around, including buffleheads, hooded mergansers, black oystercatchers, pigeon Guillemots, double crested and pelagic cormorants and a couple of bald eagles.

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12 km, YTD 378 km

November 21st - Jordan river (#51)

I went for a surfing paddle out at Jordan River. Conditions were nice with very few people on the water and waves that were just big enough for me to have fun but not so big as to be a challenge for me. A great first surf paddle in a while!

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2 km, YTD 366 km

November 19th - looking for the buoy (#50)

I went searching for my mooring buoy which seems to have disappeared since Friday or Saturday. No sign of it on the water or on the beach... :( I liked having the buoy there even though I did not use it much.

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2 km, YTD 364 km

November 19th - Ten Mile Point (#49)

I went for a morning paddle out to Ten Mile Point. Quite a bit of new construction along the shoreline! The usual birds and lots of them! There must be a decent amount of feed in the bay.

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9km, YTD 362 km (7 paddles in 7 days!)

November 18th - Cadboro Point and Jemmy Jones (#48)

I went for a late morning paddle in the F1. It was rainy but calm and there were quite a few birds around: bufleheads, hooded mergansers, bald eagle, pelagic and double-crested cormorants, marbled murrelet, pigeon guillemot and more. I noticed that my track back from Jemmy Jones was pretty straight and made an almost perfect right angle with the track from Cadboro Point!

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6 km, YTD 353 km
(six times in six days! :) )

November 17th - Flower Island (#47)

I went for a quick sunset (literally) paddle as I thought it would be good to paddle 5x in 5 days! :)
It was reasonably windy (around 10kt from the SSW) which slowed me down a bit crossing the bay!

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5 km, YTD 347 km

November 16th - Ten Mile Point (#46)

I went for a surf ski paddle with Greg (an old student of mine) who also has a Think Big Eze. It was raining lightly and winds were around 10 knots from the SE - made a bit of a chop. We saw many of the usual birds, including buffleheads and a group of bald eagles.

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9 km, YTD 342 km

November 15th - Cadboro Bay (#45)

I went for a nice afternoon paddle. It was sunny with an 8 knot SW wind and a high tide - which allowed me to check out channels I don't usually get to. Birding was good: bufflehead, hooded merganser, black oystercatcher, great blue heron, pelagic and double-crested cormorants, rhinoceros auklet, and more!

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8 km, YTD 333km

November 14th - Cadboro Bay- Flower Island (#44)

I went for a morning SUP around the Bay and made it out to Flower Island. It is interesting to me that the SUP is just over half as fast as the surf ski (not sure how much of that is the vessel and how much is the paddler!). The first birds I saw on the water were buffleheads, but I also saw hooded mergansers, belted kingfisher, great blue heron, Canada geese and more.

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4 km, YTD 325 km.
PS, looks like I could easily make my 50 paddles/year goal, but not so sure about 500 km this year!

November 13th - Cadboro Bay (#43)

I went for a nice afternoon paddle on the surf ski. Conditions were nice and I saw a good number of birds including harlequin duck, black oystercatcher, hooded merganser and pigeon guillemot in winter plumage. It was good to be back on the water!

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8 km, YTD 321 km

Oct 22 - Discovery Island (#42)

Dan, Paulo and I went for a paddle around the usual Islands. It was hard work after not much paddling this summer, but it was good to get out. We saw bald eagles, Turkey vultures, Harlequin ducks, rhinoceros auklets, Marbled murrelets, Common Murres and pigeon guillemots.

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14 km, YTD 313 km

Oct 14 - Clatse Bay (#41)

Group paddle in Clatse Bay, Roscoe Inlet. We saw at least 50 eagles... possibly closer to 100!

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7 km, YTD 299 km

Oct 8 - Chief Matthews Bay (#40)

I took the group out for another visit to CMB. Nice grizzly tracks on the beaches.

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6 km, YTD 292 km

Oct 5 - Campania Island ((#39)

Nice perspective from the west - shows the fringing forest and the bog

I took the Cascadia group out for a paddle in mcMicking Inlet. Beautiful conditions in a beautiful place!

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zoomed further out...

6 km - YTD 286 km

September 27 - Chief Matthews Bay (#38)

I went for a paddle with the group aboard Cascadia in Chief Matthews Bay. Saw grizzly tracks, but no grizzlies!

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7 km, YTD 280 km

September 22 Chatam Island (#37)

I went on a short paddle with Dan while I was briefly home between trips. Nice to get out!
I am testing out some google Earth track plots instead of Google maps. Sort of 3D...

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11 km, YTD 273 km

July 17th - Oak Bay (#36)

I set out this morning to paddle with the "Wednesday group" for a while. I took the surf ski as i wanted some speed and only paddled with the group until Oak Bay. It was good to meet up with several paddling friends and the coditions were superb for paddling. Light rain and calm!

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8 km, YTD 262 km

July 16 - Discovery Island (#35)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle around the islands. Great conditions with a bit of an ebb running to start, and turning to flood by the time we were heading back.Good to get out for a longer paddle, though I am a tad tired after!

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15 km, YTD 256 km

July 4-11 - BC Central Coast (#s 31-34)

I was able to get out in the kayaks four times during this Maple Leaf Adventures trip from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy in some wonderful spots.

overview of paddles 30-34 - click to enlarge

#31 - Captain Cove - Pitt Island

On the first night of our trip some of us hopped out in the kayaks and paddled around the cove. We were treated to two views of black bears and nice scenery

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2 km

#32 - Anger Inlet - Anger Island

We went out for a late morning paddle around low tide and saw lots of neat intertidal life. The islands to the north are all trigonometrically named! Sin, Cosine and Tangent islands!

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2 km

#33 - McMicking Inlet, Campania Island

We went for a morning paddle in one of my favourite areas on the central coast. Beautiful scenery, white sand beaches and more great intertidal life. We saw a good number of ochre stars!

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2 km

#34 Staples Cut, Walker Group

On our last full day of the trip we managed to circumnavigate a small island in the Walker group. Due to a lowish tide, we had to portage around a bit of the island!

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3 km, YTD 241 km

June 27, Heater Harbour, Kunghit Island (#30)

I went for an afternoon paddle around the estuaries of Heater Harbour. Beautiful area with a nice clam garden in one of the estuaries.

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 4 km, YTD 232 km

June 15 - Fairy Lake - #29

I went for an afternoon paddle around Fairy Lake in my inflatable kayak to take a break from cottage maintenance! It was a bit of a blustery afternoon, but not too bad inland on the lake. I took some time to check out the Fairy Lake "bonsai" tree that has been growing on a log there for years.I had some nice views of belted kingfishers and red-winged blackbirds.

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3 km, YTD 228 km

June 9th - Cadboro Bay (#28)

I ran day two of a Paddle Canada level 1 course today and we did a nice paddle around Cadboro Bay developing and practicing skills. We stopped for lunch at Cattle Point where a woman was feeding the gulls!

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7 km, YTD 225 km

June 8 - Caddy Bay (#27)

I taught the first day of a Paddle Canada level 1 class for four participants in Cady Bay. The class went well and there was enough wind to make it interesting.
The GPS battery died part way through so the total distance is an estimate!

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4 km (est) YTD218 km

May 20-25 - Haid Gwaii (#s 22-26)

I managed to get out for 5 short paddles while leading two trips aboard maple Leaf adventures' Cascadia. The Aquaglide Chelan inflatable doubles worked remarkably well! They are maneuverable yet track reasonably well and are very stable.

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May 20th De La Beche Inlet (#22)

click to enlarge - forgot to use GPS!

May 21 - Bowles Point (#23)

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May 23 Kagan Bay (#24)

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May 25th Thurston Harbour (#25)

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May 27 Murchison Island (#26)

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14km, YTD 214 km

May 14th - Flower Island (#21)

I went for a quick afternoon paddle on the surf ski. Nice conditions! Next paddle should be in Haida Gwaii!

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4 km, YTD 200 km

May 9-12 - Gulf Islands (#s 17-20)

Sarah and I led a group of 7 grade 9 students on a 3 night, four day, camping trip in the gulf islands. We camped on Portland Island, Rum Island and D'Arcy Island, and landed on Moresby and Sidney Islands as well. We had spectacular conditions until the last morning when it was a bit windy and wavy... no capsizes!

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40 km, YTD 196 km

May 8th - Cadboro Bay (#16)

Sarah and I led a practice day for the group of grade 9s we were taking on a 3 night, four day, camping tip in the Gulf Islands. We practiced strokes, paddling and wet exits!

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3 km, YTD 156 km

May 5th - Cadboro Bay (#15)

I went for an afternoon paddle around the bay via the yacht club, Jemmy Jones, Cadboro Point, Flower Island and back into the Bay. The weather was gorgeous and I could see all the way down to Mt. Rainer. I ran into a SISKA group taking a class with Jennie and Elizabeth. Not too many birds around... a few pigeon guillemots, a couple of rhinoceros auklets, some Canada geese and a couple of black oystercatchers.

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8 km, YTD 153 km

April 22nd - Discovery Island (#14)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle. It started out a bit windy but it calmed down as we paddled and the rain started. There was a strong ebb running throughout our paddle. I forgot to tun on the GPS until I was 2/3rds of the way around the paddle! A few bald eagles, rhinoceros auklets, marbled murrelets, harlequin ducks and black oystercatchers were seen.

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16 km, YTD 145 km