Friday, December 13, 2019

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

Monday, December 09, 2019

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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click to enlarge (zoomed in to where we saw the wolf)
zoomed in even more on the location
11 km, YTD 419 km

Sunday, December 08, 2019

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

Friday, December 06, 2019

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