Monica and I went for a short morning paddle around Flower Islet. Conditions were good with winds in the 5 knot range. We had nice views of common/red-breasted mergansers, hooded mergansers, buffleheads and Canada geese.
 |
| click to enlarge |
4 km, YTD 763 km
I went for a late morning paddle out to the point and back. Still working on some bird ID, but I can confirm marbled murrelets, long-tailed duck, pelagic cormorant, bufflehead, hooded merganser and horned grebe.
 |
| click to enlarge |
6 km, YTD 759 km
I went for a quick morning paddle to avoid the predicted winds. Conditions were glassy to begin with but began to get windier by the time I had finished. By the time I went back to the beach later the wind had gone from ~5 kph to ~20 kph. I decided to take my binoculars so that I could check out some of the birds I have been seeing more closely. I got a good look at a horned grebe (I was not sure before whether what I was seeing was horned or eared). I also got a good ID on both marbled and ancient murrelets. You can see on the track where I stopped to ID birds! :)
Bird list for the morning:
Bufflehead, harlequin duck, horned grebe, hooded merganser, pelagic cormorant, black oystercatcher, surf scoter, pigeon guillemot (watched one come up with a shrimp!), ancient and marbled murrelet, Bonaparte's gull, belted kingfisher
 |
| click to enlarge |
I joined a group of other SKGABC guides for a session on adaptive paddling by Clay. Clay introduced us to several of the tools and techniques used to get less able people onto the water. In addition we went for a paddle around the lake and we all got to practice Covid-friendly rescues. The only birds we noticed were several American coots.
 |
| click to enlarge |
4 km, YTD 746 km
I went for a brisk afternoon paddle (Av speed 7.8 kph) to take advantage of calm conditions and the rain having stopped. Birds today included horned grebe, mew gull (distinctive white spot on the primaries and they were feeding on small fish at the surface), ancient and marbled murrelets, glaucous-winged gull, black oystercatcher, great blue heron, bufflehead, harlequin and hooded merganser.
 |
| click to enlarge |
Dan and I went for a morning paddle out of Caddy bay. The winds were light when we started out but started to build from the NW. Fortunately, the currents were not too strong. We managed to avoid the strongest winds by paddling up the east side of west Chatham and then crossing Baynes at the top. Ironically, Baynes, known for its rough water, was the calmest place as it was in the lee of Ten mile and Cadboro Points. We saw a couple of male California sea lions who swam beside us for a bit and I saw more long-tailed ducks (in addition to all the usual suspects! 😃 )
You can see by the colour of the track what a difference wind and current make to my speed.
I also returned home to great news from the US!
 |
| click to enlarge |
16 km, YTD 734 km
I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join a Victoria sea kayakers meetup with Paulo, Lesley, Julia and Ellen for a paddle around Chatham Island. What a beautiful evening! Clear skies and a beautiful evening light. On my way to Cadboro Point I saw my first hooded mergansers in some time and then as we neared Chatham I saw my first long-tailed ducks of the season. We were also treated to great views of Mt Baker and also Mt Rainier in the distance.
 |
| click to enlarge |
13 km, YTD 718 km
I went to McNeill Bay to paddle with Pete around Trial Island and over to Gonzales Point. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and weak currents. the tide was high so it allowed us to explore "new water".
Lots of marbled murrelets, pigeon gullemots, surf scoters, double-crested and pelagic cormorants, harlequin ducks and Canada geese!
 |
| click to enlarge |
I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet Dan and Paulo for a morning paddle around the islands. We decided to go around counter-clockwise for a change and explored some of the lagoons since it was high tide. We were also able to take advantage of a strong ebb as we paddled southwards in Baynes! A colourful track! We saw a good number of the usual birds: surf scoter, harlequin duck, glaucous-winged gull, double-crested and pelagic cormorants, pacific loon, belted kingfisher, black turnstone, bald eagle, great blue heron, a western(?) grebe, common mergansers and Canada geese. Due to the explorations, I managed a few more km than usual. In the lagoon at the NE of Chatham, we ran into the Wednesday group and chatted a bit. I was able to return a paddle I was trying out! It was good to see the prickly pear cacti (Opuntia fragilis) are still around on the little island in the lagoon! Recent rains have washed off most of the gull droppings at Sea Bird point!
 |
| click to enlarge |
I paddled out to Cadboro Point where I met Dan and Paulo for a paddle around the islands. It was a beautiful sunny morning with a strong ebb running when we started. By the time we were finished, it had weakened a lot. Nice view of Mt. Baker but a big cloud bank to the south blocking Mt. Rainier. You can see from the track plot that our speed crossing Baynes channel was much higher on the outward journey than the return. I also tested out a couple of Gearlab paddles. One was a shoulderless 215 cm one and the other a shouldered 220 cm. The result of the test: I much prefer the shouldered 220cm one.
We saw 6 Steller seal lions on the rock by Sea Bird point as well as hundreds of gulls. Most were glaucous-winged, but there were a handful of Heerman's gulls in the group. We also saw surf scoter, black turnstone, pelagic and double-crested cormorants, harlequin duck and Canada goose.
 |
| click to enlarge |
Posts
All Comments
