June 28 - Chatham Island (#52)

I paddled over to Staines Islet to meet Fraser who is briefly in Victoria and go for a paddle. The current was fairly strong crossing Baynes, but not enough to make the water lumpy! Fraser wanted to practice his self rescues so i coached him a bit on scramble and paddle-float reentries. After that we went to play in the currents between Vantreight and Chatham islands - the "sluice". We had fun ferrying across the current and also doing eddy s-turns. https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S90939411

click to enlarge

11 km, YTD 542 km

June 27th- Cadboro bay (#51)

I went for an early SUP to avoid the heat (might have been better todo it later in the day and fall in!) and to deposit some crab shells back into the bay. It was a beautiful morning and I had a leisurely paddle looking for birds.  Though there were not many species, most were different from my usual! belted kingfisher, greater yellowlegs and many purple martins around the yacht club docs. The nest boxes must be working! https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S90909396

click to enlarge

2 km, YTD 531 km

June 24th - Discovery Island (#50)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point (Maynard Cove) to meet Dan and Paulo for a paddle around the islands. We had favourable currents on the outward and return journeys which was nice! We could see both Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker today which was nice. There were now California or Steller's sea lions on Brinn Rock, though there were plenty of seals around. I saw a good number of marbled murrelets in their summer plumage https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S90712315 

We had some fun chats about how so many people are on the conspiracy theory bandwagon...

click to enlarge

16 km, YTD 529 km

June 20th - Discovery Island (#49)

The morning after my return from the six-week debris removal expeditions I managed to get out for a morning paddle with Dan. It was great to get out on the water after several weeks with almost no paddling. The wind and the current did not cause us much trouble (minimal lumpy water) and we saw quite a few others on the water. I found a scotsman fender/buoy on Griffin island which I managed to bring home! Mt Baker was nice and clear, but we could not see Mt. Rainier. Marbled murrelets, rhinoceros auklets, harlequin ducks, black oystercatchers, Canada geese, great blue herons were on the bird list. Looking at the track, we were able to keep up a steady pace.

click to enlarge

15 km, YTD 513 km

May 27th - McMicking Inlet (#48)

Carl and I went for an evening paddle to join the gang on the beach by the bog forest. We had the wind behind us on the way out and against on the way back to Cascadia. It was a beautiful evening and we also went for a short hike to the bog forest behind the beach. There were lots of sundews in the bog - more than I have seen before.

paddle track - click to enlarge

trail to the bog forest - click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 498 km