November 13 - Discovery Island (#29)

I paddled out to Maynard (Smuggler's) cove to meet Dan and Paulo for a paddle around the islands. Conditions were very nice with a favourable current for the outward and return trip! You can see our pace was fast for the outward journey around the east side. There was a little bit of lumpy water here and there. Birding was good with nice sightings of a dozen or so Ancient Murrelets (https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S154418982)! First for me this season! We also saw some Steller sea lions on the rock off Seabird point. I also met Tom and Maureen from the house by the beach on my way home.

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15 km, YTD 324 km

November 10 - Chatham Island (#28)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join Dan and Paulo for a paddle out to the islands. It was hard work getting out to the point with a stiff head wind and lumpy water. I said that I did not think I could do the whole circuit so we did a smaller circuit around the Chatham Islands. Once we were across Baynes we were in the lee and also over the course of the paddle, the wind speed dropped. As a result, the p[addle back was a lot easier. We also had a bit of current assist for the crossing back.

I did see a decent number of birds including lots of marbled murrelets. 17 species:  https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S154181170

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11 km, YTD 309 km

November 4th - Oak Bay (#27)

I joined Michael, Ali and Jo for a coaching session with Gordon Brown. Lots of great tips and I was tired at the end of the day even though we only went 5k! As you can see from the track we were between the Oak Bay Beach Hotel and the Marina. Conditions were not bad and we had several nice rainbows!

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5 km, YTD 298 km