I went to the Ocean river Port Renfrew Paddling Symposium as and assistant instructor. I helped Finn and Beth-Anne with Rock Gardening on the first morning, Justine for intermediate surfing on the first afternoon and then Mike and Justine for rock gardening on the second morning. We had great participants and fun in spite of low swells.
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22 km, YTD 51 km
I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet Dan and Paulo and we went for a great paddle around the islands. Sunny and calm with a strong ebb current running. You can see from the track that we received quite a boost on the southbound section and that I got carried well down Baynes on my way back across. I barely made it up past Cadboro Point to meet Dan and Paulo! Saw quite a few long tailed ducks, black turnstones, black oystercatchers as well as a couple of red-necked grebes. baker was barely visible in the distant haze and I could not make out Rainier. Just made it to 50 km for the year!
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Pete and I got together for a paddle in the Bay. We had grand ambitions of making it to Oak Bay, but it was a bit windy, so we turned around at Cattle Point. It was great to paddle with Pete again and catch up!
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5 km, YTD 35 km
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I paddled out to Staines Islet where I met Fraser for a nice coastline paddle. We got to chat lots and catch up. We saw a river otter, a harbour seal, lots of buffleheads, hooded and common mergansers, oystercatchers, Canada geese and more.
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I managed to get out for two short paddles in a row while on board. Poked into a cave, saw pelicans, Nazca and blue footed boobies as well as sea lions and a manta ray! Happy to have paddled again in Galapagos!
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While on board NG Endeavour II as a guest lecturer/host I managed to get out for some paddling! Conditions in Tagus were good! I saw penguins, cormorants, phalaropes and turtles while paddling!
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As soon as I got back from Antarctica, I managed to get out for a paddle with Dan and Paulo. I meet them out by Cadboro Point and we did the usual circuit. Plenty of good winter birds about including 250+ ancient murrelets in Baynes channel. https://ebird.org/checklist/S295276124. I also saw some river otters and harbour seals.
Weather was great, sunny and light winds. Ebb current throughout. I could see Mt Baker easily and could just make out Mt Rainer when I started.
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I managed to get out for a paddle with Claire while she was on board. We were by Gand Island in Dallmann Bay.
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I managed to get out for a short paddle with Jenny while she was on board. Also in Hinks Channel.
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I managed 34 paddles and 367 km this year which is not bad considering how much I was away! I got to paddle in lots of places, as well as the Cadboro Bay "back yard" and this year I seem to have done better than the previous 3!
This was also my 20th year of this paddle blog!
I managed to get out for one more 2025 paddle in Antarctica!
Google maps imagery shows it to be fully in sea ice but ArcGIS shows it as clear when zoomed out a bit...
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Dan, Paulo and I went for an early paddle (0800 start) so we could get back in time for the SISKA lunch. Conditions were great - a little current against us but not too bad and no wind to speak of. I could see Mt Rainier and Mt Baker. We kept up a good pace (avg 6.1 kph, just over 3 knots) and I was back at the beach in 2 hours 25 minutes. There were a couple of noisy California Sea Lions on the west side of Chatham and then some noisy Steller sea lions (and one California) on the rock by Seabird Point. All the sea lions seen were males.
We had the usual birds: https://ebird.org/checklist/S286720019
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I organized a Wednesday Group paddle for 12 of us to leave from Caddy Bay (where else!) and head out to the islands. The winds were light and the tide levels high so we visited lagoons and passages that are otherwise impassable. The currents were not too tricky, though they seemed stronger for the return across Baynes Channel.The cacti in Cactus Islet Inlet were still there and seem to be doing well in spite of their position so close to the water. We had lunch in Rudlin Bay. We saw plenty of birds: (https://ebird.org/checklist/S286288322)as well as both Steller and California sea lions and harbour seals.
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17 km, YTD 349 km
I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join Dan and Paulo for a paddle around the islands. I could just make out the tip of Mt Rainier above the Puget Sound clouds! Conditions were good with favourable tides and light winds. I however was out of shape and my back was not happy - too much time out of the "saddle"?
It was good to see the winter birds in full swing - 19 species https://ebird.org/checklist/S285687706
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