Wednesday, February 21, 2024

February 21 - Port Renfrew (#6)

I went for a solo paddle in Port Renfrew on the San Juan river mouth looking for some small surf to play in with the Hammer. There was very little surf but I did find a small break at the end of the beach and got a few runs. I saw a nice selection of birds. It was nice to be out on the water in Renfrew!

click to enlarge
2 km, YTD 56 km


Sunday, February 18, 2024

February 18 - Discovery Island (#5)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet up with Dan and Paulo for a morning paddle around the Islands. Conditions were a bit lumpy on the north side of Chatham but the rest of the paddle was pretty calm. Currents were not to strong nor was the wind. We saw some Steller's sea lions out by Seabird Point as well as a few harbour seals. The birding was good with all the usual suspects: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S162108547

click to enlarge
15 km, YTD 54 km


Monday, February 12, 2024

February 12 - Discovery Island (#4)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle out to the islands. There was a pretty good current running as well as a stiff northerly breeze.  We decided to go through the gap so as to avoid some current and wind, however, it was very hard work heading back! Lumpy water, strong headwind and a strong ebb running! You can see from my track that here were several parts of the trip where we were pretty slow... probably one of the most tiring paddles I have done in as long as I can remember! We saw some Steller sea lions and one California sea lion as well as a good number of birds. https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S161352956 

click to enlarge
16 km, YTD 39 km

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Feb 11 - Cadboro Bay Crabbing (#3)

I took the trident angler kayak out to check on the crab traps. Managed to find a keeper in each trap!

click to enlarge

3 km, YTD 23 km

Thursday, February 08, 2024

Feb 8 - Discovery (#2)

I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join Paulo and Dan for a morning paddle around the islands. Conditions were excellent with minimal currents or wind. The tide was high throughout which allowed us to pass through some channels that are not usually available! Nice to be back out on the water!

Birding was good (https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S160980385) seeing over 23 species as well as Steller and California sea lions and some harbour seals.

click to enlarge

15 km, YTD 20 km

Wednesday, February 07, 2024

Jan 12 - Snow Hill Island (#1)

While on board the National Geographic Explorer, I managed to get out for a couple of short paddles with guests. These were in the vicinity of the Snow Hill Emperor Penguin Colony. I also got out for a paddle on Jan 2nd but did not record the track.. It was probably a 2 km paddle

The two paddles chalked up 3 km to start the paddling year! The paddle tracks look as if they are on the glacier, but it seems as if either the ice has receded or the image is not properly georeferenced.

The paddle tracks - click to enlarge

I think the brown smudge is the colony in this image...

5 km, YTD 5 km.