While we were camped at Schoen Lake Provincial Park, I went for a couple of paddles. The first was an afternoon paddle on arrival - quite windy - and the second was the next morning where I went to the end of the lake and back. Saw a couple of Barrow's Goldeneye pairs as well as common mergansers and of course many American robins! Also heard many varied thrush and some grouse drumming.
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While we were camped at Heriot Bay on Quadra Island, I went for a short paddle around the Bay. It was cool to see the pillow basalts on Heriot Island as well as the many sand dollars in the bay. The tide was just high enough to make it around the island!
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I went for another solo paddle to Oak Bay in the F1. Conditions were great with sunshine and a helpful current both ways. saw some murrelets, oystercatchers, geese and plenty of seals en route.
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I paddled along the coast to Oak Bay and back. I had to paddle against wind and current on the way out and had some help on the way back. Saw several black oystercatchers and heard a belted kingfisher.
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9 km, YTD 239 km
Bill and I went for two morning paddles on Anutz Lake. We were camped there for four nights and visited Little Hosun Caves and took a day trip to Alert Bay. The lake was windy at times (especially in the afternoon) but we managed to find some low wind windows! The part of Atluck Creek that goes to Nimpkish Lake was neat and it was very lumpy in Nimpkish Lake (hence the turnaround!). We saw loons, mergansers, buffleheads and bald eagles as well as Pacific wrens, robins and varied thrushes on shore. It was a lovely lake to paddle around!
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12 km combined (*+4), YTD 178 km
I went for a solo paddle up the San Juan as there seemed to be little surf this morning. You can definitely see the difference in speed up and down river due to the current. Lots of buffleheads, a couple of great blue herons and a belted kingfisher. I see lots of channels to explore in future trips!
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While Monica and I were camping at the Living Forest Campground I went out for a short paddle around the estuary and up the river a bit. The estuary was shallow!
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5 km, YTD 182
Dave and I led a small group of SISKA paddlers on another intertidal exploration paddle. We originally planned to operate out of Willows Beach but we decided to move to Telegraph Cove due to the winds and the possibility of lumpy water. We had a beach talk about tides and intertidal life followed by an exploration of the low tide area by kayak. We ended up pretty much avoiding any significant wind and saw many seaweeds and marine invertebrates. A lovely day on the water!
We also saw a lot of purple "ochre stars" - more than I have seen around here in some time!
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I went for an afternoon paddle around the bay since I wanted to get a last paddle in before I head south again. Conditions were excellent. The tide was high, the sun was shining, currents minimal and little wind. A good number of birds seen https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S122963444 I chatted with a recreational crabber who indicated that the crabbing was not great with the commercial crabbers around... I also ran into a paddler who was paddling a SUP with a double-bladed paddle! :)
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I went for a nice afternoon paddle around the bay - it has been a while as I was away on trips!
Beautiful conditions, sunny, calm, little current, highish tide. I saw some nice birds, including a Heerman's gull. https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S119873666 I also saw some good mirages out around the chain islets.
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8 km, YTD 238 km
I went for a solo paddle around the bay to enjoy the nice winter weather. Had a chat with Curran and kids on shore and saw a few different birds. https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S101859406
The tide was fairly high allowing me to sneak through several gaps.
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Polly and I went out for a morning paddle to Cadboro Point. Conditions were a bit lumpy but not too bad. In spit of there not being much tide change the current was ebbing strongly at Cadboro Point. I was paddling the F! while Polly paddled the Tahe. This might be one of the last paddles of the year for me since I am heading south soon...
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6 km, YTD 707 km.
I went for a solo paddle out to Cattle point. As I went through the RVYC, I stopped by Andante and had a good chat with Dennis. The birding was good and I saw nearly 50 black oystercatchers! https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S97178260 I was also pleasantly surprised to see a pair of rhinoceros auklets.
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6 km YDT 701 km
I went for a solo morning paddle along the shore towards Goose Spit from our campground. Weather conditions were spectacular - calm and sunny. I saw quite a few common loons and red-breasted mergansers and then a flock of 1000+ scoters and long-tailed ducks
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9 km, YTD 391 km
I took advantage of a lull in the winds (mostly) to paddle around the bay. I was on the lookout for birds (preparing for the Christmas Bird Count) and had a pretty productive paddle: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S77596661 The wind picked up a bit at the end but was not too bad. It was also good to take the F1 out for a spin!
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9 km, YTD 826 km
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