December 11th - Tagus cove (#s 70&71)

I managed to get out for a kayak and a SUP paddle while on board National Geographic Endeavour II as a guest lecturer. It was nice to be out paddling amongst Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants and green sea turtles!

the kayak trip 3 km

the SUP trip 2 km

5 km, YTD 553 km

December 3rd - Cadboro Bay (#69)

I took the surf ski out for a quick afternoon paddle. There was a brisk northerly wind, but the sky was clear and the visibility was great. I could see Mt Baker as well as Mt Rainier (the latter was spectacular at sunset!). I ran into several harbour seals as well as a typical assortment of a dozen birds: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50409122 .

click to enlarge

7 km, YTD 548 km

December 1st - cadboro Bay (#69)

I led a SISKA "President's paddle" this morning before the club Christmas party. Eleven of us ventured out on the first of December and faced very gentle conditions for this time of year. Winds were less than 10 knots from the north and we made our way out and around Jemmy Jones Island. Idid not see as many birds out as yesterday (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50354058) but we had nice views of buffleheads, hooded mergansers and black turnstones.

click to enlarge

6km, YTD 541 km

November 30th - Discovery and Chatham islands (#67

I went for a late morning/luchtime paddle with Dan around the islands. The tide was especially high (high enough to cover the white lichens in some places), so we explored a few places that we usually don't go. We saw harbor seals and a Steller sea lion as well as at least 16 kinds of seabirds. https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50329819 . The prickly pear cacti on "cactus islet" seem do be doing well in spite of some of them being occasionally covered by the tide
While paddling through the northern part of Chatham we found an aluminum flare canister that had been used by the military. It has now been reported to the military so they can clean it up.

click to embiggen!

16 km, YTD 535 km

November 23rd - Golden Gardens Park, Seattle (#66)

I joined Setsuko, David and Marc for a Greenland rolling/paddling session at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle. We did a bunch of rolls and had fun experimenting with a Greenland paddle. The park is right beside Shilshole Bay marina.

click to enlarge

3 km, YTD 519 km

November 12th - Chatham Island (#65)

A quick morning paddle with Olivier who was over from Salt Spring Island out to the islands. It was a bit windier than we expected, so much harder work that planned - especially on the return leg! :)
I managed to get a little surfing in by the sluice by Vantreight!

click to enlarge

11 km, YTD 516 km

November 11th - Cadboro Bay (#

I went for an afternoon birding paddle around the bay - this time I brought my good binoculars - what a difference! Other than the usual suspects, I saw a white winged scoter (immature) and a rhinoceros auklet that were new for this week. https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49871145

The air was pretty clear and I could see both Mt Baker AND Mt Rainier (215 km away!)

click to enlarge

7 km, YTD 505 km
(made my revised annual goal! 😊 )

November 10th - Chatham Island (#63)

I went for a late morning paddle out to Chatham Island. I was focusing on birds again this time and got some different species than other days- western grebe and ancient murrelet - and a total of 18. Out at Cadboro Point I ran into David K and we paddled together, catching up, to the south end of Chatham. https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49837989

click to enlarge

10 km, YTD 498 km
(I think the 500 km goal is within reach! :) )

November 9th - Cadboro Bay (#62)

I went for an afternoon paddle and focused on birds again. (I did see a few harbour seals!) It was a beautiful flat calm afternoon and I saw most of the usual suspects...
You should be able to view my bird checklist on ebird:

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49814035

click to enlarge

7 km, YTD 488 km

November 7th - Cadboro Bay (#61)

I went for a short morning paddle around the bay and did a bit more birding again: bald eagle, great blue heron, bufflehead, hooded and common mergansers, marbled murrelet, common murre, black oystercatcher, harlequin duck, greater yellowlegs, Bonaparte's gull, double crested cormorant, northwestern crow, and probably some more! Nice conditions and I ran into some friends who were paddling around ten-mile point. You can see my speed was slower heading into the northerly wind!

click to enlarge

7 km, YTD 481 km

November 5th - Oak Bay (#60)

I went for a mid day paddle over to Oak Bay. It was a little breezy from the SW, so I decided to hug the shore of Cadboro and Oak Bays.Lots of sea lettuce washed ashore by the fall winds. I saw a good number of birds, including: black oystercatcher, great blue heron, american wigeon, harlequin duck, hooded merganser, common merganser, a large murder of crows(!!)pelagic cormorant and double crested cormorant. I am also pretty sure that I saw some buffleheads, but they were too far away to be sure. Oh and I forgot the pesky Canada geese!

click to enlarge

9km, YTD 474
(looks like I might make it to 500 km this year instead of 1000! too much time travelling!)

October 16th - Discovery Island (#59)

I went for an early morning paddle with Dan, joining Paulo out at Cadboro Point, and went for a trip around the Islands. Paulo and Dan have seen the wolf recently, but I have not. I saw lots of familiar birds: bald eagle, great blue heron, black oystercatcher, black turnstone, yellow legs (not sure which!), harlequin duck, marbled murrelet as well as a steller  sea lion and many harbour seals.

click to enlarge

15 km, YTD 465 km
(note: I will be lucky to reach 500 km this year, let alone 1000!)

October 6th - Campania Island (#58)

On my second trip we managed to get out for a lovely morning paddle in McMicking Inlet on Campania Island. Conditions were beautiful and we were joined by eagles and seals. In the zoomed in picture, note the "bog forest" behind the rim of conifers at the waters edge. Lots of cool plants there like Labrador tea, clubmoss, juniper and sundew!

zoomed out a bit - click to enlarge

zoomed in - click to enlarge

really zoomed out to show the whole area - click to enlarge

5 km, YTD 450 km

September 27th - Khutze Inlet (#57)

While I was on a Maple Leaf Adventures trip in the Great Bear Rainforest this fall I took some guests on a short paddle up the Khutze Inlet Estuary. The tide was quite low, so we could not get up too far! Later in the day we had great views of grizzly bears.

close up - click to enlarge

zoomed out a bit - click to enlarge

6 km, YTD 445 km

September 20th - Chatham Island (#56)

I went for a morning paddle with Dan arouund Chatham only as I did not have as much time as usual! Conditions were nice with a steady flood current. The sky was cool looking with rays around the sun!

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11 km, YTD 439km