November 13th - Cadboro Bay (#43)

I went for a nice afternoon paddle on the surf ski. Conditions were nice and I saw a good number of birds including harlequin duck, black oystercatcher, hooded merganser and pigeon guillemot in winter plumage. It was good to be back on the water!

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8 km, YTD 321 km

Oct 22 - Discovery Island (#42)

Dan, Paulo and I went for a paddle around the usual Islands. It was hard work after not much paddling this summer, but it was good to get out. We saw bald eagles, Turkey vultures, Harlequin ducks, rhinoceros auklets, Marbled murrelets, Common Murres and pigeon guillemots.

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14 km, YTD 313 km

Oct 14 - Clatse Bay (#41)

Group paddle in Clatse Bay, Roscoe Inlet. We saw at least 50 eagles... possibly closer to 100!

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7 km, YTD 299 km

Oct 8 - Chief Matthews Bay (#40)

I took the group out for another visit to CMB. Nice grizzly tracks on the beaches.

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6 km, YTD 292 km

Oct 5 - Campania Island ((#39)

Nice perspective from the west - shows the fringing forest and the bog

I took the Cascadia group out for a paddle in mcMicking Inlet. Beautiful conditions in a beautiful place!

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zoomed further out...

6 km - YTD 286 km

September 27 - Chief Matthews Bay (#38)

I went for a paddle with the group aboard Cascadia in Chief Matthews Bay. Saw grizzly tracks, but no grizzlies!

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7 km, YTD 280 km

September 22 Chatam Island (#37)

I went on a short paddle with Dan while I was briefly home between trips. Nice to get out!
I am testing out some google Earth track plots instead of Google maps. Sort of 3D...

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11 km, YTD 273 km

July 17th - Oak Bay (#36)

I set out this morning to paddle with the "Wednesday group" for a while. I took the surf ski as i wanted some speed and only paddled with the group until Oak Bay. It was good to meet up with several paddling friends and the coditions were superb for paddling. Light rain and calm!

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8 km, YTD 262 km

July 16 - Discovery Island (#35)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle around the islands. Great conditions with a bit of an ebb running to start, and turning to flood by the time we were heading back.Good to get out for a longer paddle, though I am a tad tired after!

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15 km, YTD 256 km

July 4-11 - BC Central Coast (#s 31-34)

I was able to get out in the kayaks four times during this Maple Leaf Adventures trip from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy in some wonderful spots.

overview of paddles 30-34 - click to enlarge

#31 - Captain Cove - Pitt Island

On the first night of our trip some of us hopped out in the kayaks and paddled around the cove. We were treated to two views of black bears and nice scenery

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2 km

#32 - Anger Inlet - Anger Island

We went out for a late morning paddle around low tide and saw lots of neat intertidal life. The islands to the north are all trigonometrically named! Sin, Cosine and Tangent islands!

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2 km

#33 - McMicking Inlet, Campania Island

We went for a morning paddle in one of my favourite areas on the central coast. Beautiful scenery, white sand beaches and more great intertidal life. We saw a good number of ochre stars!

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2 km

#34 Staples Cut, Walker Group

On our last full day of the trip we managed to circumnavigate a small island in the Walker group. Due to a lowish tide, we had to portage around a bit of the island!

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3 km, YTD 241 km

June 27, Heater Harbour, Kunghit Island (#30)

I went for an afternoon paddle around the estuaries of Heater Harbour. Beautiful area with a nice clam garden in one of the estuaries.

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 4 km, YTD 232 km

June 15 - Fairy Lake - #29

I went for an afternoon paddle around Fairy Lake in my inflatable kayak to take a break from cottage maintenance! It was a bit of a blustery afternoon, but not too bad inland on the lake. I took some time to check out the Fairy Lake "bonsai" tree that has been growing on a log there for years.I had some nice views of belted kingfishers and red-winged blackbirds.

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3 km, YTD 228 km

June 9th - Cadboro Bay (#28)

I ran day two of a Paddle Canada level 1 course today and we did a nice paddle around Cadboro Bay developing and practicing skills. We stopped for lunch at Cattle Point where a woman was feeding the gulls!

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7 km, YTD 225 km

June 8 - Caddy Bay (#27)

I taught the first day of a Paddle Canada level 1 class for four participants in Cady Bay. The class went well and there was enough wind to make it interesting.
The GPS battery died part way through so the total distance is an estimate!

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4 km (est) YTD218 km

May 20-25 - Haid Gwaii (#s 22-26)

I managed to get out for 5 short paddles while leading two trips aboard maple Leaf adventures' Cascadia. The Aquaglide Chelan inflatable doubles worked remarkably well! They are maneuverable yet track reasonably well and are very stable.

click to enlarge - overview of 5 locations

May 20th De La Beche Inlet (#22)

click to enlarge - forgot to use GPS!

May 21 - Bowles Point (#23)

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May 23 Kagan Bay (#24)

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May 25th Thurston Harbour (#25)

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May 27 Murchison Island (#26)

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14km, YTD 214 km