March 3rd - Grytviken (#5)

I was able to grab an opportunity, thanks to Zach and Kurtis, to go for a short paddle while working on board Island Sky. The kayaks are nice and we paddled over to a creek where a bunch of baby fur seals were playing. The GPS did not work perfectly, hence the yellow line in the track.
It was cool to have paddled in South Georgia - I would love to do more!

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2 km, YTD 23 km

February 5th - Tagus Cove (#4)

I went for a nice paddle around Tagus cove while on board the NG Islander in the Galapagos Islands. I saw quite a few penguins, sea turtles and cormorants as well as many marine iguanas , sally lightfoot crabs and sunstars.

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4km, YTD 21 km

Jan 31st - Flamingo FL (#3)

I went down to Flamingo in the Everglades NP and managed to rent a kayak for an afternoon paddle up the channel. I saw lots of nice birds that day and a highlight was seeing a manatee mom and calf! Birding in the Everglades is pretty good!You can see the spot where I saw the manatee as a red point on the track.

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7 km, YTD 17 km

Jan 30th - Pennekamp Park (#2)

I took a Crystal Kayak out for a test drive to see how it might work on board some of the ships. This clear kayak was neat to paddle as it was completely see through. Paddling it in protected mangroves in calm seas was very fun. I saw plenty of the upside-down jellies (Cassiopea sp) and other mangrove species. It was nice to get out for a paddle while I was between trips in Florida. The mangrove channels have lots of fun twists and turns!

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5km, YTD 10 km

Jan 13th - Devil Island (#1)

My first paddle of the year was with a guest on the National Geographic Explorer. It was a beautiful day and there was some nice ice and a few seals around. I also got to paddle up close to the edge of the glacier. Which has clearly receded based on the plot.
Since I was away in the Antarctic and Galapagos from mid-December to mid_March, I did not get too much paddling in!

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google aerial version - click to enlarge

ArcGIS aerial version - click to enlarge

5 km, YTD 5km

December 13th - Cadboro Bay (#57)

I went for a late morning paddle in nice calm conditions around the bay. It is my last day in town for a while so it was nice to take a last opportunity to explore the bay. The usual birds were out and I came across a largish group of 35 black oystercatchers on a rock! I also ran into Dixie who was on the beach with a group of kids - school was out for them!
I did a counter-clockwise route this time since the wind was from the SW and there was a flood current in the channel. As a result, I was able to maintain a 7.5 kph average speed. - nice blue track!

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8 km, YTD 427 km

December 9th - Chatham Island (and wolf!) (#56)

Dan and I went for a paddle around Chatham Island. We decided to make it a shorter paddle and I am so glad we did! We checked out the lagoon on West Chatham and did not go far in as there were 14 great blue herons perched in the tall trees around the lagoon and I did not want to disturb them. As we made our way around the top end of West Chatham (after passing the "sluice" between Vantreight and West Chatham) Takaya trotted across the shallow channel right in front of us! It has been quite a while since I have seen him and to have such a phenomenal view was a real treat. He stayed around and watched us until we left...

I have posted a bunch of images and video of the wolf which I took with my phone at the following link: Wolf Photo Album

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click to enlarge (zoomed in to where we saw the wolf)

zoomed in even more on the location

11 km, YTD 419 km

December 8th - SISKA paddle to Spectacle Falls (#55

I joined 14 other SISKA paddlers for a Sunday paddle out into Saanich inlet. We were ably led by Gary and it was a perfect day for a paddle with no rain and calm seas. We paddled across to Bamberton and then along the shore to Spectacle Falls before heading to Mackenzie Bight for lunch. On the way back from lunch to the launch site I managed to paddle under at least 20 docks! We saw a good number of birds: buffleheads, surf scoters,  bald eagles, great blue heron, hooded merganser, common merganser, belted kingfisher and glaucous-winged gull.
This was the first time I have taken the kayak on the roof for a day paddle since March! It was great to chat with a bunch of old friends and make some new ones.

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15 km, YTD 408 km

December 6th - Cadboro and Cattle Points (#54)

I went for an afternoon paddle in nice calm conditions. The usual birds were around: bufflehead, hooded merganser, bald eagle, Canada goose, black turnstone, pelagic cormorant, common merganser and harlequin duck.

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8 km, YTD 393 km

November 28th - Cadboro Bay (#53)

I went for a 1 hour afternoon paddle around the bay. The winds had died down a bit and since they were from the north, the bay was quite protected. I had nice views of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker. As I went past Cadboro Point, I encountered some lumpy water and decided to take it easy and went back to the bay! I saw most of the usual birds, including buffleheads, hooded and common mergansers, Canada gees, bald eagle, great blue heron, glaucous-winged gull, harlequin duck and pelagic and double-crested cormorants.

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7 km, YTD 385 km.

November 23rd - Cadboro Bay (#52)

I joined 11 others on a SISKA club paddle. The intent was to head up the coast to Glencoe Cove for lunch and then come back. However the wind and waves were strong enough around Ten Mile Point that we decided that the prudent option was to head back across Cadboro  and Oak bays to Willows Beach where we stopped for lunch.When we left the beach, we could see Mt. Rainier poking its summit above the Seattle clouds. I always like it when I can see that far away (~215 km)! There were plenty of birds around, including buffleheads, hooded mergansers, black oystercatchers, pigeon Guillemots, double crested and pelagic cormorants and a couple of bald eagles.

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12 km, YTD 378 km

November 21st - Jordan river (#51)

I went for a surfing paddle out at Jordan River. Conditions were nice with very few people on the water and waves that were just big enough for me to have fun but not so big as to be a challenge for me. A great first surf paddle in a while!

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2 km, YTD 366 km

November 19th - looking for the buoy (#50)

I went searching for my mooring buoy which seems to have disappeared since Friday or Saturday. No sign of it on the water or on the beach... :( I liked having the buoy there even though I did not use it much.

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2 km, YTD 364 km

November 19th - Ten Mile Point (#49)

I went for a morning paddle out to Ten Mile Point. Quite a bit of new construction along the shoreline! The usual birds and lots of them! There must be a decent amount of feed in the bay.

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9km, YTD 362 km (7 paddles in 7 days!)

November 18th - Cadboro Point and Jemmy Jones (#48)

I went for a late morning paddle in the F1. It was rainy but calm and there were quite a few birds around: bufleheads, hooded mergansers, bald eagle, pelagic and double-crested cormorants, marbled murrelet, pigeon guillemot and more. I noticed that my track back from Jemmy Jones was pretty straight and made an almost perfect right angle with the track from Cadboro Point!

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6 km, YTD 353 km
(six times in six days! :) )