I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join Jennie and her "Wednesday wonderers" for a paddle out to the islands. Conditions were excellent and it was nice to catch up with a bunch of friends. I met Paulo at Rudlin Bay as I was heading back and we had a nice run with the current. Saw lots of Canada gees, some harlequin ducks, rhinoceros auklets, bald eagles, and a couple of marbled murrelets
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I went for a morning paddle to Oak Bay and stopped at a beach in front of the Oak Bay Beach hotel. It was lovely calm weather with little current. Lots of Pigeon Guillemots around. I also had great views of Mt Rainier on the outbound trip. It looks as if I am a bit behind on my annual paddling stats!
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I borrowed a kayak from Jon at Bendoran watersports in Bunessan, Mull. It was a lovely day and it was wonderful to go paddling on this beautiful Scottish coast. I went from the kayak centre to Market Bay which was a gorgeous white sand beach.
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10 km, YTD 66 km
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!
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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
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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
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I took the trident angler kayak out to check on the crab traps. Managed to find a keeper in each trap!
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3 km, YTD 23 km
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.
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15 km, YTD 20 km
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.
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| The paddle tracks - click to enlarge |
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| I think the brown smudge is the colony in this image... |
5 km, YTD 5 km.
I paddled over to Staines Island to meet up with Fraser (past student!) for a paddle. We had a great paddle around the islands getting caught up and chatting about kayaking and birds! We saw a nice collection of birds https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S157040533. We also saw harbour seals and Steller sea lions - and heard California sea lions! Currents were benign and there was no lumpy water to speak of.
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15 km, YTD 339 km.
This will be my last paddle of the year as I am heading south soon. 30 paddles and 339 km is the second lowest in the 18 years of this blog! Too much time on expedition ships?
I paddled out to Maynard (Smuggler's) cove to meet Dan and Paulo for a paddle around the islands. Conditions were very nice with a favourable current for the outward and return trip! You can see our pace was fast for the outward journey around the east side. There was a little bit of lumpy water here and there. Birding was good with nice sightings of a dozen or so Ancient Murrelets (https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S154418982)! First for me this season! We also saw some Steller sea lions on the rock off Seabird point. I also met Tom and Maureen from the house by the beach on my way home.
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15 km, YTD 324 km
I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join Dan and Paulo for a paddle out to the islands. It was hard work getting out to the point with a stiff head wind and lumpy water. I said that I did not think I could do the whole circuit so we did a smaller circuit around the Chatham Islands. Once we were across Baynes we were in the lee and also over the course of the paddle, the wind speed dropped. As a result, the p[addle back was a lot easier. We also had a bit of current assist for the crossing back.
I did see a decent number of birds including lots of marbled murrelets. 17 species: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S154181170
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11 km, YTD 309 km
I joined Michael, Ali and Jo for a coaching session with Gordon Brown. Lots of great tips and I was tired at the end of the day even though we only went 5k! As you can see from the track we were between the Oak Bay Beach Hotel and the Marina. Conditions were not bad and we had several nice rainbows!
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5 km, YTD 298 km
I paddled out to Cadboro Point to join Dan and Paulo for a paddle around the islands. As soon as I got to Cadboro Point, the fog came down, so the visibility crossing Baynes was so-so. You can see from the track we accidentally went 90 degrees to our intended path! Other than the fog, conditions were great - light winds and a small ebb current. The sea was mostly glassy and the fog gave things a magical atmosphere.
I saw a good number of birds - partial list here: https://ebird.org/canada/checklist/S152627287
We saw one sea lion near Seabird Point and hundreds of harbour seals
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I went for a short afternoon SUP paddle to Loon Bay and back via the yacht club. I could see Rainier today as the air was much cleaner after the rains!
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