December 31st - Caddy Bay (#92)

Monica and I went for a morning paddle around the bay. Conditions were great, not too cold and calm. The tide was high so we were able to explore passages that usually are not available. One of the boats that came ashore recently on the Caddy bay beach was actually afloat, but no one was around to take it off - another abandoned boat?
There was a nice pair of bald eagles on a rock on the SW corner of our route, and Monica stopped to take some pics. We were able to paddle over the wall of the Naze, and i checked out a sailboat anchored in shallow water in Loon Bay, following its anchor all the way out!
A great way to finish off another good year's paddling. Planning to get the year off to a good start tomorrow!

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7 km, YTD 1063 km.

December 29th - Discovery Island (#91)

Dan, Dennis and I went for another nice Sunday morning paddle around Discovery. The forecast was for 5kt from the SSE, but it was more like 10-15, so it was harder work paddling out than usual.

today's wind plot for Discovery - click to enlarge

I stopped once to check out if a red object was a usable trap buoy, but it turned out to be a bucket. The tide was high so we went into cactus islet inlet in Chatham Island, and then decided to portage across. Longer than we expected!
I may have time for one more paddle this year! :)

today's track - click to enlarge

16 km, YTD 1056 km

December 22 - Discovery Island (#90)

Dennis, Dan and I went for a Sunday morning paddle around Discovery. It was a cool grey day with a building ebb current, but no wind to speak of. We made good progress until we started back up between the Chathams when the ebb was against us! We stopped for a while to recover a crab float and line that had drifted over from Washington State!

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15 km, YTD 1040 km

December 18th - Telegraph Bay (#89)

Dan and I went for a quick afternoon paddle around Ten Mile Point from Cadboro Bay to Telegraph Bay. Conditions were good with a 5-10 knot northerly wind, and it was good to get out. Conditions are definitely colder than last week - air temp is around 5 ºC instead of 25 ºC! We stopped on the south side of the point for a few rolls, and I had to stop after half a dozen due to getting an ice cream headache! (I also forgot to turn the GPS on for the first 400 m!)

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10 km, YTD 1025 km.

December 8-13 - Galapagos (#s 86-88)

I was able to fit in 3 paddles while I was aboard the National Geographic/Lindblad Endeavour in Galapagos this week. I was invited to accompany an AAAS group as their guest lecturer and host and had a wonderful week renewing old friendships and making som new ones.
The 3 paddles were in Gardner Bay, Espanola Island, Post office Bay, Floreana Island and Darwin Bay, Genovesa Island. The Endeavour had 8 Necky Looksha T kayaks available which were pretty decent little doubles, though the cockpits are close enough together that it is important to synchronize!
Seeing the islands by kayak is wonderful, and I recommend it to anyone who gets a chance.

An overview of the islands - click to enlarge

 This map shows the archipelago. I paddled at the two southernmost islands as well as the north-easternmost one.

Gardner Bay, Espanola - click to enlarge

 On this paddle we had great views of colourful marine iguanas

Post Office Bay, Floreana - click to enlarge

 On this paddle we managed to see Galapagos sea lions and Galapagos penguins.

Darwin Bay, Genovesa - click to enlarge

On this paddle, we managed to see many seabirds as well as Galapagos sea lions and Galapagos fur seals.

paddling by Espanola - click to enlarge

paddle by Floreana - click to enlarge

8 km, YTD 1015 km

December 1st - Discovery Island (#85)

I left Cadboro Bay beach at 8 and paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet up with Olivier. Olivier had seen the wolf again earlier this week (7 times now to my 2!) and I had hoped we might see it. However, the wind and rain were probably causing it to take shelter. The winds were pretty strong from the SW (up to 33 kt at Trial and 25 kt at Discovery) which made for some interesting paddling. There were a couple of times when we were barely making any progress as we paddled between Discovery and Chatham - a lot of yellow on this track plot! It was definitely hard work paddling back today against the wind and the current.
This was my 4th trip to Discovery in 8 days, and I have now made my 1000 km goal for the year!

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17 km, YTD 1007 km

November 30th - Discovery Island (#84)

Dan, Paulo and I went for a quick morning paddle around our favourite islands. Conditions were nice. We did not stop anywhere and were back at Killarney Kayak base by 11 AM.

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15 km, YTD 990 km

November 27th - Discovery Island (#83)

Dan and I went for another afternoon paddle (I was able to get off work early) and had another great paddle around Discovery Island.Conditions were good though there was a stiff ebb current helping us run south, but hindering us on our way back. We saw a group of about 10 paddlers crossing back from Discovery as we were heading over, and I ran into Eric taking pictures on the beach by Flower Island. (only 25 km to go! Maybe Saturday?). We also saw a solo paddler heading out across Baynes as we were returning.

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15 km, YTD 975, 7 kph (3.8 kt) moving average speed

November 24th - Discovery (#82)

Dan and I went for a Sunday afternoon quick spin around Discovery. Conditions were magnificent; sunny with only a little wind (5-10 kt from the N). We ran into Robin and Mark and then Scott and Michael and stopped to chat with both groups for a few minutes off the west side of Discovery. Looks like only 40 km to go for the 1000 km yearly goal, but 18 more paddles if I want to do 100!

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15 km, YTD 960 km.

November 16 and 17 - Surge Narrows (#80&81)

Olivier, George and I went up to Campbell River for the weekend to paddle Surge Narrows with Alan. We stayed with Alan and went over to Quadra each day. Brent was there on both days and on Sunday we also saw Jonathan, Ken and Peter. The wave was very nice each day (best on Sunday) with the current maxing at just over 7 knots. For me the sweet spot was between 4 and 6 knots, I think, as I found it hard to get on and stay on when it was  around 7. It was George's first exposure to the narrows, and he got a few good rides. George also got some good video I think, and I got some good rolling and rescue practice.
On Sunday I got to paddle Brent's Gemini SP which performed very nicely in the wave. Despite being mid November, we had sunshine for much of both days!

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15 km (probably more since I did not record my time in the Gemini), YTD 945 km

November 11th - Discovery Island (#79)

Dan, Paulo and I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet Olivier and then the four of us proceeded over to Chatham and Discovery Islands. The air was incredibly clear - we could easily see the outline of Mt Rainier over 210 km away! There was a brisk Northerly wind which pushed us a bit to begin and then slowed us down on the way back. The tide was also very high (just a few cm below the orange lichens), so we took the opportunity to check out cactus islet lagoon and other spots which can only be visited when there is plenty of water. the prickly pear cacti look to be in good health. we kept an eye out for the wolf, but did not see it. We also observed a few minutes of silence at 11 in remembrance, while we were stopped at Rudlin Bay.

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19 km, YTD 930 km

November 3rd - Discovery (#78)

Dan and I went for a Sunday morning paddle. we started an hour earlier than planned since Dan forgot about the time change! Conditions were magnificent. sunny and calm - quite a contrast to yesterday's winds that shut down some of the ferry routes for a while.

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15 km, YTD 911 km

October 27th - Discovery Island (#77)

George, Dan and I paddled out to Cadboro Point to meet Olivier at the light. We then went for a nice paddle around the islands. There were some nice wind waves on the north side of Chatham to start, but the wind then dropped. Basically, a beautiful sunny Sunday paddle! I almost dozed off in the sun on the lunch beach...

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15 km, YTD 896 km

October 26th - Cowichan River (#76)

I went with Pete and George (and 4 students) to the Cowichan River where we met up with Tieran of Kindred Spirit Kayak. We played on the river around the Mayo Road bridge while we got the kids ready for running a section of rapid by letting them practice eddy turns. Eventually we got to the point where we were able to take them down the section from Skutz falls to the bridge. All the kids managed it without capsizing! For me, it was the first time on the river in a couple of years - good to get back!
The GPS track is a bit shaky - I think it had problems getting a clear signal in the canyon. I ran the section 4 times and had fun playing in the eddies and even got to surf a little bit!

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2 km, YTD 881 km

October 10th - Trial Island (#75)

Paulo, George and I went for a short paddle around Trial Island. Conditions were superb - what an amazing October! It looks like we may have another week of sunshine ahead as well! We saw that there were some guys rebuilding the radio antennas on trial. They were just taking down the last old one. Now I am curious as to what kind or radio they are for...
We stopped for a snack at the beach by the golf course and picked up a fair bit of garbage from a recent party. It looks like they had a fire that got out of control too...

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7 km, YTD 879 km