April 22nd - Discovery Island (#14)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle. It started out a bit windy but it calmed down as we paddled and the rain started. There was a strong ebb running throughout our paddle. I forgot to tun on the GPS until I was 2/3rds of the way around the paddle! A few bald eagles, rhinoceros auklets, marbled murrelets, harlequin ducks and black oystercatchers were seen.

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16 km, YTD 145 km

April 14th - Cadboro Bay (#13

Dan and I went for a morning paddle. It was quite windy, and I did not have a lot of "steam" since I was still recovering from a cold, so we just did a "tour de Cadboro" paddle. Good to get out all the same!

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8 km, YTD 129 km

April 1st - cadboro Bay (#12)

I went for a quick afternoon paddle on the surfski - conditions were sunny with a decent breeze. Still not clear enough to see Mt. Rainier!
It was nice to see some long-tailed duck.

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7 km, YTD 121 km

March 18th - Horne Lake (#11)

I went for a solo paddle around the top end of Horne Lake while Monica and I were camping there. There were quite a few fishermen out by the river mouth but not many fish being hooked! It was nice to do a freshwater paddle for a change. We also went for a nice hike in the area

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8 km, YTD 114 km

March 9th - Discovery Island (#10)

I joined a SISKA paddle led by Edgar H. Edgar, six others and I went out and around the islands in excellent conditions. We had a chance to play in the current between Vantreight and East Chatham island and I ran into Alan and Linda in their canoes as well as Dennis and Sue who were exploring by dinghy from their sailboat. We had a nice lunch in Rudlin bay.
My birdlist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53654669

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playing around in the current - click to enlarge

16 km, YTD 106 km

March 8th - Discovery Island (#9)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle out to the islands. Conditions were excellent with little wind and favourable currents. Lots of birds as well as seals, sea lions and river otters.

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15 km, YTD 90 km

March 2nd - Sooke Basin (#8)

I led a SISKA paddle in Sooke Basin. 17 paddlers and I explored the shoreline of the basin, seeing mergansers, buffleheads, kingfishers, otters and seals. The weather was sunny though we had to break our way through ice in Cooper's Cove! There was a bit of a northeasterly breeze which created some chop, but we managed to avoid most of this by sticking close to the shore. Many of us stopped for a coffee or beer at the Stickleback eatery afterwards!

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11 km, YTD75 km

February 28th - Discovery Island (#7)

Dan, Paulo and I went out for a morning paddle around the islands. I managed to get out a couple of times to look at beach debris (brought home some more crab trap floats!) and also to look at the carcass of a young eagle in Rudlin Bay. We saw a good number of birds (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53234450) and a nice group of 3 male Steller sea lions on the rock offshore from Seabird Point. A large freighter came by and made enough wake that i was able to surf the wave past Commodore Point!

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15 km, YTD 64 km

Feb 11 - Floreana Island Post Office Bay (#6)

I managed to get out for two short paddles near Post Office Bay while on a trip to Galapagos. For the kayak trip, the GPS recorder was not working but I covered about the same amount of ground on each. For the kayaking, Alicia P was my partner and we had fun seeing flamingos on the beach near the entrance to the bay. We also saw some sea turtles in the bay.

the SUP route

3 km, YTD 49 km

January 29th - Discovery Island (#5)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle around the islands - my last chance for a few weeks, as I am of on a trip again soon. Conditions were nice and sunny with a reasonable ebb current and a fairly strong northerly wind (10-15 kt). We saw lots of birds (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52184390) including 26 bald eagles around Discovery!
We decided to go counter clockwise this time. The track to Commodore point on Discovery was pretty straight! You can see that the outward journey was a lot faster than the return! We managed to swing north and not get carried too far downstream by the ebb current in Baynes.

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15 km, YTD 46 km

January 26th - Discovery Island (#4)

Dan and I went for a morning paddle around the islands. Conditions were great - sunny and calm -  though with a strong ebb current. We saw lots of birds including 22 bald eagles on Discovery island - most around Rudlin Bay. https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52068414
The ebb current carried us downstream as we returned across Baynes channel!

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16 km, YTD 31 km

January 24th - Port Renfrew (#3)

I was up at the cottages in Renfrew doing some maintenance and managed to get out for a nice play in the surf by the San Juan rivermouth. The waves were not too big but still gave me some great rides! The Hammer is fun in surf! :)
There were some nice birds around as well including surf scoter, pacific loon, common merganser, bald eagle and more.

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5 km, YTD 15 km

January 20 - Cadboro Bay (#2)

I made it out for a solo paddle on Sunday morning the day after returning from my Galapagos and Antarctic experience. Great to be out on home waters. Buffleheads, hooded mergansers, bald eagles, pelagic cormorants, common mergansers, Canada goose, and more.

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8 km, YTD 10 km

January 3rd - Devil Island, Antarctica (#1)

I managed to get out for a short paddle at Devil Island in the Weddell Sea off the eastern tip of the Antarctic peninsula and realize a dream of paddling in the Antarctic. I have now been able to paddle in both the Arctic and the Antarctic within the span of a year! It was great to paddle amongst icebergs and penguins!

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showing the location in the Weddell Sea

2 km, YTD 2 km

December 12th - Espumilla beach James Bay (#72)

I was able to get out for another paddle early in the morning and paddled between Espumilla beach and Cerro Cowan. I saw a few hammerhead sharks while paddling! :)

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3 km. YTD 556 km

I guess I did not make the 100 paddles or 1000 km goal this year due to having too much fun on trips around the world... Next year's goal will be revised down to 50 paddles and 500 km!