For the past few weeks I've been soliciting friends and family to come sea kayaking and experience some the the most epic paddling in the world, here on Vancouver Island. It is surprisingly difficult to convince people to join in on this.
One person who rose to the challenge is my old friend Lena. A master's candidate at SFU, she took a break from studying oystercatchers to visit home on the island and also join me on an epic trip of a lifetime.
For me it entailed a 6 hour drive to Telegraph Cove (split into two parts). On Sunday I drove up to Courtenay where her mum cooked us a superb salmon dinner. We then continued that evening up past Campbell river to get us closer to our destination. Shortly after passing Campbell River, I noticed that my range said 0. I wasn't sure how long it had said that, but we are very very close to running out of fuel. We turned back to Campbell River immediately and fortunately a station was still open!
We stayed the night at McCreight Lake Recreation Site off Rock Bay Road.
Day 1
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| McCreight Lake |
I had a chilling morning swim in McCreight Lake before we crushed some eggs and continued our journey. The highway to Telegraph Cove is epic, passing through a valley in between snow-capped mountains through forest (mostly logged).
We got to the Telegraph Cove Resort and Campground which seems to be the standard option for parking and launching. We paid $5 a day for parking and $8 for launching (per 2 kayaks). The nice fella at the desk lent us a tarp at no charge because I foolishly didn't bring one (and I call myself a guide!). That would come in very handy later on.
It took us about 1 hour to get launched and loaded, which is pretty typical. Half the effort of sea kayaking is getting loaded and unloaded, washing the gear and boats and all that.
The 15 km paddle that afternoon was a brutal one, battling a strong headwind, rain, and fairly sizeable waves. Luckily we hadn't planned on crossing the strait until the following day. It was so bad that we decided it would be easier to portage the 20 m across Blinkhorn Peninsula than to paddle around it. We hugged the shoreline the entire way.
We paddled along the shoreline up until second beach. Having passed by the Kaitlish Creek Recreation Site, that looked like a really good option with a picnic table, tent pads and a roofed kitchen, but I argued that the day was still too young to stop and I won that argument, so we went further up to the border of Robson Bight, then turned around, settling on second beach campsite. Just before that, we observed a small black bear foraging among the rocks, and I was able to try out my kayak photography method for the first time. Basically I put the camera inside a drybag which is roped to the inside of the cockpit so if I flip over, it will stay dry (in theory). With a $3000 setup it was pretty sketchy, especially with the waves, but I think I managed some good shots. Judge for yourself.
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| View toward Robson Bight |
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| Second Beach Campsite |
Rather exhausted from an afternoon of battling winds and waves, we settled in with a picturesque beach fire and slept like logs.
Day 2
We did an early morning crossing of Johnstone Strait, with some wind and waves but not nearly as bad as the day before. The crossing was done in about 45 minutes I think, with a moderate current pushing us west. We had steered our course accordingly, visiting Sophia Islets to scout some campsites for my group trip next month. We were not impressed. While I was checking out the site, Lena went the bush toilet and while getting back in, planted her hand right on an urchin. First aid was administered and we were able to continue.
As we approached the infamous Cracroft Point, we were vigilant for currents and rips that this locality is famous for. Fortunately we had timed it just right for calm waters. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I'd seen a whale tail dip under water, continued our course and to our delight two humpbacks appeared on the horizon. The sounds of their waterspouts always get me excited. Rounding Cracroft point, we found ourselves in the midst of a feeding frenzy with Pacific White-sided Dolphins, Dall's Porpoises, Marbled Murrelets, Rhino Auklets and a solitary sea lion joining the mix. A black and white Dall's Porpoise zoomed about 1.5 meters under our kayaks!
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| Humpback Whale |
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| Steller's Sea Lion |
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| Dall's Porpoise |
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| Marbled Murrelet |
We wanted to camp at Flower Island, a seriously epic camping spot that overlooks the area where a humpback whale was feeding all morning. As we came upon our desired camp, I decided it was still early and decided to take a short detour around a little island. When we came to land at Flower, a group of old folks had somehow scooched in front of us by means of a speedy water taxi. They had seriously fast and shiny new kayaks with them, so I don't know why they would need a water taxi such a short distance. I asked if there was any space for us on the island but the one lady made it known that we were not welcome there and to seek out a campsite elsewhere! Not having been there I did not know how much space there really was but I later read that the island has 5 well-separated campsites and they were only 4 people in their group. She cited "covid concerns." Lol. We let these entitled old timers from Galliano Island have their precious privacy and settled for Red Point on Harbledown Island which I can honestly say was not the least scenic campsite I've ever found.
On the way over we had an amazing moment in Blackfish Sound where there was a humpback whale to our right and another one to our left. We sat there observing them for a while and gave way for a tugboat pulling a massive barge (pulling what appeared to be gravel?).
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| Rhinoceros Auklet |
At camp, we settled in to our serene sanctuary...at our peril. While setting up tents, a huge widowmaker broke in half, tumbling down the slope and sending a 5 foot long log side-spinning toward me. I saw it in slow-motion and was able to side-step out of the way. It landed 1 meter from my tent and about 1 foot from where I was standing. Picture that scene in the Lord of the Rings when they catapult that giant boulder from the Minas Tirith and that orc general side-steps out of the way then spits on the boulder. That's basically what it looked like, according to Lena.
Day 3
We still wanted to camp on Flowerpot Island but the one nice lady in the group told us they planned on staying for a second night (didn't plan on putting those brand new Nimbus Horizons to good use I guess. If you are reading this Galliano Island people, I would love to purchase one of your Horizons if you are not going to be using them, just send me an email ;)). Needing to find an epic site before another water taxi got there, we took a chance and went for Little Hanson which turned out to be an epic spot with views toward Cracroft Point where 3 humpbacks were continually feeding about 1 to 2 km away. I tried paddling out to observe them but was thwarted by the legendary rips and currents that this locale is infamous for. It was quite instructional to paddle on the periphery of them. The humpbacks however seemed to prefer being right in the muck of it. I guess they just open their mouth and let the food flow in?
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| A humpback feeds amidst the powerful currents |
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| Little Hansen Island |
Day 4
On day for we'd planned on getting up at 7 am but I was excited to get going so I rose at 6 to prepare breakfast. While doing so, I was startled to hear a whale spout from very very close as a massive humpback whale swam through the narrow channel separating us from Hanson Island. I woke Lena just in time for her to see it swimming away toward Blackfish Sound. To the other side (east) we could see a humpback resting about 1 km away so we packed up camp really quickly so we could paddle out and observe it. These were the best views we had all trip by far and really made us appreciate how actually massive these beasts are. The tail is about as wide as our 17-18 foot kayaks are long and one pectoral fin is twice as long as a person. A humpback whale can weigh 25 to 30 metric tons and measure 13 to 16 meters long (dimensions.com). It could easily crush us if it wanted to (see picture).
Analyzing the photos later we realized that it had a baby with it, as shown by the smaller pectoral fin in the photo. My heart was beating fast!
We wanted to paddle the north shore of Hanson Island but I wanted to linger a little longer with the Whales. Lena argued that we should take advantage of the currents while we can and she won the argument so we cruised effortlessly, transiting 2/3 of the island in about half an hour. Rounding the bend, a seal popped its head up and I had the smarts to stick the GoPro underwater and get a different perspective.
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| After the first day of battling against winds and waves, the conditions really turned in our favour. Thus is the nature of sea kayaking. |
We saw about 60 Marbled Murrelets!
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| Marbled Murrelets |
This was the lowest tide of the year according to Lena, enabling us to observe some pretty interesting invertebrates beneath our boats, like a 2 foot wide sunflower sea star and those feathery white anemones which you normally see deeper down.
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| A Minke Whale fin briefly popped up on the horizon |
We stopped for a lunch break at Cormorant Islands before proceeding southwest about 7 km to Telegraph Cove harbour, briefly glimpsing an inconspicuous Minke Whale along the way. The hills flanking the harbour produce the most epic echo, although I'm not sure how much the locals appreciated our exhalations to the gods. We did not care!
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