I spent almost two weeks on Vancouver Island with good friends, Paula and Chuck. We were on two four-day sea kayaking trips off the western coast near Tofino and Ucluelet, camping for six nights, but with one night in between in real beds. The first trip was primarily in calm waters among the 100 or so Broken Group Islands in the Barkley Sound that were returned to the First Nations people three years ago with a treaty. We were seven, plus two guides. The second half of the trip was in Clayoquot Sound with much more open water, often rough with wind, currents and swells, and it was just the three of us and a guide. We camped on long open sandy beaches that became extra wide when the tide was out. I had been on Vancouver Island in September two years ago with my Chile teacher friends. It was warmer and mostly brighter this time, although we still had heavy fog and mist in the mornings. Being in a kayak right next to the water made it a completely different experience.
Paula and I started out in a double kayak; I was in the back learning to steer the first morning and we did a lot of zigzagging, but I improved, and Chuck was very encouraging. After the second day, however, Paula and Chuck were together and I was with the guide. (On the second trip, Paula and I stayed together.) Our guide, Kevin, was great because he knew something about everything in the area, and he was also very funny and told great stories. We paddled several hours in the mornings, had lunch and relaxed, and then paddled again in the afternoons. We camped and enjoyed healthy delicious meals prepared for us by the guides.
The first morning, First Nations people paddled by us in dug out canoes heading south to Washington State; they would pick up others on the way for a potlatch, a traditional feast. We felt that was a good omen for our trip.
We saw fish traps built from rocks long ago, the fish were forced into the traps and would then be captured and caught. In the thick rain forest we saw several huge Red Cedar trees, over 2000 years old, that the indigenous people were able to harvest planks from without harming the tree. Red Cedar was used for buildings, dug out canoes, and many other items. There were rocky cliffs, sandy beaches and large pine trees which reminded me of the North Shore or the Boundary Waters in Minnesota.
We saw many sea animals: Steller sea lions, sea otter, harbor seals, harbor porpoise, and grey whales. One huge sea otter, which can weigh up to 2500 pounds, poked his head up not far from our kayaks and stared at us for a while. In the Broken Group we paddled out to a colony of Steller sea lions and there encountered some exciting swells six feet high. There were many grey whales, especially on the second part of our trip when we were out in more open water. One night there was a show in front of the beach with the whales blowing condensed water from their blow holes as they swam by. There
were many bald eagles, crows, ravens, herons, osprey, and various sea gulls. We saw black bears on the shore in the Broken Group and wolf prints around our tents in Clayoquot Sound.
The tides are huge and we saw a variety of intertidal marine life: orange and purple five pointed starfish and large Sunflower Seastars with 16 to 24 arms, sea anemones, sea urchins, mussels, clams, sea cucumber, jelly fish, and gigantic Louis Moon snails. One night as Paula and I were playing our traditional evening game of Quiddler, we watched as clams hidden in the sand spit streams of water one to two feet high into the air. We watched hundreds of squirts all over the sandy beach and laughed a lot. Once when we were kayaking, we watched a school of glistening silver four-inch long herring swim by, thousands of them full speed ahead.
The sea kelp was different shades of green, from dark to chartreuse, layers and layers of different shapes and sizes on the rocks. Huge lengths of bull kelp floated in the water. The stems were very
long and the round balls at the end floated on the surface because they were filled with gas. The First Nations people used the kelp to store fresh water. Some pieces of kelp hung from tree branches in magical and eerie ways.
There are seven official campsites on the islands so many people camp on the same islands. Paula and I swam twice, once we were applauded for going into the cold, but clear and refreshing water.
There was heavy mist and fog every morning, but at least for the first half of the trip, the sun burned the mist away and it would be warm and sunny. The second trip we had a couple of days with little sun. The tents got covered with dew and it was damp and cold and nothing dried the last night we were out. We appreciated the campfires every night and in the mornings.
After the kayaking trip we spent a lovely evening with John and Diane Tegenfeldt; John had been a Peace Corps volunteer with Chuck in Nepal. Then on to Vancouver, a beautiful city built on the water with extremely friendly people. There is an endless number of glass high rises of different shapes and colors with yachts moored below. We enjoyed wandering in the city, taking water taxis, trains, and buses to get around town. We especially enjoyed the Museum of Anthropology at the University with many totem poles and other artifacts from the First Nations people of the Northwest. We wandered in Gastown, Chinatown, and on Granville Island, and ate some delicious sea food. We biked around Stanley Park enjoying various views of the city, bridges, and boats, large and small. There were BC Day fireworks displays two nights which were spectacular with faces, hearts, waterfalls, and fire all displayed in fire works.
British Columbia is beautiful and it was an exciting place to sea kayak, to experience the flora and fauna close to the water, and of course to be physically engaged.
No comments:
Post a Comment