broken islands 2009

Kayaking the Broken Group

The weather didn’t exactly cooperate for Andrew and Katherine’s mid-August 2009 kayaking trip. In fact, in a summer (and spring) of unprecedented sunshine, we chose what were probably the only four wet, cool days available for our little expedition. Fortunately, because we were too busy to organize our own trip, which we usually do, we joined an organized tour out of Ucluelet with Majestic Kayaking. This turned out to be a very good move.

Many kayakers depart from Toquart Bay

Many, many kayakers depart from Toquart Bay

There were only five of us on this four-day trip, Doug and Catherine from Qualicum Beach, A&K and Lennie Allison, our superb guide. A good guide can really make a difference on a wet trip. And Lennie was the best. He was a whiz with tarps and fires. We’d come back to camp cold and damp from five hours of paddling around, and Lennie would whip up a shelter in minutes, get a nice fire going at the shelter’s mouth, and an hour later we’d be warm and dry and happy. And then Lennie would cook up some smoked salmon pasta, or fresh prawns with a vegetable stir-fry, and we’d hardly even notice the crappy weather.

Happy, well-fed, warm, dry campers

Happy, well-fed, warm, dry campers

Of course it wasn’t wet all the time. We had one cloudy day and one partly sunny day. Each day we’d set off after breakfast (fruit, yoghurt, cereal, pancakes, French toast) and explore a different part of the Broken Group. We’d get out here and there and then take a longer lunch break (bagels, pita pockets, Indonesian rice salad, burritos with refried beans) and look around. Our route was from Toquart Bay on the west side of Barkley Sound to Hand Island to Dodd Island, where we set up camp for three nights. One (wet) day we paddled down the coasts of Willis, Lovett and Clarke islands to Benson Island, which was a major village site for the Tseshaht First Nation and plays a prominent role in the Tseshaht’s creation myths. The south and west sides of Benson are stunningly rugged.

Paddling a gap on the south side of Walsh Island

Paddling a gap on the south side of Walsh Island

On another, better day we crossed over to Wiebe Island on Imperial Eagle Channel and worked our way along the steep, rocky outer shorelines of Dempster and Gibraltar islands. We paddled through some of the biggest kelp beds I’ve ever seen, past entrances to gigantic sea caves and through a narrow, seastar-lined surge channel. Humpback whales were everywhere, and a harbour porpoise swam right past Katherine’s kayak at a distance of about one metre. This was unusual as these animals are notoriously shy.

Lennie communes with a large sea cucumber

Lennie communes with a large sea cucumber

The trip back was a bit scary. It was pouring with rain but also windy, with confused waters from the tide and swell, and breaking waves coming from behind. K and I had given our super-stable double kayak to Doug and Catherine, who were less experienced, and taken their singles. It took us more than an hour to cross Loudoun Channel. Heavy rain continued all the way to Toquart, where we could finally change into our last set of dry clothes. Back in downtown Ucluelet a black bear ran across the main drag right in front of our van.

Bye bye

Bye bye