August 2002
�No, we decided we were taking your pots� was my response.
And so began the gong-show of our kayaking adventure in the Discovery Islands. We had bombed out to the town of Campell River the night before, braving the rest of Vancouver who was also trying to escape the city for the BC Day long weekend. But the revelation that we were missing a vital piece of equipment meant that we were spending more time in this place than originally anticipated. Where we were heading was unlikely to have pots for sale.
The Discovery Islands, for those of you who have never heard of them, are a cluster of islands between northern Vancouver Island and the mainland. To get there is a bit of an epic: it�s a ferry ride to Nanaimo, a 2 hour drive north to Campell River, another ferry east to Quadra Island, and then a short drive across Quadra to the quaint hamlet of Harriot Bay.
We had reserved 2 kayaks from the Harriot Bay Inn, meaning that we didn�t have to worry about transporting such large & awkward objects on the top of my car, which is not equipped with the right sort of roof rack. Our vessels were sitting out on the lawn, waiting for us: a bright red one for Andrew and neon green for me. Great, the Christmas kayaks.
The biggest challenge of the whole trip was next: figuring out how to fit all our stuff into the compartments of our boats. I�m a pro at getting an impossible looking amount of gear in my backpack. But the kayak is a whole different story. It took us over an hour to work out the finer points of this 3D jigsaw puzzle.
And then we were off. It was a beautiful sunny day with little wind. Perfect for paddling. And we�d planned a nice short day to start the trip with. An hour of easy kayaking got us to Village Bay where we set up camp. We spent the afternoon following a nearby stream up to a large freshwater lake where we had a wonderful swim. A campfire and a tasty dinner with fresh veggies (the real bonus to kayak camping!) rounded off a very successful first day.
We woke up to pouring rain and decided that there was no point in moving on. Spent the majority of the day in the tent snoozing & reading. Later in the afternoon, the rain tapered off and we decided to try our hand at fishing since Andrew had brought a length of fishing line and a lure. Within seconds of casting, there was a bite. A decent sized rock cod, but we figured that there must have been more where he came from. We were wrong. 30 minutes later, no other bites and it had started raining again. Back to the tent.
The next morning was still a bit grey, but we were stir crazy by this point and needed to get moving. But somehow, I had misplaced our tide and current charts! How, was a huge mystery as there was really nowhere they could be, short of having blown away in the night. This altered our plans considerably, meaning that we had to paddle to the village of Surge Narrows in the hopes that the store there would have charts for sale.
Because we had no charts, we ended up slogging against the current to get to the little store. Fortunately, they had charts. They also had root beer, wine gums, and other yummy treats!
We decided to have lunch on the beach there. In the process of digging out the lunch bag, as luck would have it, I discovered our original charts. They had stuck to the top of the inside of my kayak! Harumph.
The afternoon was spent trying to find a campsite in the area. Unfortunately, everything that looked good from a distance was not so good up close. And then we ran into a large tour group. The guide kindly recommended a spot on the tiny Peck Island, which turned out to be my favourite campsite of the whole trip.
Peck is a small island in the middle of the actual Surge Narrows, which is just what it sounds like. At all other times but slack current, the water rushes through this small opening, creating rapids worthy of many a river. You can only get in and out of this campsite at slack tide for this reason. And once the currents start, there is absolutely no water traffic. We had the island and the surrounding waters all to ourselves!
By the afternoon, the sun had come out so we explored the island, did some sketching, and tried fishing again. This time, we actually caught a rock cod worth eating. And we did! Yum!
The next day was a very easy paddle north up to the Octopus Islands. This time we timed it right and rode the current the whole way. It was an adventure finding fresh water around there as the streams on our topo map seamed to have dried up. But after several landings at what looked like hopeful indents in the trees, followed by bushwhacks for nothing, we found a trickle of water. Hooray for Andrew�s water filter! I wouldn�t have wanted to drink this stuff otherwise.
Found another lovely little island to set up camp on, and had the afternoon ahead of us to relax. Took some photos, read our books, snoozed in the sun, and even went for a swim. The water was certainly cold, but in a painfully refreshing way.
Woke up to a picture postcard morning the next day. The water was a mirror, perfectly reflecting the hilly islands and sailboats surounding us. We had planned a day trip up to Owen Bay where, according to our guidebook, there was a great lake for swimming.
The lake is there, but what the book didn�t mention were the grumpy people. In order to access the lake, you need to land on the beach and hike up a trail. We learned that there are 13 families that own property and they are not happy that word is out there about their lake. At one point there was talk of filling our water bottles and sending us on our way. But then one of the men took pity on us (or caught a whiff of 5 days accumulated B.O.) and said we could head up for an hour. We had a quick but luxurious swim, filtered water and then reluctantly went back down so as not to get in trouble.
The original plan for the day had been to hang out at this lake for most of the afternoon. Instead, we found ourselves with several hours to kill before the next slack tide. Looking at the swiftly flowing waters of the Lower Rapids, we decided it would be best to wait. We puttered around, explored a few islands, and tried to find a way around the rapids. But this was going to involve a long portage over slippery boulders. Waiting was still our best option, so a suitable napsite was found on one of the islands.
But we were able to take advantage of the current slacking off to catch a ride back to our campsite. It was an exhilarating experience being swiftly whisked along without any effort. Yet another lovely evening by our campfire awaited us.
The next day started early. We were going through Hole in the Wall, another section of potentially dangerous rapids at any time other than slack tide. I had calculated that we needed to be at the start of the narrow channel by 9am to catch the beginning of the current that would flow in our favour. When we got there, though, there was a distinct increase in the work required to keep any forward momentum. Even the motor boats were struggling!
2 hours of hard paddling later, we finally got to the end of the channel and collapsed on the nearest beach we could find. I then had the horrible realization that I had totally miscalculated the current times! The charts do not compensate for Daylight Savings and so you need to add an hour on to all times they report. I had forgotten to do this very important calculation. Had we left at 10, we would have had slack tide and an advantageous current. Instead, we fought the current the whole way through. I was not a popular trip-mate at this moment in time.
After a rest and a much needed release for the bladder, we had another hour to North Rendezvous Island. There we found another wonderful campsite on a tiny island. Unfortunately, about an hour later a large group of Americans found the other great campsite on another little island nearby.
We tried our best to stay on the far side of our island, out of auditory range from our noisy neighbours, but they were hard to ignore. I tried my hand at fishing again but kept catching very strange looking blue fish. They were certainly big enough to eat, but we had no idea what they were. So, back they went along with Andrew�s tiny rock cod. Another unsuccessful attempt at living off of nature�s bounty! It was a good thing we had lots of other tasty meals on the trip.
The next day dawned dreary and rainy. We looked at options for the day and realized there were two. We didn�t have enough water to last another night, so we would have to backtrack to be able to stay out for longer. Or, we could push it and get out that day. The weather was not looking great and both of us felt that we had spent enough time this holiday with sore backs from sitting in our kayaks. So, out we went.
Our route took us through Whiterock Passage, a very narrow a and shallow channel that leads to the little town of Surge Narrows. Then south through Hoskyn Channel for one last picnic on a pebbly beach. And finally past the Breton Islands to Harriot Bay. It was a long haul; a good 5 hours of paddling.
Of course, by the time we got there, the sun had come out and it had turned into a beautiful day. But the hot shower and prospect of sleeping in a real bed meant we did not regret our decision to finish when we did. And the celebratory beer that night sure tasted wonderful!
As always, there are lots of photos, which flesh out the story. Check them out!