Escape to British Columbia, barely

Looking east at the current lines and Johnstone Strait

We took our usual Labor Day trip to British Columbia to paddle around yet another amazing place on this planet. This year we decided to circumnavigate East Thurlow Island, which is part of the Discovery Island Group right in the middle of the eastern side of Vancouver Island and mainland B.C.

Peace and stars

The trip did not start out well. The WA ferry system put us in the wrong line for the ferry and we were not loaded onto the ferry. Only when we saw the boat we were supposed to be on pulling away from the dock did we realize what happened. Of course, that was the last ferry of the day to Vancouver Island from Anacortes. We managed to get a reservation on a B.C. ferry much later at night but we had to drive to Canada first to get the ferry. Once we got there they told us we were too tall (with the kayaks on our car) to meet the ferry reservation requirement. So we lost our reservation and had to go on stand-by. We made it....but not without stress. Of course, our plan to drive halfway up Vancouver Island was foiled and we had to car camp in Nanaimo. It poured. The next day we got out to where we were going to launch (north of Campbell River) in time to load the boats and catch the necessary slack tide at Johnstone Strait for a big crossing.....and then Jay discovered we had gotten a flat tire on the dirt road drive to the launch. While Jay and a campground host fixed our tire, we missed the slack and the host's kid decided to hang out with me while I watched our loaded kayaks on a rising tide. I don't like kids (that shouldn't be shocking to anyone who knows me - that is why we don't have them!). But here was this kid who was quite sweet but I was totally not in the mood to be a babysitter. By the time the tire was fixed we were forced to wait for the next slack, but I was desperate to get away from said kid, so into our boats we went in search of solitude. We paddled into Johnstone Strait, but we could literally "hear" the rapids of the full tidal exchange, so we turned around and found the nice spot in these pictures above to hang out for a few hours while we waited for slack tide. Finally, we crossed.... and made it to East Thurlow Island.

Lee Islands - Camp spot #1

Naturally, it was getting really late by the time we found a small island (the Lee Islands) to camp on and we ended up cooking in the dark and collapsing in our tent. The next morning was a delight and I finally started to recover from all our bad luck just getting started on this trip.

We paddled up to Cordero Channel where we had glass calm and clear water and amazing views up Phillips Arm. What a magical day!

We made it to the Cordero Islands for our second night of awesome rock ledge camping. Check out Jay in his awesome new boat! This was a long day and I still never got my relaxing day of getting to camp early enough to drink a beer and read my book.....but we did have time to at least eat in daylight and watch the sunset!

 Jay and our perfect island camp

 Cordero Channel

I knit this hat four times, having to tear it out over and over again because I couldn't get the size right. I finally finished it on our drive to the kayak launch north of Campbell River, but I put the rockin' pom-pom on at this campsite and I was pretty stoked, as you can tell.

 Yep. This is why I'm alive.

The next day we had some crazy currents as we paddled into Blind Channel and found this gem of a beach for our lunch spot. After lunch, we left this beach and paddled into some gnarly wind and waves, trying to get into a better position for crossing Johnstone Strait the next day. But it was getting dangerous, so we turned around and bee-lined it back to the same beach and made that our campground for the night.

Not a bad place to camp! And I finally had hours free in the afternoon to sip a glass of wine, have the strong wind whip around me, read my book, and praise the kayak goddesses for bringing me back to this beach alive!

We got up freakin' early the next morning to cross Johnstone Strait at slack and, thank goodness, we had no wind. What a crossing! And what a trip!! I cherish these long weekend paddles.

On our way back from Vancouver Island we scooped up Felix, the 2016 European Rolex Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society Scholar. He spent a week with my team helping us out with our sea cucumber surveys. Jay and I love hosting scholars and it always turns into a blast when they are here with us.

I hurt my knee pretty badly during these sea cucumber surveys and I ended up only getting one day of diving in. But I could still drive the boat! I love this shot of Felix on our wheelhouse roof with me driving the boat below him.

Jay and I had big plans to spend my birthday weekend backpacking along the Olympic Coast. Alas, that damn knee injury meant I could barely walk for a while, so backpacking was out. Sweet Jay went online and found a cute cabin to rent from Air BnB in Ocean Park, WA on the Long Beach Peninsula - an area we had never explored. We spent some time checking out Oysterville, a neat old town with a real New England vibe. And check out this pile of Pacific oyster shells! I was stoked! We use shells like this for our native oyster restoration project at Swinomish and sometimes it can be hard to get shell. Now I know where to go!

Oysterville on Willipa Bay

 Cape Disappointment

Long Beach Peninsula boardwalk