To celebrate the Super Natural, Best Place on Earth, Beautiful
British Columbia Day, I decided to kayak around Gabriola Island in the Northern
Gulf Islands area. A couple of videos shot by my friend Eric on his ferry to
Salt Spring Island of whales playing around their boat fuelled extra motivation
to me.
I left early on Friday afternoon, and surprisingly found a
not-so-busy #257 bus going to Horseshoe Bay with almost no traffic on Georgia
St. “It is a long weekend, right?!” I thought. Nevertheless, before boarding
the ferry, I realized that I forgot to bring the fuel for my stove. What a
disaster, especially with the fire ban across the province! I re-calculated
what I brought and felt I could still survive with the cold food I packed,
albeit starving for sure. So, I calmed myself down and the trip continued;
hoping to get some fuel somewhere on the way. It was a pleasant ferry ride
(without sighting of any whales...), during which I got into a conversation
with a girl from France. She was visiting her boyfriend who works in Strathcona
Provincial Park. She saw me studying the map and asked where I was going. She
works for MEC, and told me all those benefits they have as employees. What a
great place to work at! Arriving at Departure Bay in Nanaimo, I found the kayak
rental place, Alberni Outpost, right by the ferry dock. I quickly finished the
transaction, told them my trip plan, and loaded the boat. Since I didn't have
too much daylight left, I paddled in calm water, with the sun setting behind
me, to the nearby Newcastle Island. After setting up my tent and sighting some
deers casually feeding on the lawn, I went out for a night paddle. The water
was soothingly tranquil while the moon was rising. I could see the Coastal
Mountains on the mainland, and the industrial waterfront in Nanaimo. My trip
started beautifully.
On Saturday morning, the sun shined straight into my tent and woke
me up. My plan was to paddle across to Gabriola Island and visit my friend,
Ranza. Before leaving, I got into some problem with my tent: I drilled one of
the anchor stakes too deep when I set it up the night before and it got stuck
inside some tree roots. (Don’t ask me why I did that in a quiet windless
night.) No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't come out. Eventually, when I got
mad and started being manly, I snapped a tent string and broke the stake.
That’s when I gave up. The short distance (about 5 km) across to Gabriola wasn't easy. The wind was strong and I was constantly hit by 3-foot swells.
After an hour, I arrived at Descanso Bay. Three bald eagles circling above in
the sky welcomed me when I got out of the boat. I walked into the village, saw
the local arts market, and luckily, found a building supply shop to buy a
bottle of Methyl Hydrate as my fuel -- yay for hot food! I tried to call Ranza
but the cell phone signal was very weak around the village. So I asked a
friendly guy at the shop: “Where can I get some better cell phone signal close
to here?” He looked at me, seemingly saying "where were you from" and
"what do you want", and answered: “Nanaimo?!” Thanks, Island folks! I
finally got through to Ranza’s home phone and she wasn’t there. It took us back
and forth a couple of phone calls to set up the meeting at Descanso Bay
Regional Park. After moving my kayak from the private property I invaded when I
first landed on the island, I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in the sun, reading
my book before Ranza arrived. She took a swim in the water and we chatted for
an hour. It was a short reunion but I was glad we met. In the evening, I headed
out around the northeastern corner of Gabriola to my planned camping site at
Sandwell Provincial Park in Lock Bay. On the way, I checked out the Malaspina
Gallery, a stretch of unique sandstone formation that carved in at the bottom
of the cliffs by water erosion. Many people jump from the ~15 feet high cliff
above the eroded sandstones into the water. The water in the evening was flat
and I made up the ground/water easily around Entrance Island into Lock Bay. It
was a beautiful site for my tent right on the beach, looking east toward the
mainland. After having a hot meal, I sat on the beach by my boat with the wine
I brought. I could see the lights up on the ski hills (probably Cypress), and I
even caught the fireworks in English Bay that night. After coming back, I heard
it rained in Vancouver for about 20 minutes that evening before the fireworks;
it was clear sky with stars and moonrise for me on the other side of the water.
I dozed into my sleep listening to the waves pounding on the shore.
Sunday morning, I embraced some light drizzle as a refreshing taste
from the blazing sun. A woman walking her dog on the beach greeted me: “Not too
bad a place to spend the night, eh?!” Knowing that the majority of my trip was
only starting, I set out on the water before 10:00, the destination was Pirates
Cove Provincial Park on De Courcy Island, more than 20 km away. As expected, I
was against the current and wind going southeast along the western shoreline of
Gabriola Island. It took me more than 3 hours to reach the turn at Commodore
Passage into Flat Top Islands. The reward was three seals lazily lying on the
rock to welcome me at the entrance of the Passage. I found a beach and took a
lunch break. Before going across Pylades Channel to reach my destination, I had
to paddle through Gabriola Passage. The warning on my map said: “Max current 9
knots. Rips, turbulence.” Not until I reached that point did I realize waves
might not be the biggest concern in sea kayaking. The currents were so unpredictable
in the passage that no matter how hard I paddle, I was not moving forward. I
was constantly being spun around in the whirlpools and pushed to different
directions. Even when I thought I was out of the passage, a strong current
knocked me back in and almost pushed me onto a concrete navigation light. It
was a hard battle. Having enough of paddling for the day, I just wanted to
finish, so I aimed straight to Pirates Cove across Pylades Channel, not 100 per
cent sure if that was where I had to go. Gladly, after another 1.5 hours, I
reached the point I was aiming at, and it was Pirates Cove Provincial Park.
There was already a group of kayakers, two dads and daughters, when I arrived.
One of them, Tony, was originally from Manchester and had a Solskjær United
jersey on. That got us into a “friendly” conversation dating back to 1999 since
I am a Bayern München fan. Of course, he wouldn't leave me alone without a few
extra jabs replaying the 91st minute at Camp Nou in 1999 to me. The other
father, Ken, was a seasoned kayaker and had good knowledge about ocean and
currents. So, I consulted him about my route plan going back to Nanaimo the
next day. It was a pleasure meeting them. I had to say the $5 remote camping
site was a lot better than those $16 popular ones one can drive to. The
outhouse was clean, it was quiet, and even had tent pads. Plus, to get fresh
water, you need to use the hand pump -- when was the last time you used that?!
The view? It’s BC view and BC wine -- You gotta be there!
Monday was my last day, but also the longest day. I had to paddle
from Pirates Cove back to Nanaimo and catch the ferry back to Vancouver. The
grand plan was to hit the water early in the morning and catch the current and
wind with the high tide. I hit the water shortly after 8:00 as planned, but
Mother Nature didn't want to cooperate. As soon as I turned around De Courcy
into Stuart Channel, the wind picked up, into my face. To make things worse, I
missed the turn (I thought it was too small between the rocks when I saw it
from far and didn’t get close) going to east side of Link Island and Mudge
Island. I was planning to take the longer, but safer route through False
Narrows. Reluctant to turn back, I decided to challenge the notorious Dodd
Narrows. Ken told me the night before that he wouldn't recommend going through
there because when traffic was busy, it was like a “laundry machine”. My speed
was OK against the wind and reached there around 10:00. I had to stop before
going into the channel because I forgot to put on sunscreen in the morning
before I left. Around 10:30, I ventured into the Narrows. That was when I
perfectly understood why the veteran didn't want me to go through there alone
-- it was such a narrow one-way traffic with all the boats wanting to pass
through. I was lucky there were only a couple of boats crossing when I was
there. So, I waited for them and had about 5 minutes for myself to crazily
battle through the bloody currents and whirlpools. The Narrows was not that
long, but I had to give my all. It was interesting that there was a guy
relaxing on the rocks on one side of the Narrows watching me battle through it
like a mad cow. I was happy to come out of that part safely because I thought
the worst part of the long day was over, so I had a little snack break on the
water. However, just when I restarted paddling, the wind picked up again in
Northumberland Channel. And this time, it only got stronger. I was on the
Gabriola side of the channel because I didn’t want to go through the industrial
waterfront. When I needed to cross back to the Nanaimo side after the cliff
area on Gabriola, the gale pulled out in its full strength, leaving me in 3-5
feet side waves to cross the channel. Then, everything I didn't want happened
to arrive. First, a freight tow boat came into the harbour; good it saw me from
distance and I made it clear that I would cross before it came in. Then, just
when I had a clear view of the open sea, the Duke Point ferry arrived -- couldn't be better timing! I paddled close to it after it docked, and had to
wait for about 20 minutes in the waves when I was very tired. The last few
miles was excruciating. The gale wouldn't let up and gusted from northeast,
pushing giant side waves onto my boat while I was going into McKay Channel. It wasn't even getting better after I entered Nanaimo Harbour inside Protection
Island. Whenever I wanted to take a break and stopped paddling, the wind and
current would push me back out. I was swearing constantly and had no fun in the
end. When I finally docked at Brechin Boat Ramp around 14:45 after 6.5 hours
straight in the boat, I was completed exhausted and had to pump significant
amount of water out of the cockpit. I returned the kayak and took a quick
shower from the water hose to wash out the salt accumulated on my arms.
I caught the 16:40 ferry back to Vancouver and bumped into a friend
on the ferry. The chat made the journey shorter. When I went to a real washroom
for the first time in 3 days, I saw the sever sunburn under my eyes that made
my face like a panda. Looking back to the vast shorelines around Gabriola
Island, I was proud of myself to achieve what I had been through in the past 3
days. Good there is a thing called effort and reward. Plotting my route on
Google Earth, the total distance was about 56.7 km; with the zigzagging on the
water, it should easily be above 60 km. Guess I could say to myself: BC Day
well celebrated.
Epilogue: Combing back from this trip, I watched Andrew McAuley’s
tragic story Solo: Lost At Sea again. I had more respect for the guy trying
what he wanted to. I cannot fathom what he had been through in those 30 days;
to make it worse, defeated in sight of land after 1600 km in the roughest sea.
To put it into perspective, he was separated from his kayak 35 nautical miles
away from Milford Sound in New Zealand; the 2-hour ferry from Tsawwassen to
Duke Point is 38 nautical miles. Did he succeed in his mission? No. Did he
cross the Tasmania Sea? Absolutely! When I get to Milford Sound one day, I will
remember there lies a lost soul somewhere in that water where he loved deeply.
"I don't necessarily fear being afraid." -- Andrew McAuley
