Harbour Patrol

Today, Louise, Paula and I headed out to Esquimalt Lagoon to paddle under a glorious sunny summer sky. Our plan was to paddle around the Fort Rodd Hill lighthouse and into Esquimalt Harbour. There was an offshore breeze that was kicking up a little chop and a flood tide was running, so the Harbour water wasn't as calm as one might expect, but nothing we couldn't handle. Paula was in her inflatable Firefly....


...while Louise headed out to sea in her Delta.


We rounded the lighthouse and into the harbour.


We played in the rocks a bit...


...but Louise was trying to find a beach that she used to walk to. She found it right beside the site of the old Victoria Plywood mill. My dad worked here for 25 years, but now it's a subdivision and shopping mall. This is all that's left -- the steel rails where they brought in logs out of the log boom.


Rental space is at such a premium in Victoria that people are now living in floating barrels.


We puttered around the harbour and then headed back out towards the ocean. This navy boat drew alongside us to remind us that we should stay 100m away from naval facilities on the shoreline.


He came up between us and the shore, and as he pulled away he kicked up a wake. We had to turn towards shore to ride it out. (Please ignore the secret military facilities on the shore in this photo. You did not see them. Neither did we. We were never there.)


As we headed back, the Olympic Mountains made a great backdrop for the lighthouse.


We entered into the Lagoon....


...which turned out to be Heron heaven! I took about 50 pictures of them.





Here's a situation they don't teach you in kayak courses.... how to avoid a dog.



Trip Length: 8.4 km
More of John's photos are here.