Why we don't yet paddle at Trial Island

Our paddle group hasn't been to Trial Island yet.
It's only a few hundred metres off-shore. You can see the island and little islands around it from Beach Drive.
We've been warned by experienced kayakers about the currents there. One day we'll go, when we've checked the tides and currents and have had more practise with handling currents and waves.
But on Sunday, Sept 12 while we had a bathtub paddle in Portage Inlet, a father and son went fishing in an aluminum boat off Trial Island. Just about when we were finding jelly balls that looked like clear egg yolks in the shallow water, these two men and their golden retriever tipped over.
To be fair, their motor had stalled just before they were struck by the wake of another passing ship. All three were in the water without PFDs. And the one with a cell phone had the dickens of a time making a 911 call, trying to keep his phone dry.
Check out the story at the Times-Colonist newspaper's website.
You can even click on a link to hear the recording of the 911 call.
As Bernie says: "That's why I don't carry our cell phone." Who wants anyone else to hear the recording of an operator telling you to stop screaming?
But hey, I've been working in a call centre for 21 months, listening to calls that are sometimes as garbled as that one. Luckily, the caller hasn't been trying to hold his cell phone above the water during any of my calls. But even with my half-deaf ears, I could pick out "we're in the ocean", "Clover Point" and "Trial Island" in the first few seconds of the call, while the operator was floundering verbally, much like her caller was floundering off-shore.
Hoo-hah. If that operator had been working in my call centre, she'd have had a zero rating on that call, a step three warning and very likely been fired. And we don't handle emergency calls.
After playing the recording several times, the dispatcher sent the police boat (which was currently in the Harbour) out to Trial Island. Within thirteen minutes, they were rescued. I love happy endings.

Egg Sacks, Golf Balls and Seals -- Oh My!

Another gorgeous we(s)t coast day! We put in the top end of The Gorge and headed under the bridge and into Portage Inlet. Just the four of us today (Paula, Bernie, Louise and me) and we started out under a nearly full moon. (Look carefully -- you can see it.)


Only a few minutes in and already Bernie's found something strange.
No, it's not jello (we think). Bernie saw it floating by below the surface and snagged it. We think it's some sort of egg sack.


As we went up one of the arms of the Inlet, Bernie and Louise found more of these things on the bottom, like it was a giant sack farm. This arm of the Inlet was really shallow, so it was very easy to see the bottom.


Here's some more of those sacks on the bottom.

And another.

And another.Some, like this one, were transparent. And you can see that they are attached to the bottom, and it looks like the ground is blowing them up like bubble gum. We don't think that that is what's really happening -- that would just be too freaky!


Here's another one. No, wait -- that's a golf ball!

Yes, someone's been driving golf balls into the inlet, and we suspect that it's from the area behind Paula. (If so, it proves that whoever is doing it is no Tiger Woods.) Paula decided to liberate a golf ball. You can see that she's trying to scoop it up with her paddle.

That idea didn't work, but the water was so shallow that she was able to reach in and grab one.

Mmmmm... Titleist. Paula eventually snagged three golf balls. Bernie's going to eat well tonight!


After paddling around the Inlet, we headed towards Colquitz Creek. We passed a heron up in the tree.


Now we're up the creek.


We found some gooses. Er, I mean geeses. Geesi? Goosarinis? Well, you know what I mean.



And who did we find up the creek? None other than Karl and Stephanie, who yet again put in a couple of minutes after us and went the other way.



More gooses.


And no paddle trip would be complete with a posing heron.



After the paddle, it was time for lunch. We headed to Barb's Fish and Chips. Bernie had figured out he was getting golf balls for dinner so he decided he'd better fill up ahead of time.


Hey, what's that under the water?


It's a seal in the harbour! That must be why they call them harbour seals!



Here's looking at you!


My pictures are here.

Sidney Islands

A sunny warm Friday greets us for a rare mid-week paddle. We're in Sidney, and going to head out to those islands.


The first thing we have to do is figure out the parking regulations.


We're putting in at the end at Ardwell Road and heading out to the island and islets and rocks out there.


And away we go! Louise is in the lead, followed by Bernie then Paula. (I gave them all a head start.)


Here's the first rock.


Now we're heading out to the first island. There were some strong currents, so we were paddling hard.


Here we are at the island.


We went around the island. The current was strong, and Bernie used the pole to get a moment's rest.


We went around the first island and found a little cove to stop in as we planned our next move.


We headed across to another small island. There were a few seals basking in the sun.


Bernie suddenly decided it was time to do some rock climbing...


...and us without our climbing gear. We decided not to go any further out because the current was running strong between the islets.



Time to head back. But we were going to go through these islands ahead of us.


Cormorants!


And seals, too!


And more seals!


And then my battery died. Good thing I brought my film camera so I could keep taking pictures, eh?



As we headed in, we saw some herons in the tidal flats.



My pictures are here.

Telegraph Bay

Ah, the last long weekend of summer! And the smallest paddle group yet, just me and Louise.


We put in at Telegraph Bay and headed out!


Yes, Mr. Small Penis still has his helicopter. (Are the blades longer than last time...?)


Hey, has Louise spotted a seal?


She has. And there's another one! (And a third one popped up right beside my kayak and we each scared ourselves silly!)


The seagulls were out in full force today.


There's that cave we found last time we were here. We moved in for a closer look....

...but as we moved in, I got distracted by what are known as The White Cliffs of Saanich.

Actually, I made that up. But I was wondering why this patch of cliff was white.
I guess these cormorants like hanging out on this cliff. The white is bird poop.


But I digress. Back to the cave.


A lone seagull stood sentry as I moved in slowly.


I made it in. It's actually not much of a cave, more like a very very small cove.


The seagull is still watching.


It was a fun little spot to explore.



Hey! Has Louise spotted two seals?

She has!

And a bunch of seagulls, too!


This guy was strange. He just stood there looking around with his mouth open like someone should feed him or something.


Time to head back!


My pictures are here.