Kayak Tour to see lights in Brentwood Bay

When I went looking on the blog for postson our times paddling in December to see Christmas lights, all I could find at first were posts mentioning Christmas... So I guess we'll just have to do a December paddle on the Gorge again this year to look for lights. And if you'd like to do your own paddle while watching Christmas lights, there's an opportunity for you in Brentwood Bay! Just saw this notice in the newspaper:

See Christmas lights from a different perspective at Saturday’s Family Kayak Lights Tour. The two-hour tour takes participants into Brentwood Bay in a flotilla of kayaks and canoes.
Tour operator Pacific Paddlesports will give a brief lesson before setting out in the boats, which will be decorated with Christmas lights. Participants are encouraged to dress warmly with a waterproof layer on top. Bring a travel mug for free hot cocoa.
Cost is $25 per person or $75 for a family of four. No experience necessary. The tour runs 4 to 6 p.m. at Port Side Marina, 789 Saunders Lane, Central Saanich. For details, go to pacificpaddle.com.

Kayak For A Cure

Another quick note today -- check out the Kayak For A Cure website! This fund-raising event has a Victoria location, which you can read about here.
The local event takes place on August 21, 2011. There's only a few places to park vehicles at Verdier Park, so please car-pool with friends. Or, you could take the bus and rent a kayak from Pacifica Paddlesports. Taking the bus is easier than you'd think -- the #75 leaves the Royal Oak exchange at 7:35am, goes through Brentwood, turns round and stops right at Verdier Park at 8:22am on the way back into town, perfect to grab a cup of coffee as the Registration Table opens at 8:30am! Call BusLine at 250-382-6161 for info about bus routes and schedules.
One of the local kayaking groups, SISKA (South Island Sea Kayaking Association) sent out this note by e-mail:

Hope Floats
Kayak for a Cure
Victoria hopes to raise $15,000 for the fight against Cancer
VICTORIA, BC – AUGUST 2, 2011.
The fourth annual Kayak for a Cure™ Victoria event, benefitting the Canadian Cancer Society will be taking place on Sunday, August 21st, 2011 at Verdier Park (next to the Brentwood Bay/Mill Bay Ferry terminal) in Brentwood Bay.
Kayakers will be guided on a five-hour adventure down Saanich Inlet by certified paddlers. Once their adventure completes, paddlers will be welcomed back to shore with a post-paddle BBQ at Verdier Park. Paddlers range from ‘very experienced’ to ‘first-timers’ and all are welcome and encouraged to join.
Registration is open to the public and can be done online at the Canadian Cancer Society’s Kayak For A Cure™ Victoria fundraising page. Kayaks and paddle gear for the event will be reserved through the Brentwood Bay Lodge Marina, Pacifica Paddlesports and Ocean River Sports. The Canadian Cancer Society is a national, community-based organization whose mission is to eradicate cancer and enhance the quality of life for people living with cancer. To date, Kayak For A Cure™ Victoria has raised over $35,000.00 for the Canadian Cancer Society!

What: Kayak for a Cure™ Victoria
Where: Brentwood Bay, Victoria at Verdier Park – next to the Brentwood Bay/Mill Bay Ferry terminal
When: Sunday, August 21st, 2011
Registration - 8:30am
Paddle begins - 9:00am
Post-paddle BBQ sponsored by KFAC– 3:00pm
Register online: here

Kayak for a Cure™ (www.kayakforacure.org) is a non-profit organization based in Vancouver, BC Canada with events in Victoria, BC; Columbus, Ohio; Comox Valley, BC; Mississauga, ON; the Yukon, NWT. Established in 2006, Kayak for a Cure™ is a volunteer-based, non-profit society dedicated to organizing fun, safe and charitable outdoor experiences that raise funds for both the Canadian and American Cancer Society, respectively, and Vancouver’s Inspire Health.
###For more information on how to get involved, visit www.kayakforacure.org or contact Don Lowther at 250-213-1236 Don_Low@telus.net

About Fuel Spills

Well, so far there has been no response to any of my e-mails to BC Parks or Columbia Fuels about the fuel slick we found in Tod Inlet on Sunday, July 10. But I did discover that there is an official provincial emergency number to call to report hazardous materials and oil spills! And thank you to our reader Jo, who also put that information in our comments.

Here in British Columbia, call the 24-hour Spill Line toll-free at 1-800-663-3456 to report when you see a spill of gasoline, oil, or any other kind of hazardous material. The Spill Line is just one part of the Provincial Emergency Program. This particular office responds to reports of emergencies on land but will take calls about spills on water and forward the case to the appropriate federal agency. This same toll-free number can be called any time of day or night to report any kind of emergency including flooding, boaters in distress, or wildfire. Here's their Weekly Incident Report from last week. Busy people!
Anywhere in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, call the International Marine Oil Spill Reporting line toll-free at 1-800-OILS-911 to report when you see a spill of any kind of fuel on the water.

Those are good phone number for kayakers to know. I now keep them on the cell phone that I carry while on the water, as well as the number for the DFO’s Observe, Record and Report 24-hour hotline at 1-800-465-4336. That number is toll-free. Call to report any sightings of marine mammals in distress. Or if you happen to see any sea turtle, healthy or in distress, call the DFO!


There are other citizens concerned about fuel spills, who are working to promote public awareness and to encourage corporations to behave responsibly. Check out the report at the Dogwood Initiative about one local kid's group and their activities!

Fuel Spill in Tod Inlet

Yesterday, while kayaking in Tod Inlet, we came across a fuel spill. It's awful to see such a mess in such a lovely place. When kayaking, the fresh air smells so good coming off a lake or sea water, but this breeze smelled awful. The hulls of our boats were scummed when we came back to shore.

Tod Inlet is only a few minutes away from the dock at the Brentwood Bay/Mill Bay ferry, but when you're in the inlet, you can't see any of the houses that are only half a mile away. Even Butchart Gardens is invisible, behind a curtain of trees. This is a photo of the ferry we have to watch out for when we're paddling in Brentwood Bay, from the BC Ferries website.In winter, the inlet is empty of all but a few live-aboard boats near the opening to Brentwood Bay, and kayakers feel like we're paddling in an isolated fjord up the coast somewhere. In summer, the inlet has dozens of small sailboats and motorboats moored along the shore of Gowlland Tod Provincial Park. Every time we go there in our kayaks, we see a different assortment of sea life. Sometimes we see seals, and on the shore are raccoons. We've found smacks of jellyfish, and groups of purple sea stars. There are eagles overhead, herons fishing, and dragonflies humming past our heads. This time, we noticed several small fish leaping in the water, breaking the surface alone or in groups.

So, what does a responsible kayaker do on finding an oily slick on a place like this, inside a provincial park? We're not sure. But we're finding out.

First place I've contacted is BC Parks, through the feedback page on their website. I also sent them an e-mail note at their @ddress ParkInfo@Victoria1.gov.bc.ca. Then I sent a note to Columbia Fuels, the company that owns the truck that crashed on the Malahat Highway on April 15, sending 40,000 litres of fuel into the Goldstream River. Columbia Fuels has been working as part of the team cleaning up what can be done in Goldstream, and they have an e-mail @ddress for queries about this fuel spill -- malahat@columbiafuels.com . I've also contacted a couple of reporters for the Times-Colonist newspaper, who reported on the fuel spill in Goldstream. Much of that fuel spill apparently went into Saanich Inlet, and Tod Inlet is connected to Saanich Inlet. We'll let you know if anyone has any news about what's going on with this oily slick in Tod Inlet.

It's a Gas

Louise and I met Paula at Brentwood Bay for a quick paddle.

Paula was in her inflatable today, so we thought we'd stick close to shore and meander down into Tod Inlet. From our put-in beside the ferry terminal we turned to the south and crossed towards the Inlet.

Someone followed us for a while.


As we entered Tod Inlet, and Gowlland Tod Provincial Park, Paula put ashore for some adjustments to her boat....

...while this heron enjoyed a little breakfast.


As we paddled down the inlet, we saw many sail boats and cabin cruisers that had moored for the night.


But as we paddled by this eagle....

...we realized that we were paddling through a slick of oil or gas on the surface on the water.

It wasn't very thick, nothing more than a thin skin on the surface, but it was everywhere. The whole southern end was covered in it, and occasionally Paula and Louise would gag when the wind shifted and they inhaled a lungful of fumes.
We initially assumed that one or more of the boats moored in the inlet had had a fuel spill, but then we recalled that there had been a major fuel spill into Goldstream River a couple of months ago. Goldstream River does not connect directly with Tod Inlet but it does with nearby Saanich Inlet. Could tidal action have pushed the fuel out of Saanich Inlet into Tod Inlet where there it sits, slowly evaporating?
It was a depressing thought that the fuel in the water that was spoiling the inlet was not being attended to, no matter how it got there. The only upside was that the animals did seem to be avoiding the area.

We turned around and headed back...

....and watched a heron cruise in for a landing.

He got into a staring contest with us.

I think he won.

Louise checked out some sea stars...

...and then it was time to head back.


Trip Length: 6.08 km
YTD: 137.01 km
More pictures are here.

Jellyfish Jellyfest

On this moderately sunny Sunday, Louise and I headed up to Brentwood Bay for paddle.

We hadn't been out this way since the fall of 2009, but there's been little change. The one thing we did notice was the work being done on the ferry dock beside where we put in.

That's because the long-serving MV Mill Bay, which has serviced this route since being built in 1956, was retired at the beginning of this month to be replaced by the larger MV Klitsa, necessitating renovations to the dock. (And from the Useless Movie Trivia File, the Mill Bay terminal was used for a scene during the filming of the 1970 movie Five Easy Pieces that starred Jack Nicholson and Karen Black.) So with the ferry out of service for the moment, that's one less bit of marine traffic we needed to look out for.
Clearly this heron wasn't worried about other traffic as he groomed himself.


We crossed over to 15 Minute Island. It's actually called Senanus Island, but we refer to is as 15 Minute Island because the first time we approached the island from the north, Bernie kept saying it looked only 15 minutes away. And after we'd paddled for an hour, his opinion had not changed -- it still looked 15 minutes away.

Today we were approaching from the south, and for the record it was a 20 minute crossing.

Once at the island, we found a lot of geese honking up a storm...

...probably because eagles were around and undoubtedly hunting for goslings.

Fortunately for this guy, oysercatchers didn't seem to be on the eagles' menu.


After we paddled around the island, we crossed back to the shore went into Tod Inlet, and Gowlland Tod Provincial Park.


Tod Inlet is a gorgeous place to paddle, very sheltered and usually brimming with aquatic life, and today was no exception, although we were a bit surprised to find the inlet full of jellyfish.

It was a jellyfish jellyfest! Although the heron didn't seem particularly impressed.


Trip Length: 10.67 km
YTD: 70.90 km
More pictures are here.

On the Purpleness of Sea Stars

Once upon a time in Brentwood Bay, while drifting over rocks studded with orange and purple starfish, and past huddles of starfish in crevasses at the waterline, it occurred to me to wonder why they were these colours, that purple, in particular. The starfish in question were the ochre star, Pisaster ochraceus, and the answer, after intermittent and desultory trawling through the web and the scientific literature, turned out to be (a) carotenoids and (b) maybe what they eat.

The Royal British Columbia Museum Handbook Sea Stars of British Columbia, Southeast Alaska, and Puget Sound, told me a lot about the anatomy, hunting and mating behaviour, but does not account for the colours: P ochraceus is the most common intertidal sea star, with territory from Prince William Sound, Alaska, to Cedros Island, Baja California (lucky it!), and from the intertidal zone to nearly 100 m undersea. It likes rocky shores, waves and currents. I’ve seen plenty in the Broken Islands, the Gulf Islands, and around Saanich Penninsula. P ochraceus eats mussels, barnacles, limpets, and snails. It is the paradigm of a “keystone species” in that its presence and predation significantly affect the numbers and distribution of other species, especially the California mussel, Mytilus californianus; in the absence of P ochraceus, M californianus takes over the beach. Pisaster spawn in May to July, releasing millions of eggs, which turn into larvae, first floating free in the plankton and then (those that survive) attaching themselves and turning into juvenile sea stars. Juveniles grow to adult size and maturity over about 5 years. Larval P ochraceus have a chemical defense that induces filter-feeders to spit them out (got to look that up). The only known predators of adult sea stars are seagulls and sea otters.

Harley et al, 2006 (full text available ) looking at the colour variation, note in their introduction that “at least two caroteinoid pigments mytiloxantin and astaxanthin, sequestered in the aboral surface, produce these colors in Pisaster and other asteroids.” Aboral is the upper side side of the sea star, and starfish belong to the Class Asteroidea, under the Phylum Echinodermata. Caroteinoids as a chemical class are named after their best known member, the yellow pigment in carrots, and have in common a long carbon backbone with many concatenated double bonds which generally absorb light at the blue end of the spectrum, hence the orange colour. Mytiloxanthin was named after M californianus, part of P ochraceous’ preferred diet, from which it was first isolated, so it was assumed to be dietary in origin. Astaxanthin arises through “several distinct metabolic pathways”, and is orange. I’m still not sure from my reading what the pigment behind the purple is, though reading descriptions of 1940s-style chromatography makes me oddly nostalgic for undergraduate chemistry.

However, knowing the pigments doesn’t explain why individual starfish should be orange, ochre, brown, or purple, or why starfish on an exposed, wave-beaten rocky coast like the west coast of Vancouver Island should be predominately orange (6-28%) and brown (68-90%), while those in the sheltered waters of the South St Georgia strait should be almost entirely that brilliant purple so familiar on our paddles (95% in the samples collected by Harley). The answer is apparently not genetic: DNA studies don’t suggest that the populations sampled (from Alaska to California, with lots of attention to Puget Sound) are isolated from each other, and conversely do suggest that there is flow of genetic material between them. It's not apparently to do with wave action, inasmuch as scientists have been able to reproduce in the lab the difference between turbulent water and calm. It may be dietary, in that the distribution of colours correlated with the pattern of prey: in the more exposed waters (where purple starfish are in the minority), P ochraceus preferentially eat M californianus, the big California mussel, whereas M calfornianus is uncommon to absent in interior waters (where purple starfish are in the majority), and the Pisaster there tend to prey on barnacles and bay mussels. So, eats purple mussels -> orange; doesn't eat purple mussels -> purple. Hmm. And that still doesn’t explain why purple and orange starfish could be found within yards of each other. Another paper by Raymondi et al, 2007 (only abstract) found that the frequency of orange in a population was constant with latitude, but tends to increase with the size of the individuals in that population. So all is not quite explained.

References

• Harley CDG, Pankey MS, Wares JP, Grosberg RK, Wonham MJ. Color Polymorphism and Genetic Structure in the Sea Star Pisaster ochraceus. Biol Bull. 2006 Dec 1;211(3):248-262. And here’s marine biologist Christopher Mah (full name from his Twitter feed), on the Echinoblog, with a crisp and colourful synopsis, complete with photos and diagrams; if I hadn’t written a chunk of this entry while back before I found his entry, I'd just have said, go there!
• Lambert P. Sea Stars of British Columbia, Southeast Alaska, and Puget Sound. 2nd ed. UBC Press; 2000.
• Raimondi PT, Sagarin RD, Ambrose RF, Bell C, George M, Lee SF, et al. Consistent Frequency of Color Morphs in the Sea Star Pisaster ochraceus (Echinodermata:Asteriidae) across Open-Coast Habitats in the Northeastern Pacific. Pacific Science. 2007 4;61(2):201-210.
  
  

Sea Lion Surprise!

We put in at Mill Bay this morning for a paddle down to Bamberton and back. Louise and I had never paddled this stretch before, while our paddling companions Richard, Tracy and Paula had. Tracy asked me if I'd ever been down this stretch, and after I answered in the negative she replied, "It's pretty boring!"
Well, it wasn't that bad, and if nothing else it's another few clicks to knock off our attempt at breaking the record for the Slowest Circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.

Richard squatted to take a picture -- at least, I hope that's all he was taking!


It didn't long to find where all the seal action was -- it was on the dock beside our put-in!




A rainstorm had blown through yesterday after weeks of clear skies. There were still some cloudy remnants but nothing that should have been of concern, although winds were forecast to pick up in the afternoon.



We approached the dock for the Brentwood Bay-Mill Bay ferry. A little warning if you're kayaking in this area: the ferry approaches the Mill Bay dock from the south and passes very close to shore. Very close. So close you could spit onto the beach from the car deck. So be Ferry Aware when you're kayaking near the dock.

Sometimes, there's other things to look out for as well. Louise and Tracy got a little ahead of the rest of us as we approached the dock. They became distracted checking out the clouds because Richard had been keeping us updated with weather reports and fog was rolling into some nearby locations. They were passing very close to the dock and as they passed by I noticed a large brown float of some sort up on the end of the concrete pad of the dock. As they passed only a metre or two away, the "float" unfolded itself. Richard and I began shouting, "Look out! To your right! A sea lion!"
They still didn't notice. It was only when the sea lion went "Bort! Bort!" right beside them that they realized that they were in a spot that maybe they didn't want to be in. The sea lion could have very easily rolled off the dock and landed on them swamping both kayaks. They quickly scampered out of the way.


We pulled in at a beach for a moment...

...where Paula and Richard discussed paddle shaft lengths.

Paula likes to use a 230 or even a 240, while some of us feel she should be using something shorter. Different strokes for different folks. The debate continues.

We'd been wondering about the fog. Although we could look back and see that Salt Spring Island was totally socked in...

...and hear the radio reports describing Fulford Harbour down to visibility of about two metres, it was holding off in our area. Besides, we weren't doing any crossings, just sticking to shore, so we felt reasonably safe.
We pressed on to the old cement works at Bamberton...

...then turned around for home.


As we approached the ferry dock again, we saw that the sea lion was still on his perch.

We're wondering if he is used to humans as the ferry had docked here once since we'd last seen him, but he apparently didn't move.

And then the wind came up a bit sooner than expected which made for an interesting paddle back to the take-out!


Trip Length: 15.94 km
YTD: 142.59 km
More pictures are here.

SISKA's Kayak For A Cure

The in-box had a note yesterday about SISKA's plans for another charity kayaking day in August, like last year's event. This relaxed paddle is for any local kayakers as well as members, and it covers about 13 or 14 kilometres in beautiful Saanich Inlet. Here's their message:

SISKA is thrilled to once again be supporting Kayak For A Cure™ Victoria! The 3rd annual Kayak for a Cure™ Victoria benefiting the Canadian Cancer Society will take place on August 22nd, 2010. The Canadian Cancer Society is a national, community-based organization whose mission is the eradication of cancer and the enhancement of the quality of life of people living with cancer. 2008 and 2009’s Kayak For A Cure™ Victoria together has raised over $11,000.00 for the Canadian Cancer Society!

Kayak for a Cure™ Victoria is a relaxed day paddle launching from Verdier Park-Brentwood Bay into Saanich Inlet; we stop for lunch at Spectacle Creek falls before heading back to Brentwood Bay for a post paddle wrap-up BBQ.

SISKA encourages all members to sign up and paddle at Kayak for a Cure™ Victoria on August 22nd to help raise much needed funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. If you’ll be out of town August 22nd on that long awaited kayaking adventure, please support the KFAC Victoria paddlers by making a donation.

To join Kayak for a Cure™ Victoria or to support a paddler, go to the CCS KFAC Victoria page and click “Join Our Event” at the top of the page, or support one of the paddlers listed. Together we can make a difference.

Kayak For A Cure

There's going to be another fundraising paddle for the Canadian Cancer Society this summer on August 22nd -- the third annual Kayak For A Cure event. Last year's event in Brentwood Bay raised over $10,000.
Check out their website here.
There's plenty of good projects to support, and it's nice to know this particular good project seems to be going strong.

Personal record

Sunday was a great paddle out of Brentwood Bay. I was dropped off by Bernie in my mom's car (no roof racks) and since I thought I was going to return via bus, I took the Expedition inflatable. Hard to get on a city bus with a 15.5 foot Eliza in rotomolded plastic, but those Advanced Elements folding inflatable kayaks? Piece of cake, even if the bus is one of the few left in our area with stairs instead of a level ramp.
What followed was the longest trip I've taken so far in an inflatable kayak: just under fifteen kilometres
Speed? Don't make me laugh. These aren't speed boats, they're portable boats for rec paddling. But instead of dwelling on the fact that I was slowing the other three paddlers down to my speed (Louise in her Delta 17, John in a Delta 18 and Alison in her Kestrel 120 from Current Designs), I tried to focus on the fact that as part of a paddle group, I could go places I'd never take the Expedition by myself. Across Saanich Inlet, that is. Two crossings of over a kilometer
Awesome trip today. Bright weather, many seals and jellyfish to admire, and the neatest little crab in a crack who kept ducking down to hide when anyone else looked at him. Check out Louise and John's photos!

Saanich Inlet

The extreme temperatures of the last week or so have fallen to closer to normal, although it is still unseasonably warm in these parts. We decided to start a little earlier than usual today to avoid the mid-day sun. But none of this mattered at all to Alison; her visit here is nearing an end and she just wanted to put in at Brentwood Bay and go! And go she did -- she set a blistering early pace moving out of Brentwood Bay and into Saanich Inlet.


Louise, Paula and I eventually caught up to her and we continued at a more civilized pace. The water was flat and clear, making it easy to spot sea stars on the rocks during this low tide...

...as well as this jelly fish.


We paused for a quick stop at McKenzie Bight. Alison has been thinking of moving up from her Current Design Kestrel so Louise let her take her Delta Seventeen out for a spin.


We decided to press on. A slight breeze was making its presence felt but otherwise conditions were picture perfect.


Small little seal heads were popping up here and there. One popped up a short distance in front of me and we were so distracted by it that we all just about paddled right over another seal.

How could we not notice this guy? It's not like he's well camouflaged!


This eagle paid little attention as we all fussed over him with our various cameras.


This seagull looks like it was making a meal out of a small sea star, but it didn't seem to be enjoying it. The look on the seagull's face reminds me of the old joke about cooking seagulls and their apparent lack of taste:
How do you cook a seagull?
You put it in a pot of boiling water with a rock. When the rock gets soft, you throw away the seagull and eat the rock.
It looks to me as if the seagull was looking for his own rock right about then.


We paddled by more seals, a mother and her baby.


We crossed the Inlet and passed by more seals. At one point a small seal head popped up in front of me. He carefully watched me for a moment, then ducked under the water. As I passed the shallows where he was swimming, the sun turned the water almost totally clear and I could see this small baby seal playfully swimming just below the surface. He was rolled over a few times, then swam in circles chasing its tail. I was too mesmerized to even think of trying to get a camera out. I regret not getting a shot of that amazing moment, but then again there are so many amazing moments when you are kayaking.


Soon the paddle ended and it was time to say au revoir to Alison, although I think she'll return to visit her kayak soon.




Trip length: 14.95 km
YTD: 216.68
More pictures are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.