Albert Head

Yesterday was one of those days that was made especially for being outside and doing your thing, whatever your thing is. And Louise's and my thing was to kayak around Albert Head.


It looks like Spring may finally be here...just in time for Summer to arrive on Tuesday.

As we headed off around Albert Head, a small headland on Vancouver Island just west of Victoria, we passed a couple of families of geese enjoying the bright sunny morning.


We reached the small short cut that we like to call "The Short Cut." Even with the lowering tide, we could still make it through the channel and cut a couple of minutes off the journey around the point of Albert Head.


As we paddled along we could here the familiar whirring of a helicopter off in the distance. There is passenger helicopter service from Victoria's harbour, but this seemed to be closer than that. We assumed that there must a helicopter performing some manoeuvres at the nearby military base and moments later, we were proven correct as a chopper flew over us.

I'm no expert, but I'm guessing this was one of the last of the SH-3 Sea Kings that's being phased out this year.
The seal didn't care what it was -- he just thought it was too noisy.


A couple of minutes later it was back, and this time passed at tree-top height over the bathers at Witty's Lagoon.


That seemed like more than enough excitement for us so we started back.


The seals didn't care one way or the other...as long as we were quiet about it.


Trip Length: 10.08 km
YTD: 115.09 km
More pictures are here.

Boom-boom

As we go into the Hallowe'en time and beyond, into the dark time of the year, you may notice some loud booming if you're out on the water west of Victoria. Don't panic! The Canadian military is doing some manoeuvres during the first week of November, west of Sooke near Sombrio Beach. They'll be test-firing artillery and many large weapons. So if you hear some unexplained booming when you're paddling at Albert Head or Sooke Basin, don't be alarmed.

And if the booming is more of a rumble from the south-east, it's probably the Growler taking off from the US military base on Whidbey Island, again. We've been hearing it lately around Cadboro Bay and Ten Mile Point, so they must be using the runway that points in our direction.

These noises are just another reminder that human-made noises carry much farther over water (and probably under water as well) than we expect. Certainly, I felt surrounded by a bubble of outboard motor noise when riding in a zodiac for Straitwatch, watching the whale-watching boats. But being in a kayak and hearing zodiacs go by showed me that the bubble of noise is big enough to fill not only the bowl of Cadboro Bay, but all of Oak Bay's big curve as well, echoing off the Chathams and the Chain islets. And that's with my half-deaf ears!
Let's hope that J, K and L pods of orcas are playing in the Gulf Islands instead of hanging out near Jordan River when the Canadian military is on manoeuvres this week. Boom-shaka-laka means something else these days...

Plan R

The plan was to put in at Patricia Bay Park and kayak towards the north end of Saanich Peninsula. That was the plan.
But we had never put in here before and when we arrived we found that the tide was waaaaaay out further than we'd anticipated, and the path to the beach, though paved, was not particularly kayaker friendly.
Now, a lesson on the difference between theoretical and practical. Yes, theoretically it was possible for us to carry our kayaks down the couple of hundred metres of path to the steep and rocky stairs, carry our kayaks down those stairs, and then carry our kayaks over more hundreds of metres of squooshy tidal flats to get the ocean and launch. But practically, we're pretty lazy.
Thus endeth the lesson.

Louise, Alison and I all shared the same lack of enthusiasm for launching here, so we huddled to form Plan B. (Actually, it was more like Plan R by the time we agreed, but why bore you with the details of the negotiations.)

One good thing about this spot is that we were right under the landing approach for the main runway at Victoria airport. So if you like jet planes whizzing over your head, this is the place to be.



On to Plan R, er, Plan B. We decided to launch from Tulista Park in Sidney. From there, we would head south down the coast and explore an area we hadn't kayaked before.


We headed out under another sunny and warm day. The monster heat wave we've suffered through over the last week has eased off some, and the temperatures are down to more normal levels. (However, if you've grown accustomed to my complaints about the heat and worry that they might be gone for good, there is hope for you. The current long-range forecast shows the heat returning in about 12 days.)


The usual assortment of critters were out: herons...

...more herons...

and the occasional eagle.


We paddled against the flooding tide and the wind, but the wind would disappear for extended periods which allowed us to enjoy a few moments on an almost flat sea.


Eventually we had to turn around and the trip back turned into a bit of fun. With the current and wind behind us, our speed picked up and as we approached our landing site back at the park, we got into some really bouncy water.


It was a great paddle, the kind that would put a smile on anyone's face!




Trip Length: 9.63 km
YTD: 201.73 km
More pics are here.
The Google Earth kmz is here.

Return to James Island

I'm not sure how it happpened, but in looking at my paddling records here on the blog I realized that somehow it's been almost three years since I paddled to James Island. And that's odd because it is a great place to paddle and a good stepping stone to other islands.

So this morning Louise and I headed to Island View Beach to launch on a warm and gorgeous spring day and rectify that oversight. A little breezier than expected, but nothing untoward. We were hoping the currents would work in our favour by taking advantage on the flood as we headed north around James Island, and ride the ebb the other way.


We didn't see a lot in the way of wildlife today. We saw a few ducks, and the occasional seal popped up to check us out. Eagles were a little more plentiful, but they were feeling shy and mostly stayed out of camera range. But we did see lots of unusual things flying in the sky.
First there was this plane. We were on the water about three hours and the entire time we were out this plane was practicing approaches to Victoria Airport. We thought he was doing "touch 'n' go's" but as we paddled up the coast we realized that he wasn't even doing that -- he was just coming in for an approach, then he'd peel off, fly a circle over us, and return for another approach.


We paddled along side the shore...

...then began our crossing to James. We were still watching the plane when we saw another object in the sky...

...and moments later we were overflown by a Canadian Forces helicopter.


We made it to James and turned around the sandspit at the far end and headed back.

We put in for a brief rest stop. James Island is now a private luxury resort owned by a former cellular phone magnate. It has its own airstrip and Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course. And, as some kayakers have discovered, an overly zealous security force.


The plane flew around again and we could finally make out the markings - Nav Canada. Nav Canada is the country's civil air navigation services provider, and provides air traffic control, flight information, weather briefings, aeronautical information services, airport advisory services and electronic aids to navigation. At least, that's what their website says. We later found out that Nav Canada was conducting calibrations of the airport's localizer and glide path instruments. It takes about six hours of flying in at various altitudes and approach angles to ensure that the airport's systems are up to spec.


Soon we were at the south end of James, passing under the cliffs.


This was the best I could do for eagle pictures during our lovely paddle.


Trip length: 14.55 km
YTD: 60.29 km
My pictures are here.