E. coli count -- a factor in urban paddling

The factors determining whether today's a good day to paddle are usually weather -- is it too windy? No visibility can mean no paddling because of too much fog or snow (both have cancelled paddling for our group, once back in 2006) or that smoky orange haze last week from all the forest fires. Of course some gung-ho kayakers figure that any day the sun comes up is a good day to paddle and they're willing to overlook when it might be nighttime. But for urban paddlers, the E. coli count is another factor.

At beaches where a lot of people want to enjoy the water and shore, local health authorities test the water for germs of various kinds. One of the most important is Esherichia coli. Good ol' E. coli is not something you want a lot of in water where you're swimming or even paddling. As my friend Todd Wong says, To paddle or not to paddle at the beaches of Vancouver -- that is the question. An E. coli count of 10 per 100ml for Kitsilano Beach? Fine! But 1184 in East Bay of False Creek... ooo, ya don't want to go there.

Check out the Beach Water Quality Report for the Vancouver area this month. There are some beach postings here by the Vancouver Island Health Authority. Here's a link for Ontario beaches; if you live somewhere else I'm sure you can find your local water quality report or beach warnings.

Planning For Dog Rescues -- Part Three: Preparing Ahead of Time

Now's the time to come clean about something that happened on the day I was paddling in Cadboro Bay and saw a dog in distress. The whole day didn't happen as simply as I reported it on the blog in Planning For Dog Rescues -- Part One.
The rest of the story is, after paddling I called the Pound to report seeing a dog in distress at the base of a steep, rocky cliff in Cadboro Bay. As it was a Sunday and the Pound was closed, the call routed directly to the front desk of the municipal police station. Police don't usually rescue dogs, said a nice constable, which I understood -- but I had telephoned the Pound, who DO pick up dogs in distress, which the nice cop understood.
Unfortunately, the dog's location presented two problems. The first I outlined in Part One: whose job is it to rescue dogs in distress on the water or shoreline? The answer is different in every community, according to what rescue services are available. It's a good idea for dog owners to find out the local answer, and to prepare their own dog with a PFD and safety practise as I outlined in Part Two. As it was, this non-owner of dogs spent over an hour on the phone with the local police, SPCA, Fire Hall, and others who said I really ought to call the Pound. Nobody wanted me to call the Oak Bay Sea Rescue Society, who keep a suitable Zodiac boat at a nearby dock (even if they just might have wanted a practise run).
The second problem was even bigger. Nobody could understand my description of the dog's location. I had to explain the dog wasn't on the beach at Cadboro-Gyro Park, and that if a beat cop came to the beach s/he would be able to hear the dog bark a kilometre away around the curve of the bay, but not see it. As I wrote on the blog back in 2011, even a bright-coloured object is invisible against the dark rocky shore.

John took this photo in January 2011.

And how to describe that dark rocky shore? Friends understood instantly later when I said, "Between the Buddha dock and the little rock garden, where John took photos of the mother otter pushing her babies up the cliff." Unfortunately, only paddlers familiar with that shoreline from the water understood.
It didn't do any good to say "At the base of the cliff below the big grey house on Somewhere Drive, the grey house with white window trim, between the white house and the dark brown house." That's information useful to someone on that road or on the water, not a dispatcher on the phone.
Not only did the landlubbers I called have no idea where I was describing, they had no way to imagine it. It was as if anywhere not right on a road was in some mysterious foggy place.
So I am now preparing ahead of time for any shoreline incident that could require rescue of a person OR a dog. I have two ways to be prepared.
The first is to always carry my SPOT beacon. I hadn't pushed the emergency rescue button that day because it was a dog trapped at the base of the cliff, not a human. If it happens again, I'll get close and push the OK button to send myself & friends a satellite signal with my GPS location on GoogleMaps. I'll have the OK signal set to go to KayakYak website. That way, when I call the Pound, I can say: "Go online. Look up http://kayakyak.blogspot.ca . See that OK message? Click on the link. See that Google Map with a spot marked? THAT's where the dog is."
The other way I'll be prepared is to become familiar with the street addresses for every house along the shorelines where I usually paddle. The big grey house with white window trim has an exact street address that shows in GoogleMaps and in the municipality's online map on its website. That way I can say "at the waterfront backyard for 2876 Somewhere Avenue" or "on the shoreline at 2800-block of Somewhere Drive."

Planning for Dog Rescues -- Part One: Whose Job IS It?

Paddling the other day in Cadboro Bay, I heard a dog barking along the rocky side of the bay. Coming closer, I could see a large wet dog standing on a bit of rock at the base of the cliff below a house -- either he had swum there or slipped over the steep slope, fallen in, and scrambled up on the rock.
He was much too big and energetic a dog for me to offer him a ride in my little inflatable kayak, even though his barks communicated his interest in getting a human to come rescue him. Instead, I paddled along the shore to a construction site four houses down. There I waved over a young man with a chain saw.
We chatted for a minute about the barking dog, and the worker put away his chain saw and went to go knock on the door of the house above the stranded dog, to see if it was their animal.
The next day, when I went by there were big scuffs in the green scrubby plants on the cliff. It looked like somebody had gone to some effort to rescue the dog before the tide came in. Good!

The whole incident brought something to my attention: Whose Job IS It To Rescue Dogs?
On the water and shorelines, who do we call to rescue a dog? We certainly do NOT call 911 for local police, fire or ambulance. They rescue people. So who do we call? Is it the job of the Coast Guard, or local Marine Rescue? Could it be the job of the Pound? How about the SPCA?
There is no one answer. It's a darned good idea to find out ahead of time who you would call in your own area. In some cities, it is the duty of the Pound to rescue dogs; in others, the SPCA co-ordinates volunteers to rescue dogs. Some places have Search-And-Rescue programs which will rescue a dog. Start by calling the Pound, and be sure to dial the Non-Emergency number. Calls to the Pound are sometimes routed directly to the local police station.
Be prepared for nobody knowing the answer. You might have your call forwarded many times, or be sent on a wild goose chase, or in circles during your search. You might become part of a new committee in your community setting up a plan for animal emergencies.

Photo by Jeremy Cohn @JeremyGlobalTV

Often it's the local firemen who will come to a dog's rescue, as in this story from Brampton.

It's awfully tempting to try to rescue a dog in distress. But think carefully before trying to do so by yourself. Is your kayak big enough to hold the dog? What if the dog struggles? What if it scratches or bites you, just because it's in distress?


We know whose job it is to rescue marine animals such as a whale, seal or marine turtle -- that's the job of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The DFO people have toll-free numbers to call in various regions across Canada. Check out their website page with hot links for reporting problems such as fuel spills or marine animals in distress.
We can also pause for a moment to review DFO regulations for whale-watching and for the safety of marine mammals and turtles. Check out their website, but it boils down to:
-Don't come any closer than 100 yards or metres to a whale.
-If a whale comes within 400 yards or metres, slow down and watch out for it!
-Don't get in the whale's path or follow it.
Bottom line is, we are the humans. We are the ones who can go many places and eat many things. We must make room for the whales to feed and travel where they need to be. New boat users must be helped by their friends and associates to understand that these DFO rules are for our safety as well as the safety of whales and other animals.

When Streets Become Rivers

It rained so hard in parts of France on Monday that a couple of kayakers took their boat to the city streets. The city of Montpellier received 25 cm of rain in a three hour period, about half of what the city normally receives in a year. With streets turned into rivers, a kayak might seem like a sensible way to get around. How successful were they? Check out the video:


A bystander also shot a quick clip: