Sea Kayaking in Desolation Sound

Sea Kayaking Association of British Columbia (SKABC)

 

Friday, May 15 – Tuesday, May 19, 2015.

Six single kayaks plus one Feathercraft double (& their eight occupants) shouldered the Victoria Day Long Weekend, beating the rush for some sea kayaking in Desolation Sound on a cloudy Friday, returning on a sunny, warm Tuesday.  Launching at Lund Harbour for $3 apiece with pay parking nearby, we fueled up on soup and sandwiches at Nancy’s Bakery  before relishing a late-afternoon playtime at Copeland Islands Marine Park.   Our first night’s camp was Okeover Provincial Campground, chowing down on homemade chili.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Okeover Launch’s $5/day parking, we wound our way up Okeover Arm and lunched (halfway) at Hare Point before rounding Zephine Head for an hour-long crossing of Desolation Sound, making for north Curme Island where we filled the remaining tent platforms (a group was already there).

After an initial disappointment at not acquiring the ‘penthouse’, we soon made the ‘downstairs’ kitchen our own.  Karin set up a tarp, for the rain that never came, in the same way we west-coasters carry umbrella insurance. We all used the same pit toilet, hauled in our kit (supplies) and caboodle (water), and hauled it out.

Some of us swam in the ‘Sound’, drying on warm granite, and marveling at the diversity of wildflowers and seaweed, before savoring another delectable stew, hors d’oeuvres and dessert.

Sunday morning’s entertainment was a lone sea lion floating off our swimming rocks with his flipper akimbo.  Every so often, he’d sigh contentedly from his daydreams with sensitive blond whiskers skimming the surface, roll over and start again.  Thermo-regulating is what he was doing…catching a few rays to warm up, then submersing to cool off.

The daytrip paddle took us to Prideaux Haven.  Looking down Homfray Channel to Mount Denman’s pinnacle dancing in and out of the clouds, we passed Otter Island and went between Melville and Morgan Islands, past Eveleigh to picnic on one of the islets’ mossy banks, before returning along the mainland shore.  More swimming and good eats included locally picked and steamed oysters in lemon juice, slurped off the shell.  A scrumptious curry followed.

Monday, we paddled to the little beach near Unwin Lake, walked the 15-minute trail which branched left and bridged a small marsh, before arriving at our freshwater swim and picnic spot.

Our approach brought us past Otter Island, around Bold Head, where we lingered along the cliff wall, staring wide-eyed at low-tide-exposed sea anemones, sea cucumbers, sea squirts, blood and purple sea stars, worm castings, sculpins, sea urchins, chitons, nudibranchs, and, where water-protected, hundreds of blooming moon jellyfish and thousands of tiny comb jellies called sea gooseberries.

The group determined that we’d seen the occasional Pacific sea nettle more than the Lion’s mane jelly, which is after all the world’s largest known jelly species.  Our sightings were bells (jellyfish heads) from salad to dinner-plate size, with more distinctive amber-colored bells than the larger Lion’s mane species.  We’d appreciate fellow paddlers’ verification on this one.

 

 

Wherever we dabbled, so did diving ducks such as mergansers and Harlequins, and seabirds such as eagles, Black Oystercatchers and Glaucous-winged gulls. Marbled murrelets popped up and down in their dark brown breeding plumage.

 

Tuesday, we arose before the Rufous Hummingbirds (whose whirring wings had been steady companions dawn to dusk) for a high-tide set-off and ebbed down Desolation Sound into the open arm of Okeover.  With a short stop at Hare Point, we disembarked and headed over to Lund for a shower (two loonies gets you five hot-water minutes of bliss), a snack and a vehicle launch via Saltery Bay and Earl’s Cove ferries to Horseshoe Bay and the comforts of home.  Thanks to SKABC’s volunteer trip leader, Karin Hartner for a super trip.