Craig and I started from the government wharf on Schwartz Bay (Barnacle Road, just beside the Ferry Terminal) to Sidney Spit on the NIGHT of August 18. We were rushing to catch the light and in our hurry, forgot to put on any paddling lights. NOT A GOOD IDEA...Sidney Harbour tends to have a lot of boat traffic--ending up as speed bumps at the beginning of our trip is not good. From Sidney Spit, we paddled to Beaumont Marine Park on South Pender Island. From South Pender, we paddled to Lyall Harbour on Saturna Island where we caught the ferry back to Tsawassen. This could easily be a day trip, but why rush?
Sidney Spit
We camped at the public campground for $7 per night. Lots of boaters and daytrippers in the area. It's very accessible especially from Sidney and surrounding areas as there is a water taxi service. Despite the heavy power boat traffic, it IS a beautiful park where seals, deer, sea otters, harbour porpoises and herons are among the wildlife to see.
Beaumont Marine Park
Approaching Bedwell Harbour, we spied a school of salmon jumping. There are a few campsites at Beaumont Marine Park. We stayed at campspot #2 ($5 per night) which is located at the top of the bluff, overlooking the opening to Bedwell Harbour and the marina on South Pender Island. The spot is close enough to the pit toilets, but far enough so that you don't notice that they're there. It serves as a good perch to watch the busy harbour. Bliss, especially if you aren't a resort buff; because then you might be wishing you were on the other side of the harbour facing the Park from your fancy patio chair.
The paddle up the inlet to where North and South Pender meet was quite nice sedate. We paddled at a leisurely pace gazing at the Arbutus trees and walls of sandstone along the way.
Lyall Harbour
The crossing to Lyall Harbour on Saturna Island from Port Browning didn't take very long either. With a mild breeze, and at a moderate pace, we covered the 6 mile distance in about 2 hours. There is a government dock just beside the BC Ferries dock. We pulled our boats out of the water there, and once cleaned up, went to the pub right at the top of the dock for lunch. This is the only place we've been where the Ferry ticket cashier comes to the pub to ask people if they're getting on the ferry. While we were enjoying our cold mugs of beer, she walked back to her booth to process our payment and then came back to give us our ticket. Even though the booth was only 50 feet away, we found it to be quite a novel experience. For this, we gave our visit to Saturna Island two thumbs up.Notes from the Field
Paddling at night: WEAR LIGHTS--in our rush, we forgot. We were lucky enough to paddle when there was phosphorescence in the water. Moving our paddles in the water produced "trippy" luminescent streaks all across the dark water.
Review chart before you leave land, and take a bearing: we took note of what our bearing should be from launch point to destination. We also used the lights and beacons (i.e. frequency of lights, distance, etc.) for navigation.
I would recommend this route to paddlers not ambitious to log great distances travelled. One can easily break up the paddling distances into small chunks (say, every 2 miles).
