August 6-13, 2006
At last, after several trip plan changes during the course of a week, six of us (Akwon, Bern, Craig, Jeremy, Kazuo and I) were on our way to Tofino to our paddling destination of Cow Bay. Our plan was to leave Vancouver for Tofino on the morning of August 6th. Mark and Norm joined us at Cow Bay on Thursday, August 10. Bern very kindly made room for us at “Cottage on the Bluff,” the house that he and his family had rented for the week. After an overnight stay in Tofino, we would then camp for five nights, and return to Tofino for another overnight stay, before going back to Vancouver on Sunday, August 13th.
August 7-9: First Stop - Ahous Bay
There is a kayak launch ramp at the edge of Tofino, facing the harbour. It's a stone's throw from the hostel. This is kayak central. The kayak launch spot was busy with many kayakers--yes, ruddered--returning from sea, and others like us who were cramming all the food, water and camping gear into their kayaks. We launched our boats at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, August 7th. The temperature was moderate, and there was only a light breeze to speak of. We took a very leisurely paddle from Tofino to Ahous Bay on Vargas Island (about 5 kilometres north of Tofino). We went between Wickaninnish Island and Stubbs Island and headed northwards along the west side of Vargas Island.
We were heading in for a lunch stop on Ahous Bay and on our way in, we heard what sounded like a loud blowing sound. It was the unmistakable sound of a whale that had just expelled air from its blowhole. Sure enough, we saw the spray of water still lingering in the air. I caught a glimpse of it just about 25 meters away on the starboard side of my kayak. When it surfaced again, it showed us its back and dorsal fin just before gently and slowly diving back deeper into the water. Then another blow. This time, it was about 10 meters away from my boat. It had a dark colouring and a short dorsal fin. I estimated it to be no more than 20 feet long. It's not really that big, I said to myself. Bern pointed out that there was a river that flowed out of the bay, and that the whale was perhaps feeding at its mouth. Was there just the one whale, or were there 2? After about 10 minutes of watching this creature move about, we resumed paddling to shore.
After lunch, and after we decided that we would not head over to Cow Bay this afternoon, we set off to find ourselves a beach where we could pitch our tents. The place seemed quite crowded with other kayakers all of a sudden, even though the beach stretched out for over a mile. On our way out of Ahous Bay, when I looked towards where we had just come from, I saw what looked like big tall striped A-frame house sticking out of the water. It then dawned on me that this A-frame was the whale; it's a
humpback whale. It had to be longer than the 20 feet that I had first thought. Apart from being awestruck by its incredible size, I suddenly felt vulnerable realizing how small I was in comparison. I cozied up quickly next to the nearest paddler.
We continued searching for an uninhabited beach, and finally found our spot for the night. We had a gentle surf landing into a beautiful beach across from Blunden Island. It was just beyond two other sandy beaches.
It had rained lightly through the night, and so we put up the tarp over our kitchen the following morning. This was our first group project. It was a grey day, and most of us felt unmotivated to paddle, but we got in our boats and surfed on our beach. There were definitely big sets of waves, and they were dumping, too. I enjoyed watching Craig, Bern and Jeremy ride in on some big waves. I managed only to ride in on the moderate ones. After a while of trying to punch out, when my arms felt like "noodles," I decided to play in the "soup zone" and practiced bracing and skulling.
After getting a bit more to eat, Craig and I decided to go back out. The tide had gone out by quite a bit in the frame of an hour, and the waves were really dumping. It was wild seeing Craig get pushed around by the wave that had built up behind him. At one time, I saw him get flipped from stern to bow quite violently. He came back up smiling. I was relieved. Then I saw him get thrashed around in what seemed like 2 feet of water and he was getting surfed backwards. It was shortly after that, I found out, that he had a wave break on him forcing his back to bend the wrong way. OUCH!
Craig, Jeremy, Akwon and I went for a stroll to the far end of the beach. The scene was just so perfectly “west coast” with mist rising from the ground ahead of us, surf slapping against the shore, pine and spruce trees on the rocky mounds, and lots of salal about. A big heap of logs were at one corner of the shore. Hmm, now I know where not to pitch my tent during a storm. We came upon a set of distinct tracks that we discovered later was a mink!
After a day of playing in the surf, a good night's sleep was had by all.
August 9-12: Cow Bay
It was around noon the following day, by the time we finished packing up our boats and headed for Cow Bay. As I was rounding a rock after just having launched my boat, a seal and I startled each other.
Paddling on the inner side of Bartlett Island we saw some porpoises swimming alongside us. At one point, I saw three of them on my portside take quick turns swimming along the surface of the water, in a triangular formation. They didn't seem very big. I'd say they were around 4 feet long at the most. They had a short dorsal fin, and were dark in colouring. We thought they might be Dall's Porpoises, but after looking them up they're more like Harbour Porpoises.
We stopped at the highest sandy spot in the Whaler Islets for lunch. It was a pretty spot with two big trees on either end, sand and tall grass all around. The porpoises followed Craig most of the way.
The wind picked up as we approached the Garrard Group, a group of rocks at the southwestern end of Flores Island. The swells were about 2 feet. We passed through great masses of bull kelp. They seemed to help calm the water. This was after all a rocky reef that we were passing through. There were a couple of tents at Cow Bay. Although it's a long stretch of a sandy beach, some of the beaches were too steep for one to pitch a tent. Bern and Jeremy went ahead and scouted for a spot where we could camp. We finally decided to settle on the far end of Cow Bay, just a short distance from Cow Creek and just before rounding the point to Siwash Cove.
The Mysterious Cabin
We had noticed a cabin when we were looking for a place to camp. It was tucked away from the shore, with only a solar panel, and some firewood spread about giving a hint that it was there. It didn't look to be inhabited just because we didn't see anyone moving about during our quick trips to the creek to get fresh water.
Just as it was getting dark, we saw a light that seemed to go on and off around the cabin. It seemed to flicker irregularly throughout the night. We freaked each other out with suggestions that it was an axe murderer. We unwisely exchanged these freak-out stories just before heading off to bed. I wouldn't recommend this when you're expecting to have a good night's sleep.
The following day, we were stuck on land due to the thick wall of fog that descended just after breakfast. Akwon, Jeremy, Craig and I decided to take a stroll to the far end of the beach to check out the cabin and the rocks just beyond.
As we came closer, we couldn't help but notice the beautiful garden of flowers in front of the cabin. There were pink hydrangeas, marigolds, nusturtium, brilliant red poppies, lillies, gladiolas, and a squash vine of some sort. On the creek beside the house was a little 8-foot aluminum boat with a 25 Hp engine. Just behind the solar panel, there was a shed with little windows and a roof that sagged gracefully. Behind the shelter was a larger structure, and what seemed to be the main house. It had windows that rose from floor to ceiling. It also showed what looked like a woodstove, and some weaving hanging from the house's walls. We noticed that there was smoke coming from the chimney. Oh, so there's someone home.
On the side that ran along the creek, we found that there was a workshop. Beyond the workshop, there was a bathtub propped up on some blocks of stone. The outside of the tub was black and charred. There was a shaving kit and some other bathing paraphernalia. What a set-up! One could have a bath in the outdoors while either watching the surf or looking up at the stars. Idyllic!
Later that day, after the fog had lifted, we noticed that there were actually a man and a woman that lived in the cabin. The man rode off in the boat just before we set off for a paddling excursion. He returned around the same time we did and then anchored his boat on our end of the beach, and then walked all the way back to his cabin. More jokes were made after that about the cabin dwellers...perhaps their gardening skills were applicable to a more lucrative
endeavour.
Hey, I never mentioned where this cabin was, did I?
Exploring the Rock Gardens
Just beyond our beach at Cow Creek is Siwash Cove. This is basically a smattering of rocks on which the waters slap against. There is a pocket beach behind the rocks where there is a small old abandoned cabin. Just around the corner, perched high on a rock foundation is a cabin with a large window facing the ocean, and with what seems to be a loft accessible via a ladder made from driftwood. A great spot to hide from the rain, and for watching the ocean hit the rocks. A vulnerble spot, too, I would expect.
On this exposed side of Flores, kelpbeds abound, and so do rocks. Caught at the right tide, one can go in and explore through the passages of rocks. One has to be careful to watch out for the odd large wave of water though as it can catch you quite quickly and you'll be side-surfing around, if not into, the rocks in no time.
Food
I'm certain that one could easily live off the land at Cow Creek. You have all the driftwood you need to build a shelter. There's the fast-running creek that provides a good source of fresh water. There are salal leaves and berries, rosehips and beach peas. There are mussels and crabs. You can start up a line to catch a fish.
The night before our last night, while we gathered around the mosquito- and chill-preventing fire, I suggested that we cook a West Coast meal for our last night. The ingredients would mostly comprise vegetables and such that we could gather from the land or sea around us. Thanks to Craig, Kazuo understood that I would cook for everyone. The following day, Kazuo collected two different types of seaweed. It filled half of Akwon's large pot. Then, Kazuo also gathered a potful of salal berries from the other end of Cow Bay and some old beach peas. I had to explain to him that Craig was just joking. I felt badly about that.
None of what Kazuo harvested went to waste. I used most of it for our stir-fry dinner. We shared our dish with Kazuo who said he liked it.
Bern started mixing bannock, but abandoned cooking it because his stove didn't have a setting to simmer. He poured the batter into Kazuo's aluminum pie plates. He must have forgotten about it cause he went straight to bed after dinner, and didn't come back out. Akwon, Craig, Jeremy, Kazuo, Mark and I ended up cooking it in the fire, and enjoyed sharing it with each other between sips of bourbon.
August 12 - And We're Back...
I don't think there was a moment during these five days that I was bored. There was always
something to do even though there was nothing we had to do. The biggest decision we had to make during the day was what to have for dinner. There was beachcombing, wave-watching, walking, paddle-making, spatula-carving, etc. that kept us occupied. Bern made a paddle out of a long piece of red cedar that he'd found. With his axe, folding saw, and pocket knife, he made a nifty single-blade paddle--in a little over an hour--which he left on the beach the day we departed. Someone will likely find it one day and wonder whether or not the Aleuts had once inhabited the island.
It's hard to believe that the distance between our beach on Cow Bay and Tofino was eighteen miles. We started off at 11:00 a.m. and got back into Tofino at 4:00 p.m. Okay, so we had the current to our advantage, but it didn't seem to be running that swiftly. Really glad that our fellow LURKers Bob and Wendy mentioned this place. I've enjoyed previous paddling trips thoroughly (e.g. the Brooks and Broken Islands), but found this trip to be truly enchanting. Apart from inspiring me to create this blog, it has made me want to explore more of our West Coast.
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.
