Green Paddler

Introduction

Most of what I’ve written about paddling was during the years my spouse Bernie and I lived right next to the finest beach in Victoria.

There are many candidates for ‘the finest beach in Victoria’ but Cadboro Bay scores high on several scales. There is a bay, offering some shelter from wind, which is important when the usual weather report includes a Small Craft Warning. The shorelines rise on both sides, and within the curve a motorboat can fill the bay with its roar. There’s a couple of rock gardens to play in, and several charming little islands are temptingly near. The bay is also sheltered from tidal currents that whirl past this end of the island, currents so fast and strong we call the one near shore The Freight Train. The bay has a beach, and a sandy beach at that. Along part of the beach is a raised promenade, for people with mobility challenges, and a playground of large concrete animals for challenging the mobility of anyone willing to clamber like a child. In Cadboro Gyro park’s low, grassy field are a few benches and picnic tables, damp in frequent rains. The public restrooms are large, well-built, and cleaned regularly. A tap offers water! From the gravel parking lot, there’s a sandy slope for bringing a kayak, canoe, dinghy, or paddleboard to water. Two bus stops are a quiet block away, at a small grocery store, two coffee shops, and a pub. In short, everything a paddler needs is here, and one of the coffee shops has WIFI.

Sungayaka was what the Songhees First Nations called the bay, for patches of snow. It’s where they hunted ducks from small boats at night with torches. There were two small villages on the shore in 1842 when the Hudson Bay Company schooner Cadborough anchored here. One village, Chekonein, was at one end of a sandy beach so wide and broad at low tide that First Nations people would play qonwallis, a kind of shinny or lacrosse. The other village was on a little point of land within the bay that became, of course, the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

Now there are houses all around the bay, but you can only see part of any house, and little of many of them, because there are so many trees here. There are more trees around the bay than there are masts for the boats tied up at the Yacht Club with their rigging ringing like little bells in the breeze off the water. There are more trees than there are houses. Hey, there are more trees than there are windows, even when a cruise ship glides past in the evening with every window lit. In the morning on a clear day, it’s possible to see two volcanoes from a boat in the mouth of the bay, and three mountain ranges, to the south, east, and north-east.

The first house next to the park is almost hidden under a willow tree. It’s owned by the mother of a friend from our days at university. My partner and I rented a room there, sharing the kitchen and bath with our friend’s mother. She was away for days at a time, so we looked after her dogs. The porch beside our door held our kayaks and bikes. We could get up from our hand-me-down desks and chairs, pick up a kayak, and walk two hundred yards to the water. And did so, at any time of day and in all kinds of weather.

The first kayak we bought was second-hand from a rental place on Beaver & Elk Lake, a short and wide recreational boat called a Pamlico. We took turns paddling, but it soon became clear when paddling with friends that we’d need another kayak so we could both go out at the same time. I collected enough pop bottles to buy a folding inflatable kayak on deep discount, one that had been a display model in a marine supply store. Later, I bought an Eliza sea kayak from the rental fleet at a paddle store, and Bernie built his own sea kayak. The makers of my folding inflatable were so happy with what I wrote about it on our paddling group’s website Kayak Yak, that over the next few years they gave me three more models to try. We had a fleet of seven boats, but no couch and rarely a vehicle outside our little home.

Soon after we moved into our room in the house under the willow tree, we started calling it the Beach House. With our grown kids working a province away, we needed only space to write and sleep. We knew it was modest, but a good place to live, the first day we walked there from my parents’ house after planning their move to a condo. We walked through the university campus, stopping at the library, then on to Sinclair hill that runs down to Cadboro Bay.

It was a sunny day, with the bay shining blue as any calendar photo, and a few little yachts and sloops out sailing with their bright sails and spinnakers. Trees along the park paths were silhouetted against the blue water, and the little islands looked close enough to reach out and touch.

Look! my partner gasped. "That’s where we live!"

There are inherent risks in paddling any kind of small boats. This author has tried to describe hazards. Changing conditions of weather, tide, and more can challenge paddlers in unexpected ways. It is up to each person to learn the skills needed for safe paddling, including how to be cautious. Even familiar waters are inherently dangerous. In some places, like my home waters, safe conditions can change completely in a few minutes. Paddlers reading this book should have in-person lessons from experienced advisors. The author and publisher disclaim any liability for injury or other damage a reader might sustain.

Home Waters

Afabulous day on the water, once again. We seem to have a lot of them. But then, get on the water in small boats on a bunch of days and odds are, some of the days will be fabulous.

This day the tide and currents conspired to make possible a crossing to the Chathams and Discovery Island. The weather was on our side, too! Sunny without being too hot, a slight breeze but not enough to keep us from going.

We set out at nine this morning, and kept closer to the shore of Cadboro Bay than we might have. The middle of the bay had several little sail boats, and it's good to give them lots of room. Yacht owners and power boaters have a special nickname for kayaks: speedbumps. There's even an approved safety tip for what to do when being run over by a powerboat or yacht... as it's about to hit your kayak, roll over, away from the approaching boat. The bigger, faster boat will strike your hull instead of your head. Possibly it will cut your kayak in half, but at least it's apparently less likely to hurt you. I'm not anxious to try the technique. We try to stay out of the way of bigger boats.

Along the shore, John spotted an animal running along the rocks. It was too quick to be photographed, and too small for a river otter. It looked like a mink to me... or maybe a very young otter. Quick as a wink!

The crossing went well. At Chatham and Strongtide, there was just a bit of swirling eddy from the slight flood tide. We wandered around Chatham and checked out the long inlet to see if we could reach the little islet that Rich and Mike Jackson call Cactus Island.

Nope! There wasn't enough water to get in to the basin still surrounding the islet. We landed and walked up the gravel, past the trickle of water still flowing out, to look around. Crossing the trickle of water was a row of rocks like a little dam about ankle-high, reminding me of the rock walls made in the past by First Nations as a fish weir or clam bed. This one could have been just a little dam made by someone playing, but still, nice to see.

Out the little inlet, past kingfishers. around rocks and viewing eagles. John got some terrific photos! I'll leave the great story of the eagle meal to him to tell.

We ended up going around Discovery – the mild weather made this a great day. At the campground we took a moment to check out a boat that brought a load of tourists to the park. Looks like a fun idea, but we were very glad to be able to take our own boats out under our own power on this wonderful day.

On the way back, we passed Jemmy Jones Island and Flower. Otters were out again, diving near Flower. Just one more beautiful thing to see! A great trip and still great when we got back to shore. I got back to the Beach House just in time for the lunch Bernie made, and then to Olive Olio's to meet John & Louise, who had found Rich and his Mom. They had come to the Cadboro Bay village on their Vespa-style scooters to meet us after paddling. (Yes, Victoria is the kind of place where a guy just might go zooming around on a scooter with his mom!) Great day, great friends.

TWO VOLCANO DAY!

It's so nice to have a two volcano day on the water, when both volcanoes are conveniently visible in the cloudy weather. Rainier peeked in and out of the low cloud as I was paddling away from the beach at Gyro Park, so I went out around Flower Island and edged over to Evans Rock to see if Baker was visible as well. Yup, Baker was shouldering aside clouds out its way.

Amazing to live in such a beautiful place, with wonders like this accessible in my kayak. As well as big wonders, there were small ones here too: merganser ducks and surf scoters flying, little Mama Seal nosing up to look at me before dipping down, and the astonishingly clear water. Sadly, there are no visible starfish crawling around where I can see them right now.

It's convenient living near a few dormant volcanoes. There are others along the coast, and some emit steam and vapours from time to time, but we don't seem likely to have another big blast like Mount Saint Helens did in 1980 down in Oregon. I wouldn't mind a little eruption, though – just enough to remind the city planners in Vancouver, Victoria, and Seattle that we in big cities really gotta plan what to do when the environment shakes things up. Our padding friend Rich used to say that he figured he'd be on the water when the big earthquake comes or a volcano erupts, and he would ride the wave.

YEP, IT'S FEBRUARY all over. Even the sunny days are pretty chill. So on Saturday the 21st, when Richard and I went paddling, I just had a short trip while he did a second, longer loop before going back to shore.

Launching at Gyro Park is easy for me, with the wheels to roll my Eliza from the house down to the water. Lucky for me, Rich was willing to meet me there instead of at a new beach, and lately, he's been ready at a moment's notice to go kayaking