Sea Kayaking

I took off for a week and headed out to Vancouver Island, specifically up to Ucluelet and Tofino to do some sea kayaking. It's a beautiful part of the world and subsequently it can get really busy there in the Summer. Tourist season is going full swing and though it was great to hit some of Tofino's finest restaurants, we were glad to pack up our kayaks and head out to more remote locations.
And, pack our kayaks we did!! We had a lot of stuff and it was hard to believe we were going to be able to stow it all in our boats, but indeed we did, albeit with a little purging of some non-essentials. We were fully laden and all the boats were sitting pretty low in the water, which may have ultimately been our saving grace. The paddling started out well enough with fairly smooth waters, considering we were on the ocean. There's always a fair bit of boat traffic in the Tofino harbour and typically you have at least two or three float planes take off over your heads when you're out in the Sound.
Our destination was the north end of Vargas Island, at 5800 hectares a relatively bigger island in the group of islands in and around Clayoquot Sound. Since some of our fellow paddlers had been on a similar trip to this spot in previous years, we made a decision to paddle the west side of the island instead of the inner passage.
Of course, that did mean wide open ocean and the conditions you should expect, with consideration to have quickly those conditions can change. Needless to say, we came across some pretty challenging sections, where we had 2 metre swells, white cap waves and 25 kmph headwinds with which to contend. Laden with a ton of gear and supplies meant a harder paddle too, but with our boats so low in the water the extra weight made us a bit more stable. We muscled our way along and ultimately made a crazy surf landing on a remote beach to set up our camp.
The idea was to have a base camp and do some day trips from there, exploring some of the smaller islands around Vargas. Of course, Vargas Island is big enough to offer some interesting hikes as well, and we did go check out a few trails and some other beaches.
Vargas supports a fair bit of wildlife including cougars and a wolf pack. The latter has been quite active lately, in regard to kayakers, strictly to do with some people not taking proper 'back country camping' precautions with their food supplies. Leaving food stowed in kayak compartments has attracted the wolves, who have learned how to chew through straps and hatch covers and get at an easy meal. Of course, this habituation has meant that human - wolf encounters are increasing and the unfortunate outcome will likely mean the Island will be closed to paddlers or, worse yet, the wolf pack will be destroyed.
We set up our camp and then followed a short trail into the surrounding forest to set up a food cache, where we slung a rope line and suspended everything edible up in the tree branches. Fortunately, no wolf encounters for us, though we all had hoped to see the critters (from a distance) We spent 4 days hanging out, doing day trips in the kayaks, landing on one to explore and doing some hikes on Vargas itself. We had some wind and rain but our camp was sheltered in a little cove and we put up some tarps by the cook stoves and the fire pit, so we were well protected. When the weather cleared, we had some beach time and that night there was a stunning sunset that we watched until dark.
Our trip back to Tofino was far less dramatic, since we took the inner passage and wrapped up our trip by mid afternoon. Most of the paddling crew had to bolt for the ferry and head back to the mainland but 3 of us stuck around town for an extra day and did some exploring. What a fantastic trip it was and I am already planning for next year!

Beautiful blue skies and relatively calm ocean greeted us on our arrival to Tofino

On day one we stayed at an ocean side place and watched as the weather make a dramatic change.

We studied the charts in preparation for the next day's adventure

Departure day proved to be sunny and warm, but how to pack all this gear into these few, tiny kayaks? 

Despite some really rough ocean and 25 km headwinds, we made it to our destination, albeit at the wrong end of the beach.

Wet, chilly, and hungry, but nothing a nice fire and some grilled steaks couldn't cure.

A beautiful sunset to end the day

We built our camp behind this hill, in a little sandy cove created by some mad Winter storm