Sea kayaking with sea lions and eagles at Point Holmes near Comox

by Keith and Heather Nicol

Don Deese paddles off Point Holmes

      We had so much fun paddling at Point Holmes with all of the sea lions, seals and eagles that we headed back there on March 6, 7 and 8! The great weather consisting of light winds, sunny skies and warm temperatures made paddling very comfortable even though it was just early March. On Friday, March 6 we were joined by Don Deese who paddled his elegant, lightweight “canoe”.  On all days we used the handy boat launch at Point Holmes. For those with a GPS, the coordinates of the parking area and boat launch are: 10 U 0365267E 5506114N. We headed east toward Cape Lazo and in no time we would hear the barking of sea lions and see seals popping their heads up everywhere. At times we counted 20 seals or so all with their eyes glued to us. The sea lions seemed to enjoy being in small groupings and they too were very curious. All of this activity was due to the abundance of herring that were here to spawn and occasionally you could see sea lions with a herring or two in its mouth.  We also headed along the shore to check out the eagles roosting on the rocks. We were surprised that there were not more kayakers out enjoying the weather and activity associated with the herring run.

Sea Lions were there in abundance

Eagles perched on rocks just offshore