by Keith and Heather Nicol
On Sunday, May 24 we headed to Quadra Island to check out
the Rebecca Spit area for sea kayaking. We were joined by 4 others including
Doug Taylor and Christine Gornall who had been here many times in the past. In fact, Christine used to guide sea kayaking
in this area so we were in good hands. We caught the 9:20 am ferry from Campbell
River and launched around 10:45 am from the boat launch on Rebecca Spit. We even saw some dolphins on the short ferry ride which we took to be a good omen. The boat launch is easy to find and we then crossed
over and paddled past Heriot Island and into Hyacinth Bay. We paddled in and
around some small islands which made for very scenic kayaking. From there we
headed to Open Bay and had lunch at the bottom of Open Bay on a broad sand
beach. Our route to this point was around 9 km according to Doug’s GPS.
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| Playing follow the leader through the islands |
Then we looped
around the Breton Islands which made for more picturesque paddling and we stopped
for a short break to stretch on one island before we crossed back to Rebecca
Spit. The winds all day had been light and the forecast had called for light NW
winds. But now the winds were out of the
south east and there were some small white caps forming. After a 15 minute
stretch we decided that the winds were not getting stronger so launched off the
cobbly beach and headed for Rebecca Spit. We were off the water by 4:30 and had
paddled a total of around 19 km according to the GPS. We were very impressed
with the Rebecca Spit-Breton Island area and can certainly see why this area is
a “must paddle” area for people visiting this area. We were impressed by the scenery and will definitely be back to sea kayak in
this area again. (Paddlers note-Be aware that the ferry to
Cortes Island crosses here and depending on your proximity to it it can send
out a large wake).
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| Starting off in flat calm conditions |
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| Lunch was on a broad sandy beach in Open Cove |
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