Sea kayaking from the Comox Marina

by Keith and Heather Nicol

      We have tried most of the sea kayak put ins in the Courtenay – Comox area since we arrived in early November last fall but on Monday, April 20 we decided to check out the Comox Marina. For some reason we hadn’t launched from this location but we had heard that the Comox Valley Paddlers use this site for their Wednesday evening paddles so we decided to investigate. The day was sunny and warm (temperatures hit 18 C in the afternoon) so it was a great day to be on the water. The launch point is well protected as you might expect and in no time we were paddling out through the breakwater. There was quite abit of sailing activity going on as well and these boats provided a colourful foreground to the Comox Glacier which lay in the distance. 

Heather paddles in front the sailboats and Comox Glacier

Once beyond the breakwater an obvious destination is Goose Spit and it looked almost tropical with the golden sand and glistening blue water. We landed at the tip of Goose Spit for a snack and to enjoy the setting and then paddled around the spit for an hour or so before returning to the marina. Along the way were joined by several  standup paddleboarders who were enjoying the perfect conditions. The Comox Marina is located at the base of Beaufort Avenue in Comox and there is a nice park in the same location. To see the other launch points we have discovered in the local area your can search this blog. Use the search bar in the top left and type in sea kayaking in courtenay and comox.

Goose Spit is only a 15 minute paddle from the marina

    The day before we paddled at Point Holmes in Comox and had spent several enjoyable days in this area kayaking during the spring herring run in March. We have done previous posts on this amazing event and fully recommend to anyone who hasn’t seen it (see: http://keithnicol.blogspot.ca/2015/03/sea-kayaking-with-sea-lions-and-eagles.html) .  On Sunday, April 19 we were interested in seeing what wildlife was around and we weren’t disappointed. We paddled west toward Goose Spit and saw several small gatherings of sea lions along the way which was a nice bonus. 

We saw several groupings of sea lions west of Pt Holmes