Lots to see while sea kayaking at Point Holmes

 

by Keith and Heather Nicol

    Sea kayaks are great vessels for observing wildlife from seals to whales and they are also ideal for observing shorebirds, ducks and other birds. One of our favourite places to paddle is at Point Holmes since it offers ready access to scenic paddling and a variety of shorelines from sandy beaches to rocky headlands. With the sunny, warm weather of late we have been sea kayaking on a few occasions and our most recent outing to Pt Holmes was on August 7 and we weren’t disappointed. We almost always head around Cape Lazo toward Kye Bay since this is where you tend to get the best bird and marine mammal sitings.

                                                                                 Heading toward Cape Lazo

 We saw lots of Bonaparte's gulls which we love seeing since they are one of the smaller gulls and often let us paddle quite close to them. There were also a large number of harlequin ducks in the rocky area around Cape Lazo and of course loads of gulls. 

                                              Harlequin Ducks on a rock near Cape Lazo

We went a tide of around 4 meters which means there are fewer rocks exposed for seals to haul out on but we did see several seals and 2 swam underneath our kayaks!! nother bonus of paddling at Point Holmes is the fact that the boat launch has a web cam that lets you see what the tide and wave conditions are along the shore. It can be viewed at: http://www.pointholmesrecreation.ca/rampcam/. It is always interesting to see the variety of birds and other wildlife in this area and we look forward to our next kayak trip to Point Holmes. Be sure to put your money in the box at the boat launch to help maintain this great facility.