We awoke at 6:30 AM and left the Port Hardy Airport Inn at 7:30 AM. We arrived at the community of Telegraph Cove. The community of Telegraph Cove may resonate with you as it was in the news when on December 31, 2024 a fire started at the north end of the boardwalk and quickly spread and consumed the pub, restaurant, Tide Rip Tours office, Prince of Whales office and the Whale Interpretive Center. The community is on its way to rebuilding itself.
We drove straight to the office of At the Water's Edge Adventures (AWE). We booked a one day kayaking trip called the Broughton Archipelago/Blackfish Sound Water Taxi Assisted Day. Our capable, friendly guides were Kai and Ash. We were provided with a paddling jacket and life jacket and a 10 litre dry bag.
The beauty of today's paddle is we started off with a boat ride over the Johnstone Strait to Swanson Island. This put us into some great paddling areas right away without having to do a big open water crossing. We were blessed with sunshine, blue skies, warm temperatures and no wind! Perfect for a day of kayaking!
J was maybe a bit disappointed because we were all in double kayaks (10 guests - 5 kayaks) so he didn't get a single - but I loved it! I am confident in a canoe, but less so in a kayak. J is such a strong paddler, I truly act as a passenger and seldom put my paddle in the water because we always would get ahead of the guides, and of course they want one guide in front and the other in the back.
Before we even put our boats in the water on the Swanson Island side, we spotted Orcas (killer whales!) in front of our beach. Did you know that bull kelp can grow 25 cm each day in the summer? We paddled for about an hour and a half then stopped at this beach for lunch:
AWE provided us with lunch that included coffee, tea, hummus, pita, all the ingredients for a greek salad and cookies and granola bars for dessert. The tide came up so quickly on the beach we had to move our boats up twice so they didn't float away!
After lunch we saw humpback whales, dall porpoises, seals and salmon jumping!
We were surprised to see two cruise ships coming through the passage.
Kai was in constant radio contact with others in the company and arranged for our boat pick up at a nice flat beach - important to land a kayak. I really like this photo of where we were picked up:
We watched some whales, sea lions and other wildlife on the boat ride as we headed back to our starting point. We helped the guides unload everything from the boat, thanked the guides and said farewell to our new friends from Germany, Belgium and the US. I think we were the only Canadians as guests. Kai said that was typical of the customers they see.
We had a hotel reservation in Parksville - a three hour drive, so we hit the road right away (around 5 PM). We stopped in Campbell River at McDonald's (within the WalMart) for supper. We happened to sit with a Mom and son from Calgary. They had dropped off another son/brother who set sail on one of the tall ships we saw in Port Hardy. They are with the SALTS (Sail and Life Training Society) program where students can have a 10 day experience boarding a tall ship. It was a really interesting conversation.
We arrived at our hotel at 8:57 PM and learned the office had closed at 6 PM! That seemed very early to me. They had an emergency number to call - so I called. They had left our keys and directions in a lock box. We moved into our room and immediately went outside for a cup of tea and glass of beer to watch the sun set!
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