At the end of a great season we must say goodbye to too many good friends.  At the end of August we bid Spencer good luck to his studies at Thompson Rivers University and by mid September Alex was flying home in order to begin a new adventure overseas!  We hope the winter passes quickly and you both will be back in Victoria soon!  

Brad put together a video that will keep summer adventure in our thoughts and to give Alex a proper send off.  We departed from Island View Beach on a windy but clear day and made good time across to Darcy Island where we spent the first night.  As we rounded the last bend of the channel between the privately owned Little Darcy and the provincial park on D’arcy, we found another kayaker having a snooze on the beach.  He was surprised to see Belle and Lucca pop out of our kayaks and up the beach to say Hi.

After a rest in the sun we had work to do to set up camp.  Brad and I discovered to our disappointment that our tent had a not 1 but 2 broken poles and could not be used despite attempts to repair them.  Since purchasing our Big Foot trailer neither of us had slept in a tent for 3 years and instead we slept under a tarp.  We had the dogs to keep us warm but Alex was alone in our cozy Tarn2 on her first night camping in a tent.  

Morning coffee was spent watching a pair of oyster catchers gathering breakfast.  We ourselves had an egg scramble and broke camp in record time to catch the flood tide to Rum Island.  It was sunny but cool and soon we were shedding our paddling jackets.  We stopped at Mandarte Island to watch the cormorants as we enjoyed and orange each, a great kayak snack.  If you drop it overboard it will still float!

We arrived at Rum Island by lunchtime and had the pick of the 4 raised tent pads, we had the small island to ourselves!  Following a picnic of chicken and mashed potato we explored our new island.  Unfortunately when we returned we met with a group of no less than a dozen kids from St Michaels University school.  They were everywhere!   We tried to make the most of our evening with a bottle of rum to honour the rum smugglers that the island was named for.  But their tents surrounded ours and we spent the night listening to their adolescent voices.

Our last day took us along Sidney Island and through Cordova Channel back to Island View Beach.   It was a calm and clear day and an enjoyable paddle but it seemed to take forever to make the beach as we all hungered for lunch and anticipated a shower!  We had a great time and we are already planning our next staff kayak overnight outing for the Spring.

Thank you to all our paddlers and staff who made 2014 a stellar year!

Katharine Palmer co owner