Kayaking Isle of Man - Quadra Island, B.C.!

We've been on Quadra Island, B.C., Canada for the last three days. It's part of the Discovery Islands group and lies off the east coast of Vancouver Island. It's different here to the west coast, surf orientated, Long Beach Peninsula where we spent the past 10 days. Both are wilderness but you get the feeling that nature is in charge at Tofino and the Clayoquote Sound. Here, at least to some extent, she shares control with people. There is a wilderness here but it's not the primitive, untamed rain forest of the Pacific coast! Instead it's low lying, rocky beached, conifer forested archipelago of islands off the east coast of Vancouver Island. Even the weather seems more gentle as most of the rain has been rung out of the clouds by the high intervening mountains of Vancouver Island before it reaches Quadra.
So this is an area of exquisite, tranquil natural beauty with an abundance of wildlife and some beautiful scenic gentle paddles? Well yes it is but there's a dark side to this place for the unwary kayaker. Some of the fastest tidal races in the northern hemisphere are to be found around the Discovery Islands surging up to 13 knots. They've been known to pull over and submerge local tugs and commercial fishing boats and are not recommended for anyone other than the most expert sea kayaker with local knowledge. Not being either, and lacking time, I could not indulge in such tidal race pleasures. I did however sample some of these currents for myself as I ventured out alone into Discovery Passage. This is like a series of conveyor belts and there's usually one going your way, as the main current spawns eddys and counter eddys. Sooner or later though you run out of options and you only have your own strength and endurance to get you through. This happened to me, I only just made it and I've never had to paddle so hard in my life!
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kayaking Isle of Man - Tofino!

It's nearly time to leave Tofino and head north to the wilder half of Vancouver Island. We've spent 10 days here and of course it's our second visit to Tofino. This must mean that we like it and we do. Tofino is great. It enables any of us to reach out and taste that little bit of wilderness and yet remain in touch with our Western luxuries. Within a few minutes you can paddle through the Clayoquote Sound into silence, a silence disturbed only by the plop of a leaping fish, the cry of a bald eagle or the grunt of a black bear. And yet you can still be home in time for an a la carte meal with the best wines in your 5 star lodge hotel. Then there's the raw power and ferocity of the Pacific Ocean to the west. You can paddle straight out through the painful and smothering dumping waves into the vast ocean, only interrupted by rocks and lighthouse clad islands. But always keep an eye over your shoulder here as the open Pacific can quickly catch out the unwary. Even this can be eased into by paddling from Tofino in the shadow of the larger off shore islands such as Vargas and Wickininish!
Tofino is easy instant access wilderness with the discomfort removed. It can be as safe as you want it to be with easy novice trips and a host of professional guides at hand. Everyone is laid back, friendly and accommodating as has been our hotel, the Long Beach Lodge, who said nothing about me keeping an often wet sea kayak in my room for the last 10 days. They have been excellent and we thoroughly recommend them.
We're off to Campbell River next.
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Kayaking Isle of Man - Grice Bay to Tofino.

Clayoquot Sound is a vast area of land and sea comprising 8% of Vancouver Island. Measuring 350,000 hectares in total, just the land mass is 1,000 square miles of mainly rare rain forest. There are 5 communities in Clayoquot Sound: the town of Tofino and 4 First Nations reserves inhabited by Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations tribes. The total population of these 5 communities is about 3,000 (in 2005).
Anyway I fancied a paddle and the "Sound" seemed to fit the bill and so I set off from Grice Bay down to Tofino. The distance is about 6 nautical Miles as the Bald Eagle flies, and armed with a map, compass and no less than two GPS devices I began to paddle. Clayoquot Sound is vast, the hundreds of small and large forest carpeted islands offer little in the way of visual way points - it can be easy to become lost. I didn't lose my way, but what I did do was get the tide wrong and I ended up paddling against it the whole way. This didn't matter in the wide stretches, but at the narrows I had to eddy hop to make progress. The highlight was a little tidal race I found between two small islands. Because it arose due to flow and not wind it was smooth, glassy and perfect. I buried the bow of my Rockpool as I surfed the front wave. It was only there for 5 minutes, but it was 5 minutes of tidal race perfection!
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