Day 1

Off we go! The water is calm, there is a light breeze, and the sunny sky shines bright as we ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca towards Victoria. 8-4-2003

I wonder what the weather has in store for us this year? Last June, 2002, Al and I paddled out of Quatsino Sound's Port Alice, at the north end of Vancouver Island, and didn't make it very far down the coast before storm force winds and torrential rain hit in a seemingly endless series of fronts. We endured the harsh conditions for a week, struggled down the coast as far as Restless Bight, North of the Brook's Peninsula, but relented and paddled back into Quatsino Sound as an even worse weather system moved in.

Last spring, we had storm warnings on four out of the seven days, and wind gusts of 55 knots were recorded on Solander Island. Paddling around Cape Cook on the Brooks Peninsula would have been impossible then.

Al's daughter, Jessica, is with us as we start the drive up highway 1 from Victoria, and our plan this year is quite optimistic. Instead of leaving my truck at the north end of Vancouver Island, as we did last year, Jessica will drive to Victoria and take the vehicle back to Port Angeles, where she, Al, and wife Bobbi live

We're well supplied, we both have a good deal of coastal paddling experience under our belt, and we'll utilize nautical charts, GPS waypoints, compass and VHF to navigate and minimize risk. We are banking on good weather, I have to be back in Yakima, Washington no later than the 24th of August to start teaching, and we'll attempt to paddle from Coal Harbor B.C to Port Angeles, Washington; approximately 350 miles.

We arrive at a nice waterfront B&B in Coal Harbor around 6pm, and while I shower, Al takes his 19 year old daughter Jessica out for a quick test drive in my truck. The next morning we're up at 5:30 am, eat a tasty breakfast of eggs, fruit, juice and coffee, and then drive down the street to a vacant lot where we prepare to launch. Jessica snaps a few shots, gives us a hug, wishes us well, and then drives off in my truck for Victoria.

It's a mysterious misty morning as our blades hit the calm water, and we are excited to be on our way. We time our departure with the beginning of the ebb tide, which will aid us in our westward paddle to the Pacific, and allow us to safely negotiate Quatsino Narrows, which we have read can be quite nasty. The Narrows is 500 feet wide, 2 miles long, with steep rock walls on either side. Currents can run up to 8 knots here, and the rip tides and eddies can be treacherous. As we reach the end of the Holberg Inlet, and approach the Narrows, we hope that we have timed our negotiation of this first obstacle, and stop paddling to listen for turbulent running water. We hear nothing, proceed, and laugh at our apprehension as we enter the placid slow moving water of the dreaded Quatsino Narrows.

The rope swing in front of the cabin was too tempting not to try.

Quatsino Sound covers about 70 miles of waterways and is the most northern of the five main sounds on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. We paddle past Drake Island, stop for a snack and a picture at Ilstad Island, cross Kosimo Bay, and enter the Pacific Ocean at 3pm. Gorgeous weather today on our first day out, however, the afternoon's southeast wind made for a tough final 6 mile push to our destination of Restless Bight.

We covered 27.6 miles, in 7.5 hours, and we're pleased to have made it back to our rope swing and cabin in paradise. We discovered the cabin last June, and it was a wonderful haven for us as the storms punished the coast. Built by a couple of Swedes out of Port Alice, the guest journal welcomes visitors, and asks simply that one leave the cabin in the same or better shape than when found. No wet gear to dry out this time, but we certainly did have fun on the rope swing!