September weather can be almost anything on the north end of Vancouver Island and the Broughtons are most easily accessed by a water taxi so three of us decided to ditch the camping gear and paddle out of The Paddlers Inn for 4 nights and three full kayaking days.
We played the usual ferry games and made the long drive up the island to Telegraph Cove in time to catch the water taxi at 3pm.
With eleven guests, eight kayaks and a lot of fog Bruce McMorran guided us across Johnstone Strait and between islands for two and a half hours to his summer home for the past 30 years.
After unloading gear we settled in to our rooms. The main building has six bedrooms and a large kitchen/living area plus toilet/shower. A couple of lucky folks got the cabins; one on it's own float and another up on shore overlooking the north sound. The rest of us divvied up the Bunkhouse accommodations and set about making our various evening meals. The disparate choices of meals that kayakers come up with always amazes me. Without the need to store foodstuffs in kayak hatches the innovation really took off!
With 3 full days of paddling open to us, Frank, Lori and I decided to visit the Benjamin, Burdwood and Fox groups of islands on consecutive days. Weather forecasts precluded rain and strong winds. Our challenge was going to be the morning fog and building winds in the afternoon.
The first day, heading across to the Benjamins would see our thickest fog. The above picture is not that bad but there was no point in photography at the fog's worst!! We hugged the north shore of Baker Island and headed through the narrow passages that surrounded Insect Island before threading our way through Rees and Davies and into Fife Sound for the return trip. Just in time for the wind! We had it at our back but the long fetch meant some rolling, breaking wind waves that had us surfing home to showers and Happy Hour. Oh, the Decadence!
We picked day 2 to be an easy paddle north to the Burdwoods. Once again the fog was heavy leaving Paddlers Inn but with promise of sunshine.
The fog plays tricks with your eyes and for a while we thought we were seeing the wake of a phantom vessel but then it became apparent we were looking at a large group of Pacific White-sided Dolphins coming at us from out of the mist!
That really was the highlight of the day but as the fog cleared and we entered the Burdwoods, the beach lounging and views were as good as it gets.
Our last day was our longest.
We followed Cramer Pass southwest with an ebb current and averaged 4.6 mph through the narrows and out into the Fox group. For the next three hours we wandered in, around and through these islets, checking out dead ends and waiting for the tide to turn.
Finally we paddled through the narrow rocky gap between Mars and Tracy Islands and on the return journey noticed we had current heading our way! Time to head home!
At 9am the following morning we were on the water aboard the Buffer Zone with visibility less than a hundred yards. The ride home was chartplotter and radar all the way in to Telegraph Cove harbor. The worst fog of the trip!
