This summer in lieu of our annual river trip my paddling friends traveled to Johnstone Strait. Johnstone is famous for the high concentrations of Orcas, some of the highest in Western Canada. We paddled down to Johnstone Bight and watched the Orca’s massage parlor. The Orcas love to rub their tummies on the pebble beaches, the exact reason for rubbing the pebbles is not known. We had a fine show one evening as one of the large bulls breached. The orcas visited us daily. We crossed Johnstone Strait to visit some of the neighboring islands. This is a major shipping channel and the cruise ships pass through on their way up the inside passage. We played dodge ‘em with the freighters and barges. Happily we had our weather radios for a strong blow was predicted. We found a good camp and settled in for a few days and watched the barometer drop. Johnstone is notorious for heavy seas. The area has strong rip tides and with opposing winds, conditions can deteriorate quickly. While we waited for conditions to calm in Johnstone we paddled out into the calmer waters near our camp. We rose early and watched the sea otters paddling around our camp. A female Orca had become a daily visitor to our little bay. We often heard her rasping breath before we saw her. These waters are extremely rich and we paddled through large schools of herring. A ruckus ensued with gulls, aucklets diving into the herring to grab some appetizers. The rhinoceros auklets caught so many herring they were barely able to fly with the silver fish wiggling in their beaks. Awkward heavy bodied birds they have tiny horns on their beaks that look like small spectacles. A comical sight! Where there are schools of herring there are salmon, and salmon attract orcas. So Ms Orca arrived as a dinner guest, passing through the melee of herring, salmon, screaming gulls and auklets to grab her share of the feast. We watched the commotion and Ms Orca surfaced about 10 from my slender kayak. It was a thrilling close encounter. We also paddled out to one of the nearby islands and visited an old Indian village complete with hand carved totem poles. A local tribesman was on hand to tell us tales of the raiding canoe parties. The tribes in this area had a fierce history; there are many tales of their war canoes crossing the treacherous waters of Queen Charlotte Strait. I imagined the terror of the local populace as these fierce warriors arrived for a raid. Johnstone strait was magical with glistening glaciated peaks rising about the mists of the ocean. We then traveled down to the Discovery Islands. These small islands are scattered like puzzle pieces in the passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland. The islands choke the flow of water from the large tide changes and the narrow passages create strong rips and even tidal rapids. We carefully timed our quick dash through the slim channels for slack tide. On passage had 14-knot currents rushing through it. We listened to the roar of the tidal rapids and could see large standing waves in our binoculars. However at slack tide it was peaceful. Only the long strands of kelp lying on the rocks indicated the force and direction of the current. We visited the Octopus Islands, sharing some quiet moments with the loon’s mournful cry. Enjoying the solitude and peace of kayaking. With the loons and Orcas renewing our souls we headed back to the mainland with great reluctance. Paradise lost. There are pictures of the trip http://community.webshots.com/album/3697920zJDueeYmNR Unfortunately, I did not get good photos of the Orca ;-( -- MZ website: http://members.home.net/mzuschlag *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Mary....great area, great trip report, great pictures. Really enjoyed them all. Brought back memories of my trip with Ed Gillet down to Scammonds Lagoon in Baja where there were 900 Grey Whales in the lagoon, and the Moms taught the babes how to swim just off our point on the harbor entrance where there was deep water and swift current along the edge. Thanks for your report! Ken ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Mary Z" To: Subject: [Paddlewise] Trip to Johnstone Strait Summer 2000 Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 21:59:37 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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