Hello Everyone, I am not sure what the weather is like everywhere else at this time, this last weekend was truely spectacular and we hit record high temperatures for an easter weekend. To take advantage of this great weather, what else does a person do? Yup, step over the lawn mower, look down so not to see the rain gutters clogged with debris and dismiss all the gardening chores and go kayaking. We got up early so we could get the the launch site in plenty of time to head out with the local paddling group. With gear packed, lunches made we headed out, when we arrived there was a local tour company taking a Gilligan tour out(3 hour tour......you can sing it if you like, I prefer not too.....). Alas, the group we were going to paddle with didn't materialize. So we headed out anyway on this gorgeous sunny day, the water conditions were perfect. It wasn't until we were out for 30 minutes that I realized that we launched at the wrong site. The group had put in else where, undaunted we decided not to catch up with them along their route and continue on our own. We were able to catch an ebb tide around the south end of the island providing lots of fun playing in the current before we started to cross the channel to a secluded sandy beach for lunch. During lunch we could see further north where the other group would have launched from, right beside one of the busiest marina's on the Saanich Peninsula. Because the weather was so great every yahoo in a sail or motor boat wanted to be out. We were lucky only a few boaters traveled south to where we were and only had one altercation with catamaran versus the dozens of boats doing whatever a few miles to the north. As we were sitting on the secluded sandy beach it reminded us of our Baja kayak trip several months ago, enjoying calm water conditions and beautiful sunshine. Who would have thought that we would have such great weather in Victoria so early in April. After lunch we paddled back across the channel only to see a pod of dolphins swim by. Wouldn't you know it, I was all out of film at the time and I didn't pack another roll. DARN IT!!!1 We then hit some more current on the other side prompting us to stop and play some more before continiuing on. Then as we rounded the island to head back to our launch site we bumped into the same pod of dolphins swimming back. We stopped and watched for a while before we headed back to our take out. All in all it was a perfect paddling day and in hindsight didn't miss paddling with the local kayak group at all. Sorry about that Gordin. Anyway, I just wanted to share this exceptional day we had. I don't often send posts in, but thought I should share this great day with you. Kirby Coastal Waters Recreation www.CoastalWatersRec.com Every trip, a new adventure! [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a name of Kirby Stevens.vcf] *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
It's tough to be out of film when such a good shot presents itself. Since I plan to buy my first digital camera this year (a Nikon D70), I expect my own film purchases to go way down. For on-water use, though, I'll still use my Nikonos, so I expect I'll continue to keep a supply of kayak rolls on hand. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** 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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