Options...... When It's Windy In Victoria

I got thinking about this past Sunday and thought I really should put this in our blog because it was a great learning experience for us. Ya see, it kinda goes like this.......

After our great first day in our new Delta's last Saturday we were excited about getting out there again on Sunday but... the forecast was for winds coming out of the south west blowing 25 knots. Sure enough it was blowing pretty good when we got up so the yaks stayed nice and dry on their racks in the garage. However, I said to Robyn that we should take a drive around the waterfront to see what was happening in different areas to get a better understanding of how the winds effect our diverse ocean shores here in Victoria.

The smile of a Geocache found!

We started out near the end of Portage Inlet and made our way down the Gorge waterway stopping at different points to check what was happening with the water. Since we were out of the car we took advantage of finding a Geocache or two along the way so all wasn't lost and besides we were getting outdoors! To our surprise the Gorge was only experiencing a slight ripple as the fetch ( I learned that in the navigation course :-) )  is too small for waves to be generated by the winds. A canoe with two paddlers came by and I thought.....Yes..... we could have paddled here today!

Next stop was the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club just north of the Tillicum narrows to check out the facilities and water access  for the future. The was a slight chop on the water and we watched as a kayaker prepared her ride for a leisurely paddle north to Portage Inlet. Once again I thought...... Yes we could have paddled here today! 

Since the Tillicum Narrows is also an Earthcache we crossed over to the west side of the Gorge and made our way down to the viewpoint to gather information to log the cache. Part of the challenge is to get a picture of yourself at the narrows which was just coming up to max flood and I thought.... Yes we could could have paddled here today! (Note: our earthcache picture will be in our kayaks...... when we paddle there)




Next stop was the Inner Harbor which was getting the effects of the winds and there was a fair chop present. Maybe with more experience we could paddle here...... but not today. We continued onto Dallas Road where the winds were kicking up some pretty good waves (because the fetch is bigger LOL ) and white caps could be seen a little off shore. There would be........ no paddling here today!

We continued on our way towards Cadboro Bay checking out the Oak Bay Marina and Willows Beach where the waters were displaying a slight wind ripple....... we could have paddled here today!  We checked out Cattle Point and saw a group of small sailboats playing in the slight breeze and once again....... we could have paddled here today!  

At this point we needed a caffeine fix so we stopped at the Cadboro Bay Starbucks (got a Geocache too) and headed for Gyro Park to check out the popular kayaking location. Although there were no kayakers on the waters today the small sail boats arrived at the boat compound in the park. Once again...... there was only a slight breeze present and ......... we could have paddled here today!  LOL

Our intentions were to head to Sidney and Brentwood Bay but having figured out that south west winds were probably not going to effect those areas like the Victoria waterfront it was time to call it a day and lick our wounds. So our lesson learned?....... Unless it is blowing one of our crazy west coast storms that makes recreational paddling out of the question, all you just need to know where to go!