Robyn's 1st Blog Entry - Pat Bay

Apparently it's my turn to blog!  And since we had such a great day today I don't mind. We decided that it wasn't going to rain so we thought we'd go for a paddle in the new Delta's.  We loaded up and drove out to Ardwell Rd. in Sidney.  It was pretty choppy so we headed over to the other side of the peninsula, Pat Bay.  The waters here were flat calm so we pulled up at the launch site, geared up and carted the kayaks down the stairs to the beach.  We headed out towards the float plane dock and watched a Salt Spring Air float plane touch down and dock.  We paddled over and took a few photos.  Mark chatted with the pilot and told him those were ‘his’ windows in the plane.  (I’m not sure if the pilot believed him).

 

 

There was a raft of logs nearby covered in seals basking in the sunshine so we took a few photos.   Although a few of them took to the water, most of them didn’t seem to care that we were nearby and posed quite nicely, even with the noisy float plane taking off close by.  A few seals swam near us and did some spy hopping.  I think they were hoping for a hand-out.

 

The Coast Guard had two ships docked nearby so got up close and checked them out.  They certainly seem a lot bigger when you’re next to them in the kayak rather than viewing them from a dock.

 

We hugged the coastline and continued past the Institute of Ocean Sciences property.  The houses in this area are pretty spectacular, especially the one that looks like a castle.  The water was crystal clear so we spent lots of time staring down at the bottom.  Personally I was looking for a crab for dinner.  I’m not sure what would have happened if I’d seen one.  I certainly wasn’t going in for it and probably Mark wouldn’t either.

 

 

 

 

We paddled around the point and in the Ardmore area we saw a nice beach, so we pulled up and had our lunch.  We did a few seat and pedal adjustments (as we’re still finding that perfect fit with our boats) and just relaxed.  We looked across at Mill Bay and decided we definitely had to get over there one day and explore.

 

 

After finishing off our thermos of hot tea we were back into the kayaks and heading to the truck.  Approaching our launch site we realized our little beach had disappeared!!!  Darn tide.  All in all a very nice day, about 3 hours of relaxation.  And best of all .  .  .  I’m looking forward to going out again tomorrow.

Robyn