Two For Two And I Don't Know What Time It Is!

Sunday awoke with the promise to be much like Saturday's great day of sun and we loaded the kayaks for a quick trip to Cadboro Bay to meet up with the folks of Kayak Yak. For the past few months we have been following the blog entries of John, Louise and Paula and through Facebook we planned an outing with them from Gyro Park. We have paddled here once before and it is such a diverse location for either the beginner all the way up to the well seasoned tide race sea kayaker.

After the introductions we got our rides down to the sandy beach and met up with Paula who was already at the launch point site since she practically lives on the park. The plan was to head over to Chatham Island via Flower and Jemmy Jones Islands checking the conditions at each point to decide if Chatham was possible today.  

On our way to Flower Island we spotted a Sea Otter playing like a cat who had just woken up and was scratching his back on the logs. It was quite a sight to see him go through the morning stretch routine and he didn't mind us taking a few photos. What a great way to start the paddle!  

As we came to Flower Island we spotted a bald eagle sunning himself with his feathers ruffled by the winds.  The wind forecast for the day was 10 knots from the NE so we needed to be sure that the transit would be safe for our group. Heading round the island we started the transit to Jemmy Jones and noticed the winds had come up a fair bit more than predicted. Looking past Cadboro Point into Baynes Channel I could see the white caps ripping pretty good. Chatham was going to be out of the question for our group today so we headed back to Flower Island where the bald eagle had been joined by its mate. 

We decided to head up to the navigation light at Cadboro Point along the coastline. As we rounded the point we were slightly sheltered from the wind by the small islets but some of the choppy waves were making their way between them. Awesome!!! My first opportunity to play in some waves so I gradually paddled my way in between a couple islets and had a few minutes extending my comfort zone while trying to read the on coming waves. Pretty cool!

Heading back to Gyro Park we explored the nooks and crannies of the coastline and then made our landing back where the day began. We joined John and Louise at the local coffee shop and enjoyed a warm beverage in the sunshine while learning a bit more about each other. It was then time to head home and wash down our rides but ........ I discovered upon arriving at home that I lost my economical waterproof sports watch somewhere at Gyro Park. I seem to have problems with watches and the ocean as this watch was the one that I bought in the Caribbean when my Timex Expedition disappeared while I was body surfing (I call it that). Good thing that I didn't have my expensive Blue Angels Eco-Drive on today!