Victoria Inner Harbour .... The Long Way

After our Saturday paddle  of the Esquimalt Harbour we kinda thought it would be nice to take a day off on Sunday and just take it easy for once. It's been so long since we haven't been in the kayak on a Sunday and this Sunday wouldn't be any different. I woke early to the sun rising over Mt. Doug with brilliant blue skies and not a cloud to be seen anywhere. 

Robyn was soon up and it didn't take long for us to make the decision to head back out to the Esquimalt Lagoon for a paddle to the Victoria Inner Harbour. Checking in on Facebook I posted our intentions and it wasn't long before Roy Scully decided to meet us for our 10:30 OTW departure. While waiting for Roy another kayaker arrived at the beach and he asked if we were waiting for Roy? After exchanging introductions, paddler Christian Gaujous would be joining our group for the trip.

CH-124 Sea King heads towards the Halifax Class frigate in the distance.

As Roy and Christian were preparing their kayaks, Robyn and I waited on the water and we watched a Canadian Forces CH-124 Sea King helicopter performing low high angle turns over the water about a mile from us. It then headed towards the Halifax Class frigate that left CFB Esquimalt just as we arrived at the beach. After circling the ship a few times it proceeded to land on the stern of the ship. The neat thing for me about seeing the Sea King conducting this exercise is that I see them take off from the 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron at the Pat Bay Victoria airport while at work and wonder where they are headed. Now I know.

Is this really the last day of September??? Looks more like the middle of summer.

Roy paddling towards the Ogden Point Breakwater

Following the shoreline, Roy and Christian played in the rock gardens as we made our way past Saxe and MacCauley Points and towards Ogden Point. Ogden Point is home to the Victoria cruise ship terminal but there were no ships in port today so we paddled along the breakwater and headed for the small beach just at the east end which would be our lunch stop. While I stayed behind and kept an eye on our kayaks, Robyn, Roy and Christian went to the Ogden Point Cafe to get some lunch that we ate in the glorious sunshine.

Robyn leading the way along the breakwater after our lunch stop 

Once lunch was done with we headed back along the breakwater and into the Victoria Inner Harbour. Seeing the harbour while on foot is pretty neat but seeing it from a kayak is special.

There are so many places you can get to while on the water by kayak and Roy showed us a few of his favourites. The Victoria Clipper seemed to be one of the things that caught his attention so he got a real close up look at them. ;-). In fact there were two Clippers moored stern to stern which created an interesting tunnel feature. I won't say any more.  LOL

We paddled around the harbour and checked out float plane docks. Every time I visit a float plane harbour I have to spend some time watching them take of and land. After all ..... I make parts for some of the De Havilland float planes being flown around the west coast.  :-)

After leaving the harbour we headed on a direct route back to the put in location and stopped to play in some of the small surf waves. Unlike yesterday, the surf was pretty non existent but Roy did try his hand at surfing a small wave backwards. The video below will tell that tale. Another great day on the water to end the weekend and we wonder why we feel so tired on Monday mornings!  LOL