Day 6 Nuchatlitz/Nootka Island Sea Kayak Trip

May 23/07

WX 0400
SYN: a High over S Van weakens today
stalls over Cape Scott & dissipates
rebuilds over Charlottes
mod to str SE in morn eases to mod in aft & shifts to light

W coast Van I South: winds light rising to SE 15-20 offshore
veering to SE 15-20 in aft, SE 25 W of Estevan Pt late aft.
winds easing to light overnight 1 m swell
Outlook: winds light rising to moderate NW

May 23rd/07 19.07
little sandy cove north of Ferrer Pt., Nootka Island (near Louie Bay)

I feel very very content & at ease, competent, on this trip. Sarah and I really know what we're doing. You couldn't do this trip without knowing what you're doing, and even more so in May. There's no one else out here.

We can paddle, and we can camp. This is our area of expertise. This is what I've spent the last ten years learning, and this trip feels like the reward. A perfect trip where we have all the knowledge to make the right decisions, and right decisions are crucial.

We know how to read the charts & find our way around, shift scale when the chart changes, use the tide tables to know where to camp & how far to pull up the boats. We know how to interpret the marine forecast & paddle or not paddle accordingly. Our camp's bomber, everything set up tight, and our systems are efficient. We make distance, good mileage, and we have lots of time to tool around and explore whatever we want. We have time in the day b/c we're efficient with our cooking & our camp setup. There aren't a lot of fuckups that cause big time wasters. None at all, actually. It's sweet.

I look behind us from where we're sitting on the beach, with our hot drinks & charts, Sarah's night to make dinner, and I see a tight little set up -- her tarp, my tent, staked out right & not going anywhere. The boats where they're supposed to be. We can leave our camp and walk way down the beach, knowing we're all set -- food's put away, nothing's going to blow away.

Tonight we'll eat dinner, I'll go fill up water for tomorrow, we'll listen to the weather, and plan our next paddling day -- destination Calvin Creek, outer coast of Nootka Island. Sweet.

still May 23rd, still the little cove, actually kind of big cove

We left Nuchatlitz proper this morning and went southeast into Nuchatlitz inlet. Our first stop was the grassy knoll, that I think I'd heard about from Kelly, & Sarah had asked Lennie at the last minute where it was. It's really cool -- this big round hill out into the ocean, with no rock. All earth, & covered with grass, thimbleberry bushes, and wildflowers. Not even salal. There were columbine and strawberry flowers & chocolate lilies & stonecrop & Indian paintbrush & a yellow snapdragony looking flower. Leading up to it was really pretty vetch.



Oh and on the paddle up to it, before we got out, there was a big black bear walking the beach. The first we've seen. We saw two minks today as well, and sea otters and of course bald eagles. And ravens, heard some ravens.

We were so stoked paddling today. Even though it was grey & rainy, we were warm, and it was just such an interesting paddle. Sarah's favourite paddling day of the trip so far, and probably mine too. We got to see so much cool coastline, and there were all these surges and boomers, and intertidal life getting exposed & then getting covered up again. Paddling that takes a little bit of concentration if you want to get close, & is really fun. Also there were a ton of sea caves. We knew there were probably burial boxes in a lot of the caves; a few people told us they're everywhere in the sea caves. But the idea of going back into those big dark caves & searching for burial boxes is really freaky.

We did stop at a beach Lennie had told us about, where he said there was a burial cave, or burial boxes. I had a real feeling it was at the right, where there were some cool sea stacks & space behind them. Sarah thought the other side, or up against the cliffs, so we started looking there. but when I went a little ahead to the place where I thought, I climbed up these rocks and over some logs & it opened up, and then there was a trail at the back. It's funny the way I sense this stuff. I really do. It's like I can slow right down, and get into a space where I'm wandering but focused, and I'm just going by intuition, almost being led. That's how I found the cooking cave before, with the rocks for cooking, the smoky roof, & the pounder. And I've found trade beads that way too. And in Alaska I just saw stuff. It jumps out at me; I see it.

Anyway, we went up the trail, which was wide and old, and it kind of stopped, except went up to a flat cleared lookout. Except Sarah realized this huge tree had recently come down right across the trail. We didn't want to climb through there, and maybe step on or grab stuff unexpectedly, and we didn't feel like bushwhacking, so that's where we stopped. But I'm sure that was the site, even though Lennie didn't say where at that beach. I have to ask him. [I did ask him, after the trip: he said it was up against the cliffs, where Sarah had thought.] And Sarah & I both thought, if it's all buried under that fallen tree now, that's good. It's protected.

We got to our campsite, sandy, explored. Missed this great water source by walking over it further upstream where it was all shallow, & looked brackish. When I went back for water I found it was clear and awesome. Sarah & I went back again just for the walk & to fill our Nalgenes so we didn't have to use any of the old water, & we found it would actually be a great little swimming hole. More of a bathing area.

Before that we listened to the forecast while we ate dinner and drank wine, and it was the best forecast you could ever ask for, perfect perfect for rounding Ferrer Point tomorrow and attempting the outer coast. The outlook's really great too, so it looks like we're off to Calvin Creek tomorrow. (Don't say it too loud). We're getting up an hour earlier tomorrow, 6:30, and we're having a fast breakfast of hot granola. Once we round the point, we have 3 hours of committed paddling, 8 nautical miles I should say, without landings, before our beach. I'm excited to go for it.

Day 5 Nuchatlitz/Nootka Island Sea Kayak Trip

Tuesday, May 22nd/07 21.44
Island 44, Nuchatlitz, west coast of Vancouver Island

I have a really good view from right here. I'm looking south over the Nuchatlitz to Louis Bay and Ferrer Point, where we're going tomorrow. To the right of that is the open Pacific. Everything's grey.

We had sun & haze & cloud today. We were sad to leave Catala so early. Another night would've been good to go camp on the northern sandy point, where there's a trail to a lake. But we wanted to get off the island & back into this area.

I cooked pancakes this morning & we left. A crossing & then stopped on Island 40, where there's a cool campsite on the point, with sand & Indian paintbrush & columbine.

We kept going b/c I was really set on exploring the actual ins & outs of the Nuchatlitz proper. I got kind of edgy b/c I really wanted to see it. We paddled to our campsite on 40 & ate lunch, unpacked, & took off again solo this time, to explore. I just wanted time to do that.

We were looking for water, too. I wanted to look at all the IR [Indian Reserve] areas. I didn't stop on any for quite a while, though. Finally I was looking for water up a little runoff thing that ended at a cliff. I followed it up, & then noticed a worn trail going up. As soon as I stepped onto it I could tell it was a human trail. Just inside up there were all these burial boxes! It startled me, & it was so cool. Four boxes or so, all green & old. Mostly broken. There was a skull right there in front of me on the rock, & some human bones, like arm or leg. And a full skeleton curled inside the one box. You could still see the cloth & stuff it was wrapped in. One box was pretty much preserved, unopened & unbroken. There were some old white people's stuff too, that they must have been buried with -- a pair of old old binoculars. And also a huge rock with black earth or something on top, looking exactly like a native person sitting w/a cape around them, & a mask, like Dzonoqua-- ooo like that with the mouth. A hummingbird was hanging out right at the trail entrance.

When I came back out, I could see Sarah across at the IR. I called to her. It was lucky she was right there so I could show her.

Then she left (she had found water), and I went to check out the IR. I walked in at the left & into the forest & there were all these graves, headstones. It was a more modern graveyard, but still with people born in the late 1800's. One really stuck out to me b/c it was just a weathered grey very simple wooden cross, with the woman's name on it. She was over a hundred, and died in 1998. It surprised me that even now there are people buried that simply. Who was her family? What was her story? There was a hummingbird at that graveyard, too.

So that was a lot of death for today. I don't want to think about it anymore, but it was really cool to find the burial boxes. I've only ever seen one from a distance before. You could see, too, how one box was a genuine bentwood box, bent, & with the spruce pegs & fluted inside.

I explored one more beach, on our island, got back in my kayak, ran into Sarah on land walking. Made camp, we had barbecued peanuts & beer & chocolate again on the beach, so lucky it's still not raining. I made dinner, set up my tent, & I'm off to bed.

We saw sea otters today too. We've seen deer as well. I hope we see wolves on Nootka Island. The winds & weather sound so good for the next few days.

I have to look up what hummingbirds mean to the people out here, & I have to see if the Esperanza mission is the same place we camped at on night two. God nat. Over to my campsite in the corner.

Happy Canada Day, or . . .?

In Wayson Choy's book about life during the 1930's in Vancouver's Chinatown, he brings up a little-known fact about July 1st. I think it's best told quoted exactly as written:

". . . Thousands [of Chinese] came in the decades before 1923, when on July 1st the Dominion of Canada passed the Chinese Exclusion Act and shut down all ordinary bachelor-man traffic between Canada and China, shut off any women from arriving, and divided families. Poverty-stricken bachelor-men were left alone in Gold Mountain, with only a few dollars left to send back to China every month, and never enough dollars to buy passage home. Dozens went mad; many killed themselves. The Chinatown Chinese call July 1st, the day celebrating the birth of Canada, the Day of Shame."

My Talented Brother

So here he is, Simon Granovsky-Larsen, my talented brother. He's working on his PhD., he got married last summer, landed a pretty amazing grant this year; I'm impressed. My brother rocks, man, and here's a book he published in South America: http://gam.org.gt/public/publi/pdf/ciciacs.pdf

Celebrate It or Ignore It

I'm reading my roommate Lennie's copy of Tom Robbins' Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates. Lennie's a good buddy of mine, and we used to work together guiding sea kayak trips. I came across a part in the book where Switters, the main character, gets mad at himself for whining about the heat. Weather, he explains, ". . . ought either to be celebrated or ignored."

So I kept reading, thinking that was a quote I should really write down. I work in weather. Kayak guiding, bike couriering, it's all weather all the time. May as well celebrate it or ignore it.

A few paragraphs later, I find Switters' weather philosophy mentioned again, and this time, it's underlined in pencil. Could only be Lennie; it's his book. Lennie works in weather, too. Something to quote for the kayak clients during the next downpour. He probably already has.

This Small Town's Got Its Inner City, Too

I wrote this poem yesterday and today:

This Small Town's Got Its Inner City, Too

Oh girls, what makes you toughen,
lacquer, line and blacken,
stare cold and closed and jaded at thirteen?

And boys, who made you harden
so early, so certain,
so that, by fifteen, you can't avoid becoming
a hard-lined, dead-stare version
of a man that God and Spirit
never would have chosen you to be?

Death of A Courier

So I work as a bike courier, and in one of the banks there's a shelf of used books for sale. I scored the other day, with this wicked book, The Death of A Courier. The book itself is crap, but the cover is so sweet, and some of the quotes are cool. Hard-core, man. The middle quote's my favourite.

Yeah, about those girls -- how do you know they're couriers? Because I'm banging two of them.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

"Tom put on old flannels, a turtleneck sweater, and desert boots, and left in the Alfa-Romeo."

I'm reading Ripley Under Ground, the sequel to The Talented Mr. Ripley. I love these books. A big part of the enjoyment for me is Highsmith's portrayal of an American expat in Europe. It makes me want to be independently wealthy, and able to indulge my good taste somewhere in southern Europe. Leisure and a bit of luxury, as Tom puts it.

Protest is Dead. Long Live Protest.

Utne Magazine has an article about the futility of protest as a strategy in and of itself. Protesting was effective during the 1960's, and rallies were noticed and taken seriously by the media and government. Now it's so commonplace, it's virtually ignored. I saw a good example of it on the news yesterday, where WTO protesters in Germany were ignored, the delegates simply flying unfazed into the conferences via helicopter.

The article, "Protest is Dead. Long Live Protest" (Joseph Hart, Utne May/June 07), suggests that we need to go beyond protesting and examine a broader strategy. Key in this broader strategy is collaborating and cooperating with the organizations and people we're protesting against; sitting down and hashing it out rather than relying solely on symbolic dissension. In Hart's next article, "Meet the New Boss: You" (Joseph Hart, Utne May/June 07), Hart points to Matt Leighninger, a government/nonprofit organization facilitator who advocates shared governance. Shared governance goes beyond the us vs. them , protester vs. evil corporation view, and focuses on solutions instead. He suggests we attend our local board meetings, and start from there. It will take a little more thinking than marching around with a sign, but the results may prove to be more effective.

Day 4 Nuchatlitz/Nootka Island Sea Kayak Trip

May 21st/07 Day 4: 4 NM [nautical miles]
Catala Island, Nuchatlitz

SYN: H 120 SW of QC aft moving across QCS Tues. mod str NW NC easing tonite
rising to str/gale W of Char Tues
Van I. str/gale NW easing tonite

W Van S gale warn
near S of Est 20 easing to lt O/N
NW 25-35 easing to 20 O/N
2-3 m easing to 1-2 m tonite
O/L mod NW easing to lt & shifting to mod SE

I have to remember to look up what Abednego, Shadrach, & Mechabin or something is. I think it's from the Bible. They were the names of the three cabins we stayed at at Esperanza. I think they're Bible names, and inside there were 4 Bibles. But somehow I think they're evil guys from the Bible. It'll be interesting to know.

We left Rosa Island by 10 this morning. Woke up to bright sunshine & a beautiful day. What a nice change, to wake up to sun. Had coffee & Bailey's again; that's not going to last very long.

We had a calm paddle up the coast of Rosa, & then a calm beginning of the crossing, but the wind picked up hard & it was a tough crossing. It took us about an hour & 20 min.'s to cross the 3 mile crossing. Which was good time in the 15 knot winds that we had.

Now we're on Catala Island, and it's sweet. We're facing the open Pacific, and we can see the western tip of Nootka Island, where we'll be going eventually. It's Sarah's night to cook dinner, & she's making lentil curry over a fire, because it's so nice out. It's been sunny all day, and warm. I wore a t-shirt and rad pants all day, and we put on a ton of sunscreen.

So the paddle here was hard. I've been going slower than Sarah a little bit. I do have the slower boat; it's wide & bargey. But still. Slower. I did something to my wrist on our long long day, & it's been hurting a lot, but I only just looked at it b/c I didn't think it was a big deal. It's actually really swollen. Sarah can see it too. Whatever. I can't do anything about it. So I struggled a bit but we got here. Those winds were big, & they've just been picking up & picking up, & now it's died down a bit, but still totally whitecapping out there.

This is a huge beach. We got here, got all the work done of unpacking & hauling the boats up, then we sat down & cracked a couple of beers. Glass bottle Sleeman's, super nice, & some barbecued peanuts & chocolate raisins.

We were just sitting there, Sarah looking through her binoculars, when all of a sudden -- oh my God! I couldn't believe it. I was up & running down the beach right away. A baby grey whale surfaced right in front of us, right at shore! It was so cool. We ran down the beach, following it. It was playing in the surf, on its side, so you kept seeing the dorsal fin & pectoral fin come up at the same time, & then it would go under for a while, & we could follow its white marks underwater & then it would come up again to blow. We felt so lucky, that a baby grey would come right up to our campsite & hang out. It left, but it came back again a few times over the day.

We were almost out of water. We have a 10 liter drom and four 1 L Nalgenes with us. We knew we had to find water soon. I hate rationing water. So we went down the beach, Sarah one way, me the other. I wasn't really beachcombing. Kind of, but I really had the water on my mind, so I was in the woods a lot too, looking for it.

Finally I asked Grandmother for help, native Grandmother, and very soon after I found a random path in the woods that led to a small stagnant pond of water. I was happy b/c no matter what, at least that meant we had water. We could treat it if we wanted to.

I came back out of the woods, marked the spot. Thought about how I'd like to have that kind of complete faith -- total faith in God that you're provided for & taken care of, & all wishes granted. Then I thought what kinds of things would I have faith in receiving. A glass ball? Then I thought that's pretty hard, fell. As I was getting up I looked over & there was a glass ball! A smallish green/blue Japanese glass fishing float. I was so stoked. Earlier Sarah found one.

When I got back to camp, Sarah was sitting beside a dark green glass float the size of a basketball! She found it, and another small one. We've had a lot of luck on this beach. She also found better water, so we walked over to the point campsite & further & got it.

Tomorrow we're going back into Nuchatlitz proper to explore all the little islands. I'm excited. We looked at the charts today & figure we can spend 2 more days in the Nuchatlitz & then start down the coast of Nootka, and that'll still give us plenty of time to be winded in. It's nice to feel we have enough time around here and enough to go down Nootka. I'm kind of surprised.

Now we're still by our little fire, and the baby grey whale's back, right in front of our camp. The wind's died, the moon's out, and so is the first star. Soon I'm off to my tent to read the next chapter in the White Slaves of Maquinna book. "Massacre". But first, to go stand in the surf in my gumboots, and share the water with the grey whale. Say goodnight.

Day 3 Nuchatlitz/Nootka Island Sea Kayak Trip

Sunday, May 20th 14 NM [nautical miles] or so
Day 3 21.24 Rosa Island, Nuchatlitz

We made it to the Nuchatlitz! Finally. Got on the water at 11 again today. Kinda slow. There was sunshine & I didn't even need my paddling jacket for a while. We left Esperanza and crossed to Nootka Island, then rounded the northern tip of Nootka & kept going.

The winds picked up a lot after an hour or so, and we really had to fight them for a long time. The water was whitecapping, and we also had the current against us. I was pretty tired & sore from yesterday, so didn't have a lot of power today. I was dehydrated, too, & had a headache that kept getting worse & worse.

Sarah got really hungry before Garden Point, so we stopped at a random little beach w/a creek & made lunch. It started raining hard, & the tide started coming up fast too, so it was a rushed & not fun lunch. Good though -- bagels w/mayo mustard sprouts tomatoes cheese & avacado.

We pushed on until we got to Rosa Island around 4:30 or 4:45. We'd discussed going on to Catala, which would've been nice, but we wanted to have some time in camp & not another late night & rushed dinner.

Our evening was nice & relaxed. It's pretty here -- sandy beach & another one , & you can walk across the island to the other side where there's a different view & big driftwood logs & big anemones. There's spruce & cedar here, big ones.

3 people pulled up on our beach in a little motor boat. They're kind of funny, from Tahsis, older, 2 guys & a native lady who's quiet. The one guy anchored his boat & then got pulled in to the rocks by a rope on a big inner tube, b/c they don't have a dinghy.

We set up a great camp -- two solid tarps, Sarah's bivvy & my tent. I feel competent. This is our first taste of a little tiny bit of Quadrant II time [time to do things that are important but not urgent]. I'm going to read now -- White Slaves of Maquinna: John R. Jewitt's Narrative of Capture & Confinement at Nootka. The perfect book to read on this trip. God nat.

Day 2 Nuchatlitz/Nootka Sea Kayak Trip

Day 2: Sat., May 19th 7.45
Bligh Island

WX [weather] 0400 Sat May 19
SYN [synopsis] 995 L [millibar low] offshore moving towards N. Van I. tonite
S [southern waters]: str [strong] SE veering to mod [moderately] str SW
SW easing Sun.

W Van N [West coast Vancouver Island South]: SW 10-15 [knots] rising to S 15-25 am
easing to SW 15 late eve.
1-2 m [swell] rising to near 3 m
O/L [outlook] mod SW veering to mod str NW

21.11 May 19th still Day 2: 24 NM [nautical miles]
Esperanza Marina, Vancouver Island, Nootka Sound

It rained all day today, and we got hail for a time in the middle of the day.

This morning Sarah made 7 grain cereal & we had coffee w/Bailey's. I was walking just before the trail to go to the outhouses (Bligh Island), when something blue caught my eye. I picked it up, thought it was plastic at first, but it was a tiny blue trade bead [glass beads used by Europeans to trade the native people for furs, etc. They were later found to be of no value to the natives, who discarded them on the beaches.] From the French or English, faceted. The tiniest one I've ever seen. I found my first two on Compton Island at White Beach years ago, a bigger blue one and a round amber one (Russian). This little one is special, and made me think again about being an archaeologist. Vs. art school vs. being a writer. I was also thinking about how one reason coastal people are so great is b/c they've been out in the elements & can appreciate a cup of coffee, their dry jeans, etc. I was thinking that when I saw a motorboat go by.

We listened to the weather this morning and decided it was too big to go north up the outside of Nootka. They were calling for swell to 3 metres. Also picking up to strong northwesterlies on Sunday, which would probably mean getting winded in there.

We decided we'd rather just book it up to the Nuchatlitz & then take our time coming down. And we did book it -- we paddled 24 nautical miles today. We didn't get on the water until 11 am, and still made it to Haven Cove, our destination, by 5:45 pm. The current was with us all the way up the inlet, which helped (we went north up the inside).

But when we got to Haven, which was recommended in the guidebook, there was no camping. Nowhere to put a tent. Already 5:45, & it was really freezing, and we needed to get warm and fed. It was too chancy to continue north hoping to find a campsite, so we turned around & paddled two miles back to Esperanza. There's 20 people living here year round.

We asked to camp on their lawn, and now we're set up in a cabin w/bunkbeds & a wood stove. We got a fire going & looked at the charts & had wine & chocolate (after cooking dinner outside under the tarp we set up).

So it was a very long day, physically hard, very cold, but we made great time & are very happy w/how far we got. We're close to the Nuchatlitz now, our clothes are dry, the people here are nice and welcoming. And I found a trade bead. Sweet day. Tired. God nat.

Day 1 Nuchatlitz/Nootka Island 12-Day Sea Kayak Trip

Day 1: May 18th, 2007
Bligh Island, Nootka Sound
SW point (the isthmus)

WX [weather] 21.30 Fri May 18 SYN [synopsis] H[high pressure system] N/W [lying northwest] over Van[Vancouver Island] shifts E & leaves 995 L [millibar low] moves to N. Van I. front across N. coast easing later Sat. str[strong] S[southerlies] rising to SE tonite str SW SW eases Sun.

VIS [Vancouver Island South] SE 20-30 [knots] easing to SW 10-15 O/N [overnight] rising to S 15-25 Sat am SW 15 Sat eve. 1-2 m [swell] rising to 3 Sat am O/L [outlook]: mod SW veering to mod/str NW

Sarah picked me up this morning at 8:30 or so. We said goodbye to Lennie & Serina, & Bev, & met Simone MacIsaac & Carolyn at Serious Coffee. I really like Simone. She's just passing through town, but she's a part of our group of friends. She's really nice & real, & reminds me of what's out there in the outdoors world for opportunities.

Sarah & I left & drove to Strathcona Park Lodge, loaded the boats & gear & ate some veggie chili she brought, then drove to Gold River.

Picked up sponges for the boats & some snacks & drove the rest of the way to Tuta Marina. Got there at 3:30 or so, which was good. We were pretty efficient, & it gave us enough time to pack our boats, get on the water, and actually paddle 7 nautical miles to the southwest tip of Bligh Island to camp at a good campsite. Wicked.

We are so organized, on the same page, and competent. It's great. We really know what we're doing out here, we know how to work as a team, and all our years guiding has paid off. Here's the reward -- a personal trip where we both know how to do it all, and the campwork's done quickly and easily, and there's low stress, and decisions are made quickly. We haven't had time to exactly relax yet, but we drove, picked up boats & gear, packed, paddled, set up camp, & cooked, & were still in bed by 10:30. Awesome. I told Sarah I think we're gonna spend the whole trip being really pleased w/ourselves.

It started raining at Tuta Marina, lightly, & hasn't really let up.

Right after dinner, while I was setting my tent up, the wind picked up huge. We could barely hear the weather forecast, and we took down the kitchen tarp so it wouldn't tear. But it'd died again now, and it's just raining. Or at least it's changed direction and we're protected. We're hoping it'll blow hard tonight & be done with it, so we have moderate winds to go up the coast of Nootka with. Otherwise we have to go up the inlet, the E. side of the island, & we don't want to. We want the wide white sandy beaches of the exposed west coast. We'll see tomorrow what happens. For now I'm in my tent, relatively dry. Up at 7:30 tomorrow & outta here if we can. We have so much ahead of us. God nat [good night in Danish].