February 20, 21 2010. Craving the open horizon and salt air, Hugh Prichard of Terracentric and kayak colleague Trish Markvoort snuck through the open window of clear blue calm to the place where the tides meet. Mittlenatch Island, the Galapagos of the Georgia Strait is a true naturalists gem. Windswept and barren the island was teaming with life when we paddled there this past weekend.
We left Lund by 10 am Saturday and headed South to Hurtado Point, crossing over to Mace Point on Savary Island in flat calm seas that changed little over the following 72 hrs. Nature cavorted around us, with vast bird and intertidal in all directions. Choosing to keep following the sun, we paddled along the southern shore of a deserted sandy island in the Pacific, Savary Island.
At Duck Bay, amidst the unique sand dunes we ate lunch and considered our options. The water was crisp and clear with amazing visibility. Gazing down from 30' above we watched the shadows of our boats glide over beds of anenomes, urchins, sand dollars and all types of brightly coloured sea stars.
At the North end of Savary we made our crossing to Mittlenatch in 2 legs, heading first to Harwood Island to the North. Taking one last compass bearing we set out to Mittlenatch which was still mostly enshrouded in a veil of thick fog. Eventually though it began to reveal itself, rolling green landscape pointed with purple tinged rocks. I had hear that in Salish the island means 'Looks close but is far away..." and I began to feel it as our boats twisted and yawled with the currents in the deep waters. This is an exposed and committed trip even in warmer weather, but doing this in February under such pristine conditions is un nerving. There are few boats out and we maybe see a total of three the entire time.
When we finally reach the island I have eaten 3/4's of my chocolate supply. The Sun is getting low on the horizon. We land and head up the beach to check out the rangers cabin. BC Parks cut the funding apparently for the volunteers who used to come out on a rotational basis over the summer months to care take the nature preserve. Terracentric has been helping in the past with delivering the volunteers to and from the island in our zodiac so I know it well.
The cabin is kind of creepy so we decide to paddle round the other side to see about camping on the North beach. On the way we see Herons, Bald and Golden Eagles, Aucklets, Scotters, Harlequins, Mergansers, Marbled Murrelets, Oyster Catchers and many more. Interestingly there are no Sea Lions out, which is odd since there were lots near Lund over the last 2 weeks. A tight possey of seals made up for their absence by giving us a guided escort and marine dance show. After fishing for and eventually retrieving Trish's expensive sunglasses which she dropped purposely in the water as part of a team building scenario we ate some snacks and watched the last of the sunset. With energy still in our tanks we decide to take advantage of the moonlight and flat calm conditions to paddle the 6 miles back to Savary.
Paddles dipping into a horizon that melted into the dwindling daylight, unreal colours shifted into a star studded twilight. By 9pm we had landed back near Duck Bay, the first suitable beach area for camping. Hastily we built a fire and began cooking dinner. Just as we were about to start eating the dull thud of chopper rotors beat through the cool stillness.
Coming from the east along the beach, a low flying Search and rescue helicopter thundered towards us. I should note that our trip was constantly punctuated by the boom of fighter jets streaking overhead no doubt in search of some terrorist threat waiting to deflower the Olympics. I did feel very safe however! The helicopter saw our fire and hovered over us, giving us a good look with the cajillion candle power search light. We smiled and looked like we were having fun and avoided waving at them! Sharing our dinner with helicopter pilots was not part of the plan. We slept soundly that night, having paddled almost 50 km.
The next day we awoke to thick wet fog. After another small fire to burn off some of the dampness, we packed up and paddled north once again to Indian Point on Savary. From there we followed the shoreline south, eventually crossing straight back to Lund. Kiran, Hugh and Christines son sat atop Neptunes small island in our bay in the harbor. The trip was excellent and while it was such a perfect weather window we almost wished for a more dynamic sea state. Completing 35 n miles in two days was aa great early spring conditioning. It felt good to be on paddle time again. Paddling loaded boats was great training and we look forward to filing more reports as we continue.
