The Adventure South Begins

August 24-26, 2022

On Wednesday, August 24th, we were up at 06:00 and the visibility was good.  The VHF-radio forecast still called for good North West winds so we made everything “ship shape” for the swells and pulled up our anchor.  Unfortunately, in the half hour that it had taken us to be ready to leave, the fog had rolled in and once again we could only see the closest land around us.  We motored out through Choked Passage and headed towards Cape Scott on the northwest tip of Vancouver Island.  Just as we were passing the last Islands out Choked Passage we caught our last glimpse of land for the day.  Our fog bubble traveled with us all day, even as we passed within a nautical mile of Cape Scott in the evening we couldn't see any land.  Unfortunately, the forecasted winds did not materialize until around 13:00, but when they did we happily set sail and completed the second half of the distance down to Cape Scott under sail.    

On the trip down past Cape Scott we started to see two very different types of seabirds.  One of the types was a very small, about the size of a young duckling, black diving bird.  These birds were very cute and usually not very scared as we sailed past; they just bobbed around on the surface and then dove downwards.  The other type seemed to usually be in flight.  Its flight was quite different than most other seabirds, as it flew about 2-8 feet above the water and followed the contours of the swells, flying up and down, usually simply gliding effortlessly along.  We have yet to determine what these two birds were, but they were very cool to watch.   

As we neared Cape Scott the sea state changed, the widely spaced rollers compressed and became steep, shortly spaced waves.  We had timed this passage well as we were there around slack current and with minimal wind.  We had heard that this area could get quite nasty when the current was strong and the winds were blowing.  There is a summer current that runs northwards along the coast of Vancouver Island and then the ebbing current from the eastern side of Vancouver Island gets pulled outwards and it collides with the more constant flowing northerly current on the west coast which can create quite the seas especially when combined with a strong wind.  The other factor that helps to create an unpleasant sea state in this area is that the sea level shallows rapidly and dramatically between Cape Scott and Scott Island.   

At around 20:00, as we began to turn inwards toward our anchorage, the fog along the shoreline finally parted and the sun actually shone on the land.  We pulled into Sea Otter Cove at around 20:30, our first anchorage on the west coast of Vancouver Island.  We had been unable to see land, engulfed in a fog bubble for over 13 hours.   

We remained at anchor for two lovely days of exploring in the area of Sea Otter Cove. 

There were many islands and beautiful beaches that we kayaked to and spent time exploring. 

Unfortunately, it was primarily foggy, with drizzle, and a cold breeze blew through the anchorage.  

We found some lovely sheltered spots to enjoy the view and we had fun exploring the beaches anyways. 

One of the many places that we wanted to see were the beaches in San Josef Bay, so we headed out for a 4 nautical mile, low-tide paddle to the head of San Josef Bay.  It was a beautiful place with long, white-sand beaches much like those on Calvert Island. 

After a lovely beach walk we began making our way back to the Red Witch with the plan of stopping at another beach along the way for a picnic.  Of course, as our luck always seems to have it, the wind had picked up against us for our paddle back.  

During our paddle home we spotted a black bear on a pebble beach that we had been walking on the day before.  On that hike we had noticed many holes that seemed to have been dug into the pebbles and although there was no sign of food, we wondered if perhaps it was a bear looking for food, as we had seen lots of bear scat on the trails and beaches in the area. 

We paddled in and saw that sure enough he was making his way along the beach and stopping every now and then to effortlessly dig into the pebbles with his big paws.  We saw him eat some of the beach plants, but we never did see him eating anything out of the holes he was digging.  Perhaps he was just looking.  

We stopped for a picnic lunch, and as we were eating our soup and sandwiches the sun broke through the clouds and the sky around us cleared. 

It got hot and beautiful, and after lunch we actually went for a swim.  It was lovely just to sit in the heat of the sun on the pebble beach and look at all of the different colours and patterns in the many rocks. 

Eventually we ventured back out into the wind and waves in our kayaks and made our way home.  It was a lovely day of exploring.