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Broken Islands Kayak, Day 4

Pacific Rim National Park

Wednesday, August 5

Today was our fourth and final day in the Broken Islands. We were scheduled to return our rental kayaks and catch the Lady Rose ferry to Port Alberni, which was scheduled to leave Sechart Lodge at 4pm.

As usual (or at least, what appeared to be usual), our fourth day in the Broken Islands dawned cloudy. This day promised to be a bit different, however, because the forecast did actually call for a change of weather for the worse, with overcast, the possibility of scattered showers, and some elevated winds (15-25 knots, which can be of concern to kayakers). While we would be ok if these things came to pass while in the direct shelter of the large islands of the Broken Group, we were going to have to make the crossing of the Sechart Channel at some point.

Morning, Day 4

Scone Flipping

Deluxe Facilities

All packed up

Portrait of Youth

After breakfast (in which there were yet more fresh scones made) and packing up our tents, we began preparing the kayaks to start our journety back towards Sechart Lodge. Since it was only 9 a.m., we did have some time for exploration, and so we planned to stop at Reek Island and attempt to locate this mysterious face-in-the-rock that we'd been hearing about.

Before departing the campsite, though, we were startled by the sound of blowing water. A humpback whale had surfaced right in front of us. The whale quickly disappeared beneath the water, and we all assumed that it would reappear at some point off in the distance, and our lucky little show was over. A few minutes later, though, it re-surfaced near us again - clearly trawling the waters directly along the coastline.

Slipping beneath the water

In preparation for our kayaking, I had already placed my Canon into its "camera condom", and packed away my zoom lens. With the continued appearance of the whale, I finally decided to go through the trouble (as quickly as possible) of extracting my camera from it - a slow process - and placing the zoom lens on it. The whale surfaced once again, but I had not yet managed to get my zoom lens screwed on. I was just a hair too late, although I did capture a tiny bit of dorsal fin as it slid beneath the surface. The next resurfacing was much too far off into the distance to capture anything. I'd mostly missed my chance.

The fleet is nearly ready

Getting into formation

Destination Reeks

We headed off towards Reeks Island at about 9:30 a.m. The clouds overhead were thicker and looked to be capable of rain, but all they were doing for now was appearing dramatic and adding flair to the scene. The winds - at least in the waters between Gibraltar and Reeks - had not picked up to any appreciable degree, so paddling was easy.

courtesy AHyndman

Turner and Reeks

Gloomy but dramatic

Approaching Reeks

A short thirty minute paddle brought us to the south shore of Reeks Island, where the mysterious face was said to be located. Following the detailed instructions of the Tseshaht Nation fellows from yesterday, we looked for a gully, a horizontal tree, and a semi-hidden cliff face below it.

Searching for the face

The horizontal tree

Objective Acquired

We found it after only a few minutes of concerted scanning. A narrow cleft or inlet in the bedrock cut back into the rock of the island, on the southwest coast of Reeks not very far from its eastern tip. Above the bare-rock part of the cleft, in the forested area, a tall tree had fallen horizontally across the top of the cleft. Below the fallen tree but well above the high tide line, far back and deeply in shade, was the face. It was tilted about twenty degrees to the right, and it was half - maybe not quite half - hidden by green bushy vegetation. What was visible had an angled, abstract appearance: a hexagonal head outline, and squared-off, almost asian-like features. Fascinating.

Mysterious face

The face was only discovered a few years ago (sometime in 2011 or 2012, I believe), by a visiting paddler. Not much is known about the origin of the face, although as you might imagine, theories run the full gamut. I myself lean towards pareidolia - wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern where none actually exists. But, I could be wrong.

Not just a pretty face

The face on the wall was not the only attraction in this little nook of Reeks Island. The rock walls were lined with bright seaweed, purple and pink starfish, and green sea anemonies, among other little marine creatures. No nudibranches, though. Still, it was a great little spot to explore.

courtesy AHyndman

Colorful Starfish

Enjoying the marine scene

Square cave

We paddled slowly back west along Reeks' southern coastline, looking for and finding more interesting spots rich in marine life. Things got less interesting as we rounded the western tip of the island, and we picked up our speed as we headed north and northeast through the channel between Reeks and nearby Nettle Island.

Kai and Gosia

Eveline

Starfish and Anemones

After rounding Glen Islet and reaching the northern shore of Nettle, we stopped for our lunch break. Off in the distance, we could see the MV Frances Barkley steaming west. It would be several more hours and stops before it returned in the eastbound direction at Sechart Lodge to pick us up, so we were still quite good on the time front.

courtesy JInnes

Nettle Island Buildings

Many Anemones

Break on Nettle Island

Frances Barkley

We are all the Karate Kid

Going for a ride

After having lunch and playing around for a bit on Nettle Island, we got back in our kayaks and headed west along the northern shore of Nettle Island. We wanted to get as directly across from Sechart Lodge as possible before beginning the possibly choppy crossing of the Sechart Channel.

A cluster of clams

After making our way along the northern shore (past a couple of beautiful little beaches) to a point nearly directly south of Sechart Lodge, we turned north. At first the waters weren't too roiled up, but as we became more and more exposed to the westerly winds, the heaviness of the sea increased. Soon there were little whitecaps forming on what appeared to me to be waves that were about 2 to 3 feet in height. With the course we had set towards Sechart Lodge, the wind and the waves were coming at us from slightly ahead of our port (left) side. This meant that we had to paddle with the kayaks often rolling into and out of waves, which worked best if you timed your paddle strokes properly. If I timed it wrong, I would accidentally paddle a bit of air.

Beginning the crossing

This was definitely a heavier sea than what we'd encountered over the last few days - I knew this because the sprinkling of pine needles that had been on the bow of my kayak for several days finally got washed away. Once in a while, a wave would be big enough to splash over the bow and skirt of the kayak. Looking at the Beaufort scale after the trip, I learned that this was considered a "Fresh Breeze" or perhaps at worst, a "Strong Breeze" - not the most impressive sounding description to tell your friends. Certainly this was not particularly strong in the grand scheme of things.

courtesy JInnes

Not yet whitecaps

Safely Across

Arriving Sechart Lodge

Overall, though, us newbies (only speaking for myself and Jenn here) managed to hold it together, and as soon as we crossed into the lee of Canoe Island, the wave heights dropped probably by half. It remained only mildly choppy for the final few hundred metres to the docks at Sechart Lodge.

Awaiting the ferry

Like bees being drawn to flowers, other groups of kayakers converged onto the docks about the same time we did, and once again, the scene was one of people and outdoor gear headed every which way, stuffing, unstuffing, pulling, unpacking, and packing. The Lady Rose folks had positioned their large plastic bins on the dock and were directing us to fill them up with all of our stuff.

Waiting area

As everyone finally got all of their ... stuff together, all of the hubbub died down. With the ferry not yet in sight (in fact, it was probably more than 90 minutes away from docking), we retreated to a garage-like client services area near the docks to wait it out.

Interactive trackmap with photo points - Broken Islands Kayak Day 4 - Gibraltar Island to Sechart Lodge - click map to view

Interactive trackmap with photo points - Broken Islands Kayak Day 4 - Gibraltar Island to Sechart Lodge - click to view

Gibralter Island to Sechart Lodge - Paddle Data

Start Time: 9:18a.m.

End Time: 12:59p.m.

Duration: 3h41m

Distance: 8.11 km (5.04 mi)

Average Speed: 2.2 km/hr (1.4 mph)

Start Elevation: -47ft (-14m) *

Max Elevation: 30ft (9m) *

Min Elevation: -47ft (-14m) *

End Elevation: 28ft (9m) *