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Broken Islands Kayak, Day 3
Pacific Rim National Park
Tuesday, August 4
Unlike Day 2, day 3 dawned with a general wish to move on to a new campsite. We mused once again about pushing towards the southern reaches of the Broken Group, but decided to play it conservatively and opted for another central location. After some map consulting, we decided on the campsite located on Gibraltar Island, located in the cluster at the northeastern corner of the Broken Group. Owing to its relatively close proximity to Sechart Channel, we'd have a fairly short paddle the next day to return to Sechart Lodge and catch our ferry out.
Busy Breakfast, Day 3
Kai's fire fascination
Pushing off from Dodd
Much like the day before, the morning was overcast and cool. Again we hoped for a clearing by mid-day, and the forecast seemed to be in agreement with that. Slightly elevated wind levels were predicted for today, so we'd have to be on the lookout if we were going to be crossing any open water.
Ready for Day 3
Very low tide
Tiny Islands
It certainly wasn't windy in our sheltered little passage east of Dodd Island, and paddling was therefore quite straightforward. We crossed through the southern fringes of the Tiny Group, then past the big dock at the Tseshaht Nation's Keith Island. We noticed the square-sided aluminum boat (from the cultural visit a few days ago) docked here.

It was around this time that Roy (Arn's father) quietly glided up to me and suggested that I slow things down a bit. Apparently he'd been making this quiet suggestion to several others in our group (essentially, that we were perhaps stretching out a little too far ahead of the others on our various outings). Message received, and we attempted to stay in more reasonable proximity from then on.
Tiny Islands
Keith Island Dock
Paddle to stay warm
courtesy AHyndman
courtesy JInnes
The Kayaking Mannequin
Island Harbour
Approaching Gibraltar
We arrived at the Gibraltar campsite, located on the north side of the island, at about noon. There was already a large contingent of kayakers here, but fortunately a very large continous open space under the nearby trees had more than enough space for us, although without the intimacy and privacy of the tentsites on Dodd Island. Still, it was more than sufficient, and soon we had our portable little houses erected and filled with sleeping gear.
Gibraltar Island Campsite
Busy and Public Campsite
Birthday Lollipop
Today was Nel's birthday, and she was thrilled to receive a huge lollipop from her mother. This wasn't something that was going to be crunched down in a few minutes, and she set about wearing it down right away, lick by patient lick.
Returning from Seal Watching
Proud lickers
Proud Lickers
It had taken us less than two hours to transfer ourselves from Dodd to Gibraltar island, and we had the whole afternoon ahead of us. Arn proposed an exploratory journey to the south, perhaps even as far as the big island of Effingham - if conditions and our energy levels permitted it.
Preparing for afternoon paddle
Cliffside Exploration
Jenn and crags near Dempster
Eveline elected to stay behind and rest at camp, so it was only nine of us who suited up for the afternoon paddle. We first headed west, along the southern coastline of nearby Jacques Island. Arn's mom had been carefully searching for pockets of rich marine life, including the apparently elusive but potentially very beautiful Nudibranch - a type of soft-bodied mollusk that can apparently take on fantastically colorful forms.

No nudibranches were found, so we angled south, around Dempster island, and headed towards Weibe - an isolated island in the open waters partway toward Effingham Island. We spotted several groups of sunning seals along this stretch, although they fled before we could get anywhere close to them.
courtesy JInnes
courtesy JInnes
Kyle's Elbow Moment
Elbow Islet
Ju-Ju at sea
courtesy JInnes
courtesy JInnes
Elbow Islet Environs
Skittish Seals
By the time we got to Weibe, it was about 2:30 pm. The slightly elevated winds had made themselves present, and even though they weren't too bad here in the lee of Wiebe Island, we felt that a crossing of the even more open waters to Effingham was probably not in our best interests (and perhaps would be too long of a paddle, in any case). Instead, we elected to explore some of the coastline around Wiebe. There were a few really nice shallow bits along Wiebe's north coast, deep enough for starfish and anemones to be plentiful but shallow enough that the bright afternoon sun illuminated them beautifully. I was discovering that one of the best parts of sea kayaking is this ability to glide over underwater terrain that you can clearly see.
Beautiful clear shallows
Below-hull view
Seaweed and Starfish
Since Wiebe was as far as we'd be going today, we decided to find a place to land and gather up some firewood. This proved to be tricky, as most of Wiebe's shoreline presented rocky and unappealing landing zones - except for one narrow little strip of beach, at least so far. We kept paddling around the island, making it all the way to the southwestern tip, but nothing better presented itself. The wind was blowing from the southwest, making the water along the southern coastline rather unsettled and choppy, so we elected to return around the north side, and use the marginal little beach we had seen earlier. The tide was rising, however, and the terrain above the sand was rocky, so we would have to make our stop quickly.
Hurried Wood Gathering
Hurried Wood Gathering
A very rapid fifteen minute wood-gathering session on Wiebe and we pushed off, leaving before the rising tide took the last of our sandy launch point.

It was time to return to our Gibraltar Island campsite. Arn pushed for a return via the outside southern side of the island, which would in effect complete a circumnavigation of Gibraltar. However, as mentioned earlier, the afternoon winds had been picking up out of the southwest, and the waters along the south side of Gibraltar would be exposed to their effects. Arn's mom and dad, along with Gosia, elected to split with us and return via the northern side of the island. Myself, Kyle, and Jenn elected to give it a shot with Arn (and Kai).
Cirumnavigating Gibraltar
We made it along the south side of Gibraltar safely, but it was definitely the roughest water I had encountered so far. It was noticeably more chaotic and randomly choppy as we passed the little headlands along Gibraltar's coastline, probably owing to the reflective effects of the rock. It was good practice, I suppose, with situations of less than perfect water.

Showing the tremendous difference an island can make, as soon as we rounded onto the east side of Gibraltar, the waters nearly instantly became much calmer. From here it was an easy paddle around the northeast tip and then back west for a few minutes to our campsite. A fun outing!
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