Broken Group Islands: First Multi-day Kayaking Trip

A four day trip to the Broken Group Islands on Vancouver Island.

Some highlights:

– We were a group of 10 on a trip organized by Lisa, mostly since her parents were visiting. We met the evening before at a campground in the fishing camp at China Creek. This was the start of the huge Sockeye Salmon run. Maya and I bought four fresh and cheap fish for the group, which we then cooked on our new portable BBQ.

– The next day we caught the Lady Rose ferry up the Alberni Inlet, to Sechart Lodge. It took us a surprising amount of time to load up the kayaks.

– Navigation: on first sight, the Broken Group Islands looked huge to us. We headed south, and kept going for an hour or two, finally stopping since we didn’t understand where we were on the map. It turned out we had crossed the whole group without noticing, and were at the southernmost island. After this we learned to slow down, explore the many small islands, arches, coves and beaches.

– Wildlife: we saw many seals, sea lions, whales and bald eagles. Also orange and purple starfish, anemone, and phosphorescent plankton.

We also saw some weird spikey animals

– Food: a recurring theme on this trip. We enjoyed such delicacies as chocolate fondue, falafel, a tub full of blueberries and our catch of mussels (some as large as a chicken breast) and oysters. I chose a large oyster which was perhaps a mistake. It felt like I had a large gooey snail in my mouth, which was not far from the truth.

Oyster delight (Hans, Lisa’s dad)

Chocolate fondue

– August is often referred to as Foggust on the west coast of Vancouver Island. For the first part of the trip we didn’t see the sun at all, but this only made us appreciate it more when it did arrive.

– Enjoying a swim, once the sun had come out. I paid for this run into the water with a hole in my foot which took a few weeks to heal.

– Fire: we always had dinner by the fire, but often even breakfast and lunch involved a fire. This was largely due to the enthusiasm of the Czechs, dubbed the “Fire makers”.

Dessert by the fire, halva with melted chocolate and blueberries, served in sea shells (thanks Klara!)