Sea Kayaking along Bowen Island, Vancouver

Drifting by purple sea stars on Bowen Island, Vancouver (Time Capsule)

2/24/2018

Sara landing at the lunch beach on Grafton Bay, Bowen Island, Vancouver

I'm on vacation this week! visiting family and friends in Boston and New York. Flights to the US always seem to be on sale this time of year, and when I saw a flight to Boston for $400, I went for it! As you might have noticed, I've been blogging pretty actively through the winter. I'm not sure where this winter-y motivation is coming from, but a few cold weather adventures and a trip to New Zealand certainly didn't hurt!

With the Trip Planning 101 series almost wrapped up, I'm excited to kick off a new series in which I'll share photos and maps from trips that never made it onto the blog. I'll be focusing on particularly scenic/memorable trips from before The Naked Kayaker began (2010) and from more recent too-busy-to-blog periods. I think this idea stems from my wintery bouts of paddling nostalgia, and not wanting to lose the details I still remember. The posts will drift from the usual format (story, logistics, photos, map); they'll be shorter, informal, and focus on photos, with short snippets of text. Maybe I'll even ask a few of my fellow paddlers to weigh in with their memories! I'm tentatively calling it "Time Capsules," but if you have any wittier suggestions, please share them!

Today I'm excited to finally share some photos from a beautiful trip to Vancouver in October 2016...

Henk and I spent a month traveling around the US visiting friends and family as part of my first trip back after 2 years of living in Europe. We also made a side trip to Seattle and Vancouver. I'd been telling him about my dream of moving to the Pacific Northwest some day, and we were "scouting". We met up with adventure-buddy Sara in Seattle and headed up to Vancouver for 2 days of kayaking, followed by 2 days of hiking in the Enchantments, east of Washington (see photos at the end of this post!).

Sara looking resolute and patriotic on the ferry to Bowen Island

Walking off the ferry at Snug Cove on Bowen Island

Our first day on the water was in Howe Sound, on Bowen Island. We rented kayaks from Bowen Island Sea Kayaking ($95 CAD/day at the time). To reach the rental shop on the island, we caught one of the first morning ferries from Horseshoe Bay to Snug Cove. From the ferry terminal, it was a short walk to the rental shop. In typical fashion, we arrived bright and early, well before the employees arrived. They had warned us that the weather could be unpredictable this time of year -- they would be closing shop in a week. They seemed amused at our enthusiasm for kayaking in the dreary cool weather. But we had come so far, and we were prepared!

The kayak rental shop in Snug Cove, conveniently located near the ferry terminal

The docks at the kayak rental shop, with our three single sea kayaks ready to go.

Sara adjusting her footpegs

Henk adjusting his footpegs, the rental shop in the background

Everyone geared-up and ready to go!

They provided us with top quality gear, including wet suits. They let us leave bags of dry clothes at the shop, since we didn't have a car to store them. Off we went! The water was very calm and we were mostly alone on the water. The island was lush and green, and low hanging clouds were all around us. We noticed many remote vacation homes, with many more under construction. It didn't seem like there were many public places we could stop and stretch our legs (but it's been a while, so I may be forgetting the details). For the rest, I'll let the photos do the talking!