BRANDO YELAVICH EXPLORER

The seals woke us up making their funny snorting noise. I looked out at the ocean, it was still and calm, no wind just a light drizzle coming down. We waited for the current to turn before beginning our day on the water. We had a short day planned, 25kms to Helmcken island in the middle of the channel. We followed the coast of the mainland, stopping at a waterfall to fill our water bottles on the way. The wind was slowly picking up, making our wet clothes feel icy cold. We ma

Ngaio was up at first light even though we could sleep in today. She woke me up to go over the plan for paddling the Seymour narrows, we went over it so many times I started going cross eyed. We had timed it so we would be paddling through at ‘slack current’ we would be in our boats on the water 20 mins prior to that and we would have the ebb tide behind us once the current picked up. Ngaios dad called it PPPPPPP or ‘prior planning prevents piss poor paddling performance’. We

It was another chilly morning with a brisk wind and heavy clouds. This has become our usual, gone are the days of clear skies and beaming sunshine. We had a chill morning waiting for the tide to go from flood to ebb and the current to do the same. Once this happened we would have about a five hour window to paddle from Campbell River to Maude island. It’s only about a 15km paddle but it sets us up for paddling the Seymour narrows tomorrow on slack tide. The water moves so fas

It was another rainy morning on the east coast, we hunkered down in the tent and waited for the showers to pass. We packed up camp and got ready for our paddle to Campbell river. The spot where we camped was 10km from the confluence of where the tides meet. This meant that after paddling for a few hours we would reach the confluence, then the tides and currents would be running in the opposite direction. It’s so cool learning about how the ocean behaves here, the west coast a

It was a stormy night on the island. The wind threatened to rip the fly off the tent, each gust seemed to be stronger than the last. By morning the wind had dropped considerably, it was raining on and off and when Ngaio got up she announced it had snowed on the mountains last night. There was a decent dusting on the mountains on Vancouver island that had not been there the day before. Today we decided to make use of the strong wind and not wait for the tide to turn in our fav

It was a cold damp morning, there was a heavy dew and the sun was hidden behind thick clouds. We put on all our layers, trying to ignore the wet cold thermals, and got up for breakfast. Our kind neighbours at the campground had offered to make breakfast for us. We were treated to hot pancakes with maple syrup, butter and fresh fruit. They were so delicious and the plate was piled high. We chatted to the two Dutch travellers for most of the morning, drinking tea and waiting fo

We were woken by the noisy crashing of waves against the shore. I opened the tent and was surprised to see the tide had come all the way up to our camp and the waves were just outside the door. I checked the time, it was just after high tide, we would be fine to stay where we were. That was a relief, I didn’t really feeling like rushing out of bed. It had rained hard all night so everything was waterlogged. Thankfully the skies were looking pretty clear for the day ahead. We

It rained all night and when we woke up it was still raining. I poked my head outside the tent and could see the ocean was choppy and there were white caps as far as the eye could see. I could hear the wind whipping through the trees on our island, not the best day to be on the water. We snuggled in the tent, waiting for the rain to ease, by mid morning the showers seemed to have passed so we quickly got up and packed up camp. Thankfully we had set up the tarp above the tent

We woke in our awesome little camp spot ready for another day on the water... after cheese toasties for breakfast we packed up camp and headed off. It was a relief to be able to launch without waves crashing into shore, just slide off the beach and into the calm Salish sea. We paddled between the islands, exploring as we went and making the most of the beautiful day. Our main concern in this area was the boating channels and avoiding the tankers and ferries. From about midday

We met Jesse and Austin at the dock at 9am. We wanted to have our kayaks packed and ready to go so we could paddle with the current rather than against it. We headed up to Ocean River sports to learn more about how the currents and tides work and how to figure them out for each spot we would be paddling. We said our final goodbyes to Brian and the team at the shop, it was crazy to think the next time we would be here would be when we are finished and returning the boats! We h

After a weekend in Victoria we are ready to hit the water again (gently without breaking the boats). Ngaio and i have spent the past two days getting the kayaks ready to be on the water again. We’ve had to buy resin and fibreglass patches, I’ve been sanding the boats right back and making sure all the repair jobs will hold for the rest of the trip. Jesse and Austin got their boats sorted today and checked out all their gear. We are ready to head out in the morning and we coul

It felt so strange to wake up in the city to the sound of traffic rather than in the beach to the sound of waves. But we had a pretty good sleep, there’s nothing like a hot shower after 10 days of damp salty sweaty clothes. Once you get into civilisation you realise how grubby you really are. We started our day by getting out our map and plotting some routes for paddling up the east coast. The main things we need to consider are the currents and properties on the coast. When

We were up before the sun today. Our little island was catching the westerly wind and reminding us we had an early start. We had the daunting task of carrying the boats back down the rocks, a task that sounds much easier than it actually is! Heavy fully loaded kayaks are hard to carry over sharp slippery rocks at the best of times... even more so when it’s windy and cold and there is a big sea lion showing a lot of interest at the waters edge. We were paddling by 8am, with th

It was another beautiful sunny day today, the sea was flat and everything felt still. We said goodbye to our new friends, Smu and Betty, and got onto the water. We aimed to paddle to Sooke, to set us up to arrive in Victoria on the 12th here in Canada. It was nice to have no swell, it meant we were able to explore the coast and go into little caves and under waterfalls. It was so nice and sunny I decided to dry my damp paddling clothes out, I took off my spray skirt and sat u

We were both feeling a little on edge about departing this morning. I was very aware that my repairs may not hold and Ngaio had gotten herself worked up about the crash yesterday. She feels so bad about what happened and keeps saying she doesn’t want it to have ruined the whole trip. We just missed slack tide for launching so we had a little bit of swell, tiny compared to what we have launched in before. We carefully carried Ngaios boat to the water, she got in and I launched

We woke up bright and early this morning, we wanted to be on the water earlier so we would have time to set up camp before it was dark in the evening. It’s not much fun pulling into a beach then setting up a tent and beds and making dinner in the dark. Ngaio climbed to the point, to check the weather, while I packed up the beds and got breakfast ready. We were so happy to have a sunny day today. Our spirits were high knowing we would be well into Juan De Fuca Straight by the

Our day started with a challenge today. We had some big waves to paddle through and they were breaking way off shore. Our plan was to seal launch off the beach together, paddle through the smaller breaking waves then wait and time our paddling with the big waves breaking out the back. The launch went well and we went over the first little waves easily, then we hit the bigger waves, the first one was rolling in when we paddled through it and it wiped my drink bottle out from u

It was another rainy morning on the west coast of Vancouver Island. We set off into the drizzle with another 30km day ahead of us. It was much choppier than I expected, our weather had told us light winds and 1.5m swell. As we paddled on the conditions were becoming worse, this unnerved me, how much worse was it going to get? Ngaio had a wave crash over her boat and pull everything out from the bungees, including our marine radio and our only phone! (She managed to retrieve t

Drip drip drip ... We woke to the unpleasant sensation of water dripping on our faces. It had been steadily raining all night and the water found its way into our tent. We had puddles in every corner of the tent! I got up and tied the fly out tighter while Ngaio busied herself drying out the inside of the tent and setting up a few water catching containers. So much for a snuggly birthday morning! Once the tent was sorted and we had dried the inside, we were back in bed to Kee

It was a beautiful morning in Tofino, the sun was shining and there was a cool autumn chill to the air. We made our way down to the dock to repack our kayaks and head off. We had only had five days off but it took a while to get comfy in the boats again. Ngaio kept saying she didn’t fit in her boat and she was swearing that her legs had gotten longer. We paddled out of the harbour and onto the coast, passing little beaches tucked away in the rocks. We passed some of the bigge