The beach was covered in a thick fog when we woke this morning. We had a chill 18km paddle from Vargas island to Tofino with the crew and we were all excited to get on the water.
For breakfast we had hot apple and cinnamon oats topped with dark chocolate and peanut butter, (I pretty much had a mountain of Peanut butter and not much oats..) Packing up took longer than usual as we were a group of 8 by now. We packed the kayaks and got onto the water just as the fog cleared out to show us a sunny still day.
It was so nice for Ngaio and I to have some company to paddle with, different people to chat with and new dynamics. It felt great to have a relaxing day ahead rather than a gruelling day slogging into a head wind. We stopped along the way to take some photos and and make the most of the perfect conditions.
It was so nice to be able to share a little part of our adventure with friends, and we feel so lucky that they wanted to come and join us! Once we landed in Tofino we got packed up to head to our accommodation for the night, a beautiful rustic house we were all staying in together (on the waters edge with a hot tub). Ryan, the guide who brought our friends out to Vargas island, had offered his kayak companys workshop to fix up any damages to our boats, before we left Tofino. I flipped my boat over and saw there was not one but two holes in my boat! No wonder it had been filling up with water. Each day I had been thinking the water came on from the hatches on top. I’m so relieved we checked, but it means a day off to fix everything. Ryan kindly gave us everything we needed to fix the boats and let us use his kayak racks. The kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze me.
We went to the supermarket to get ingredients to make burgers for dinner, I’ve been dreaming of burgers for so long! We had a huge dinner together with a cheeky glass of red wine. Ngaio got in the hot tub with some of the others and I hung out with Gabe, the camera man from Coextinction.
Tonight we go to bed with stretched bellies and happy hearts, feeling blessed and ready for the next few weeks on the Wild West Coast.
GPS Tracker Tips - If you are following Brando & Ngaio on their TRACKME GPS tracker, here's a tip; Once you follow the link, click on the 'Brando & Ngaio' location icon and select 'path'
(If the Brando and Ngaio Icon does not show up on the map click the menu then participant list then 'show all')
(first image and blog via satellite phone)