Day 017, 018 & 019 - Kayaking/Camping the Johnston Straight

Day 017 – Kayaking with North Island Kayaks.

We woke up at 4am, packed up the whole campsite and were on the road by 4:25pm. Packing up camp in the dark was interesting, but not as crazy as setting up camp in the dark and rain like we did with Ash and Annie a few years back.  Two and a half hours on the road and we arrived to the tiny town of Telegraph Cove.

We grabbed a quick bite at the town café and geared up right away. We met who we would be spending the next few days with and introduced ours selves whilst getting our stuff sorted as fast as possible as we seemed a little slower than the others.

We visited MEC before we left Vancouver and bought dry bags, for our camera gear, inflatable pillows, dive boots, waterproof matches, sleeping bags and more. So we were excited and pretty keen to get on the water.

Within the first 2 minutes of paddling, a pod of Porpoise (similar to pacific white sided dolphins) welcomed us to the “Straight” (Johnston Straight, is where we were paddling), thrashing around right by our kayak.  Porpoise look like dolpins, but they are very different.  There are only 6 different species of Porpoise worldwide, and you would think that they are mini killer whales as they look black and white and they are very fast. It was a pretty incredible start to our 3 day long adventure.

 Along the way we spotted River Otters, lots of Porpoise and Bald Eagles flying over.

After a few hours of straight paddling (pun not intended) we worked up an appetite, so we took a break for lunch and bathroom (there was actually a pretty clean cubicle in the middle of nowhere) We got to chat a little more with everyone and get to know each other a little better.  We were travelling with four other people plus our guide.  We met Claude, a well travelled and keen adventurer, German couple Flo and Caroline who are both teachers back in Germany and you can tell are also adventure seeking and very fit bunch; and then there was Helene from Ireland, who is a Pilates instructor.  Then there was our super knowledgeable and kind hearted person Christy, who made the whole trip such a breez   It was so much fun getting to know everyone and finding out about their background and life.

Super full after our awesome lunch we paddled back out and the weather was still amazing, quiet and calm water with a bright sun.; we were very lucky with the weather as its usually overcast in this area.

After getting back into the kayaks and paddling for a few minutes we were lucky to witness a Bald Eagle catch his dinner.  We saw him perched in a tree top above us when he came bursting out from it’s branch, glide a little and then bomb dive straight into the water. (approx 30 metres ahead) I quickly paddled whilst Sandrine prepared the camera.  These are the amazing shots we got:

A Bald Eagle swiming in the ocean with his dinner in his claws..

An incredible sight!

First sight of his catch, we couldn't believe how big the fish was!

Check out the claws on that!!!!

Our guide had told us that eagles sometimes catch fish that are too big to fly off with so they have to swim to shore, with the fish in its claws. She had never seen it but had often seen feeding eagles that were soaking wet. So this was a bit of a special moment for everyone here.

Sandrine in action..

After seeing some amazing sights and approx 10 Km of paddling we were pretty tired and headed into our Base Camp for the night.

The whole in the ground at our camp site

Marc putting the Macro lens at work

We got to see our first Orcas from the beach.  They were so close that we could still hear their blow holes as they came up.  Pretty spectacular!

First sight of the Orcas on the first night..

The tail of the beautiful Orcas

Only after taking these photos did we realise there were a few of them out there.

The local fishing boats that were putting around all night n day long....

Day 018 – Searching for the Orcas

First thing in the morning we could smell something cooking, we opened the tent zips and breakfast had been laid out. Christy (our guide from North Island Kayaks) was serving her own style of breakfast burrito, scrambled egg with onion and coriander (or cilantro as they call it here), with potatoe cubes, salsa and sour cream wrapped in a sundried tomato wrap.   It was so good, Sandrine is planning on getting the recipe from her!  AWESOME!

Morning view from camp

(here are some shots of the morning crabs walking around)

It really hit the spot! As we were eating brekkie we were listening in on the whale watching radio getting hints on where to paddle to as the Orca (killer Whales) pods are super fast and the Johnston straight is huge. Plus Kayaks are slow so the chances of seeing them without an experienced guide with high-tech hydrophones, and local knowledge is pretty slim.

But not to worry, Christy was pretty good and very experienced, she took us straight to the middle of the “straight” and we waited for them to come by us, which wasn’t too long.  The first sight of them was so impressive as it was a group of two males with huge dorsal fins (as tall as 6 ft or 1.8 metres) poking out of the water as they swam by our kayaks.   That’s higher than us standing up!

We learnt so much about the killer whales, it was so interesting.  The Orcas that we got to see on the Johnston Straight are actually “resident Orcas” which are smaller and travel along predictable routes and feed off fish mainly; different from “transient Orcas” which are larger and have wider home range and are more likely to feed on other sea mammals. 

Later that afternoon we were lucky to see a pod of Orcas again.  This time, we were surrounded by up to 6 Orcas, feeding all around us!  It was SPECTACULAR!  They came right next to Helene and Claude’s Kayak and Christy got some amazing footage of the killer whale feeding on the salmon.

We even managed to get shots of the baby orca that we had seen from a far the day before:

One thing we didn’t realise about the Johnston Straight is how busy with fishing boats and massive Ocean Liner going back and forth, it certainly made for great waves to kayak through.

  

some yoga always come in handy after hours of paddling...

warming up on the smooth rocks after lunch

our lunch spot

our view for most of the kayaking trip

Sandrine in action...

Marc in the 7 degree waters of the Johnston Straight

In the evening we would sit by the fire and have amazing food prepared by Christy while trying to avoid massive mosquitoes.   Watching the sunset, we even saw a massive Sea Lion come close to the shore.  The fact that Christy is scared of sea lions told us that these guys were not to be messed with.  They can weigh up to 1000 kg and make some pretty scary sounding grumbles. 

Our awesome group of adventurers - From left to right Marc, Flo, Sandrine, Caroline, Helene, Christy and Claude

chillen out...

Beautiful sunset - so amazing!

At night we witnessed the most spectacular display of stars I have ever seen, along with a phenomenon called Bioluminescence.  The waves on the beach would have all these lights in it, it was amazing. 

Here are some photos of the night sky.

The view at night from our camp

I have never seen so many stars!!

Southern cross was missing from our sky... but we did see the Big Dipper!!!

Our flash light work of art - thanks to everyone!

An example of the Bioluminescence we mentioned before.

Day 019 – My first WILD Black Bear !!!!

Last day of kayaking started off very foggy.  We couldn’t even see the islands in front of our camp.  After a nice breakfast it was time to pack up and load all our stuff back on the kayaks for the trip back to Telegraph Cove.  This time  it was long and much harder to paddle due to the wind, strong currents and really cold temps.  We still had an awesome lunch as usual and played around with a Canadian didgeridoo made from kelp.

Playing the Kelp

 As we got back to our cars we wondered what we would do for diner without Christy providing us with such yummy meals.  Not quite ready to say goodbye to our new friends, we decided to go grab a coffee on the marina after we exchanged contact details to make sure we stay in touch.

Christy's dog 'Mossis'

 Marc got convinced to camp at Telegraph Cove despite the fact that the place is filled with wild black bears.  I was very excited at the prospect of seeing my first bear but the thought of encountering one in the middle of the night in our tent was haunting.

With luck on my side we decided to drive slowly around the area after dinner and what do you know…. There was a bear by the water flipping rocks!!!  He was pretty far at first so a lady suggested we drive around to the edge of the cliff to get a better view and to my delight, this is what I saw!!!

He ended up about 20 metres from the RV's lined up along the campsite. Scary for all the puppies and little kids running around. This guy is pretty used to people.

Sammy