Mothership Meanderings: Orca Pass Holiday

October-November 2001

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Alan Wilson

..... Boundary of Orca Pass

This year we didn't travel north to the Broughton Archipelago for our summer holiday as we have done the past three summers. Having just moved to a new home, we wanted to spend time in the garden, so our usual month-long expedition was out of the question.

We ended up spending ten days on the water in August, cruising in our little kayak-laden mothership around the Gulf Islands. What a pleasant rediscovery it was of the many beauties to be found close to home.

In that time we were able to visit some favourite spots and a couple of new places. Laurie also had the chance to take some photos for her work on the 'Orca Pass' transboundary initiative (see map at right, or go to Orca Pass Initiative in this issue for further details).

'Orca Pass' (so-named because orca whales are resident in these waters) is a cooperative project of some twenty Canadian and US non-profit organizations. It was inspired by the special ecological values of the area and the need to preserve them.

We toured much of the Orca Pass area on the Canadian side this year and hope to visit the San Juans in the near future. The island groups are really one contiguous chain of islands in a shared inland sea-home to the Coast Salish peoples for 10,000 years-commonly called the Salish Sea.

Our first stop was James Bay on Prevost Island, where we spent two nights recovering from the inevitable crush of last minute work before leaving for holiday.

Located near Saltspring, James Bay was acquired by the government a few years ago as part of a future national park. Facing northwest, it's a good spot in a south easterly, and a big bay with room for a couple of dozen boats (although we only saw four at anchor). There's also a spacious camping area for paddlers in the long grass of an abandoned apple orchard and great shore walks in the 90 acre park.

Hawkins Islet and its large midden. Photo by Alan Wilson

Our first day there, we launched our kayaks and paddled out around the tip of Prevost, making our way to Hawkins Islet. Hawkins is a recreation reserve with a pocket shell beach on a picturesque setting, situated directly across from Active Pass, the main route into Georgia Strait. The only downside was finding an active shellfish farm anchored in the shallows off Hawkins' neighbouring islet. The whole paddle was 3-4 miles in total, during which we saw eagles, cormorants, and seals.

Next we headed south to Sidney Spit, on Sidney Island, an amazingly long sand spit serving as a natural breakwater behind which BC Parks has situated numerous mooring buoys. But watch the shallow depths and pick your tides if your boat draws much water. Paddlers, of course, have none of these worries and will find lots of room to camp in a large, level, grassy area by the old dock, part way into the lagoon.

On a previous trip Laurie and I had walked out to the end of the spit, and back around the lagoon, but this time we paddled into the lagoon at high tide, finding its semi-enclosed, shallow waters still and peaceful, its fine sandy shores fringed with reeds, and populated by great blue herons and kingfishers.

At the far end of the lagoon we landed on a low rocky islet covered with gnarled Garry oaks, twisting, red-bodied arbutus, and open grassy spaces.

We spent a couple of nights at the Spit before crossing to the town of Sidney on southern Vancouver Island. We tied up at Port Sidney Marina which has lots of dock space, including customs for US boaters arriving in Canada, plus showers for us!

Boat Passage at Winter Cove. Photo by Alan Wilson

While at Port Sidney, we visited the Marine Ecology Station run by our friend and former Georgia Strait Alliance board member, Dr. Bill Austin, who demonstrated the Station's remote controlled submersible vehicle, Seymour. The Station is well worth a visit. (Marine Ecology Station: 250-655-1555. www.mareco.org)

Despite bleak weather and foreboding forecasts, we set off next for Chatham Island which lies in a group with Discovery Island, just off Oak Bay. Although there is limited anchorage and the islands are plagued with winds and turbulent currents, we dropped anchor and spent a night here. The environment reminded me of the Queen Charlottes for its wild beauty, even though it's situated close to Victoria. We had a delightful private paddle in the intricate shallow waterways, encountering numerous seals, including a baby flopping about in the kelp and bleating for its mom.

Chatham is First Nations territory, but nearby Discovery Island Marine Park has excellent camping for paddlers.

Low tides are lush at Cabbage Island. Photo by Laurie MacBride

The final highlight of our trip was our favourite one: Cabbage Island. A long-time Marine Park, Cabbage lies just off Saturna Island, cradled in the arms of Tumbo Island.We left our boat anchored at Winter Cove on Saturna and paddled to Cabbage, carefully timing the current in Boat Passage, a narrow channel into Georgia Strait which can run up to 7 knots. It was breathlessly calm as we paddled the 4.5 miles there, past reefs covered in harbour seals, and through a sea boiling with thousands of little fish we couldn't identify.

Cabbage has fine sand, and warm waters on a hot day, which makes it popular. Strangely, although all the mooring buoys were in use by boaters, there wasn't a single kayak camper despite several nice campsites.

A vast intertidal plain stretches between Cabbage and Tumbo Islands and we practiced our marine life identification as we drifted in the shallows, staring down at all manner of shellfish and marine creatures... including my first sighting of a giant moonsnail on the move, riding along on its enormous foot, looking for all the world like an immense garden snail, complete with horns outstretched. It's good to know that citizens on both sides of the border are working hard to protect life in Orca Pass, and that if we all work together, it will remain very much as it is today for future generations to come.