The Daytripper

What we Provide:

• All kayaks, paddling and safety gear.
  
• Certified and skilled guides.
• An amazing picnic Lunch
  
• Beverages – We supply a wide range of teas and coffee as well as juices. You are welcome to bring along soda pops or non alcoholic beverages. Please note  we strictly enforce a no alcohol on the water policy.
• All cutlery, plates, bowls
• All Group Kitchen supplies and Group Shelters
• Re Usable Cup per person for drinks
• Paddle Jackets with hoods for rainy cold paddling days, lets you save your rain jacket for in camp warmth and comfort.
• Wilderness Toileting Essentials

• Sun screen (30 UVA rating minimum)
• Sun block for lips, nose, and ears. A good block is highly recommended as UV radiation is intensified from the reflection off the water.
• Hat for protection from sun or rain
• Full water bottle (1L)
• Rain Gear – just in case
• Fleece Jacket or Wool Sweater
• Teva like sandals or old pair of sneakers for paddling. Note you will get your feet wet. Flip Flops are unsuitable.
• Pair of light hikers or sneakers for on shore.
• Change of dry clothing.
• Towel
• Shorts (preferably quick dry material).
• Camera/iphone with protective bag/housing for salt water conditions
• Binoculars for wildlife viewing

DAY #1:
All participants meet at the lawn in front of the Telegraph Cove Marina and RV Park office 8.30 am

Here the guides will assign you to a kayak and help you get your personal gear stowed away. When everyone is ready, we’ll go over some basic paddling fundamentals and a safety orientation and then launch into the pristine waters of Johnstone Strait.

With helpful advice and instruction from your guides, it won’t take long till you feel you’re getting the “hang of it” as we paddle along the gorgeous Vancouver Island coastline. These waters are the territorial range of many resident Orca pods, as well as transient Orca, and it is not uncommon for us to encounter these magnificent mammals within the first few hours of our day and throughout during your time in this spectacular area.

After a couple of hours, we’ll land on one of beaches and you can sit back and enjoy a delicious lunch the guides will prepare. After lunch we’ll launch the kayaks and make our way to our campsite at Kaikash Creek (one of the rubbing beaches in the area where we’ll be staying for our 2 nights). We’ll then unload kayaks, make camp, set up our tents and you are free to explore the beaches, trails, relax or perhaps join one of the guides fishing (great salmon opportunities in these waters).

A sumptuous dinner around a cozy campfire with a canopy of stars above is the evenings entertainment…don’t be too surprised if you hear the whales blowing as they go by during the night.

DAY #2:
With another spectacular day ahead of us, we’ll wake to a hearty breakfast. After everyone has had their fill, we’ll pack for the day (we return to our site in the later afternoon) and launch yet again into the Orca waters of Johnstone Strait…bring along your camera today because you’ll need it!

Our destination today is a paddle further along the coastline down to the Robson Bight Michael Biggs Ecological Reserve (a no entry zone). The area around the reserve is home to several well frequented “rubbing beaches” where the Orca have displayed a unique behavior only witnessed in this area of swimming right along these beaches and rubbing themselves along the small pebbles on the beaches here. We will stop for lunch on one of these beaches and hopefully witness this very behavior.

Some of the other wildlife the area boasts that we may see are bald eagles, deer, bear, porpoise, dolphin, seals and even sometimes the occasional humpback or grey whale that decides to take the inside waters of the Strait as opposed to the outside west coast route around Vancouver Island. In the afternoon, we’ll make our way back to our campsite at Kaikash Creek.

Dependent on weather, we may also venture to an old Whale Research Observation site, high up on one of the bluffs in the area…the hike and the view from above is spectacular. Another delicious meal around a warm campfire to put a great end to another magnificent day!

DAY #4 & #5:
These days we will probe further into the islands and explore up into Blackfish sound (another name given to Orca back in the old whaling days, when they say you could have walked across the sound on the back of the blackfish). This area gives us more exposure to the many resident humpback whales and sea lions that live in the food rich waters, plus gives us different opportunities to experience Orca. Camp sites will vary depending on group desires, weather and wildlife encounters.

DAY #6:
We’ll wake to the aroma’s of coffee, cooked breakfast and the sounds of the lapping waves for our final day in Johnstone Strait. After breakfast, we’ll break camp and load up all the kayaks with our gear…”this stuff should all fit, shouldn’t it?”.

We’ll make our way back from our campsite to our put in at Telegraph Cove, cameras ready and ever prepared for a final encounter or encounters with the Wildlife along the way. We should arrive back at our embarkation point of Telegraph Cove between noon and 1:00pm. We’ll then haul the kayaks back up to the launching area where we’ll unload our gear, exchange emails and bid our goodbyes and adieus.

It’s a 2 hour drive back down to Campbell River and another 2 hours to the ferries in Nanaimo.

Place: For our Nanaimo Kayak Day Trips We launch from the boat launch/beach at the end of Nelson Road in Cedar-by-the-Sea, just minutes south of Nanaimo, at 10:30AM and return to the same at 2:30-3PM.
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