Kayaking on the Sunshine Coast
Today was B.C. Day so Tucker, Janetta, Stephanie and I took advantage of the long weekend to organize a camping trip on the Sunshine Coast.
We rose pretty early on Saturday, 5 a.m., so Tucker and I could pick up the girls and leave Vancouver for the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal by 6. We were right on schedule and arrived at the terminal at 6:30. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones who decided to skip town this weekend and the lineup was already quite long. We arrived too late for the 7:20 sailing, our original plan, and had to wait for the next ferry at 9:30. So we walked to Horseshoe Bay to have a greasy breakfast, the perfect way to start a long weekend camping trip.
After a 40 minute ferry ride, we arrived to Langdale and drove to our next destination, the ferry terminal at Earl's Cove. Yes, two ferries, and the Sunshine Coast is not on Vancouver Island, it's part of mainland!! But the road up the coast is cut by several long inlets, hence the need for a couple of ferry rides. This time, we made our ferry at 12:50, sailed for 50 minutes to Saltery Bay, and finally made it to our campsite around 4 (after some grocery shopping in Powell River). The Dinner Rock recreational site is about 15 km South of Lund, right on the ocean. It was a beautiful campsite, if you made it there early enough, you could unzip the tent door and look at the ocean. We had to set up tents in one of the remaining sites, a bit more in the forest but just as nice. We set up camp, and had some nice marinated chicken and salad for dinner.
Sunday was another beautiful day (it's been really sunny for the past few weeks). Tucker had noticed some signs on the road to the campsite for kayak rentals. We decided to investigate this option and drove to Lund. We found the kayak rental place and discovered they had only two double kayaks left to rent for the day. At $45 / kayak for the entire day, how could we say no? We returned to the campsite, made some lunch, packed the bathing suits and sunscreen, and hit the water around 1. Our plan was to paddle across the channel to one of the islands. We could see its sandy beach and thought it would be a great spot to have lunch and relax.
We soon discovered that kayaking to the island was not going to be possible. After 30 minutes, we were all hungry, it was really sunny and hot, and the boat traffic was so heavy it made the crossing a bit treacherous. Instead, we paddled close to the shoreline and picked the first spot where we could dock the kayaks to stop for lunch. Not the best decision, the beach was all rocks (and slippery ones under water) and when we made it to a couple of trunks of driftwood to sit down and eat, we were harassed by bees who took a keen interest in our sandwitches.
We continued our journey along the coast, kayaked for about three additional hours, saw seals (or otters, hard to say from a distance), jelly fish, sea birds, and came back to the launch deck without too many sunburns. I think everyone was happy to leave the boats around 6, our shoulders and arms were hating us after all this exercise. We then headed to some public showers in the marina to wash off all the salt (and take advantage of the showers, since our campsite had none), then drove back to the campsite and made the mandatory spaghetti dinner. We had a few beers on the beach while the Sun was coming down, quite the view and the colors in the sky. We didn't last very long Sunday night, we were quite drained (but happy) after our adventure.
Monday was Saturday all over again, but the other way around. This time, surprisingly, we didn't have to wait for sailings and made it home in 7 hours instead of 9. It made a big difference. Tucker took some pictures and should have them developed by tomorrow. I'll try to post a couple in a next blog!
We rose pretty early on Saturday, 5 a.m., so Tucker and I could pick up the girls and leave Vancouver for the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal by 6. We were right on schedule and arrived at the terminal at 6:30. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones who decided to skip town this weekend and the lineup was already quite long. We arrived too late for the 7:20 sailing, our original plan, and had to wait for the next ferry at 9:30. So we walked to Horseshoe Bay to have a greasy breakfast, the perfect way to start a long weekend camping trip.
After a 40 minute ferry ride, we arrived to Langdale and drove to our next destination, the ferry terminal at Earl's Cove. Yes, two ferries, and the Sunshine Coast is not on Vancouver Island, it's part of mainland!! But the road up the coast is cut by several long inlets, hence the need for a couple of ferry rides. This time, we made our ferry at 12:50, sailed for 50 minutes to Saltery Bay, and finally made it to our campsite around 4 (after some grocery shopping in Powell River). The Dinner Rock recreational site is about 15 km South of Lund, right on the ocean. It was a beautiful campsite, if you made it there early enough, you could unzip the tent door and look at the ocean. We had to set up tents in one of the remaining sites, a bit more in the forest but just as nice. We set up camp, and had some nice marinated chicken and salad for dinner.
Sunday was another beautiful day (it's been really sunny for the past few weeks). Tucker had noticed some signs on the road to the campsite for kayak rentals. We decided to investigate this option and drove to Lund. We found the kayak rental place and discovered they had only two double kayaks left to rent for the day. At $45 / kayak for the entire day, how could we say no? We returned to the campsite, made some lunch, packed the bathing suits and sunscreen, and hit the water around 1. Our plan was to paddle across the channel to one of the islands. We could see its sandy beach and thought it would be a great spot to have lunch and relax.
We soon discovered that kayaking to the island was not going to be possible. After 30 minutes, we were all hungry, it was really sunny and hot, and the boat traffic was so heavy it made the crossing a bit treacherous. Instead, we paddled close to the shoreline and picked the first spot where we could dock the kayaks to stop for lunch. Not the best decision, the beach was all rocks (and slippery ones under water) and when we made it to a couple of trunks of driftwood to sit down and eat, we were harassed by bees who took a keen interest in our sandwitches.
We continued our journey along the coast, kayaked for about three additional hours, saw seals (or otters, hard to say from a distance), jelly fish, sea birds, and came back to the launch deck without too many sunburns. I think everyone was happy to leave the boats around 6, our shoulders and arms were hating us after all this exercise. We then headed to some public showers in the marina to wash off all the salt (and take advantage of the showers, since our campsite had none), then drove back to the campsite and made the mandatory spaghetti dinner. We had a few beers on the beach while the Sun was coming down, quite the view and the colors in the sky. We didn't last very long Sunday night, we were quite drained (but happy) after our adventure.
Monday was Saturday all over again, but the other way around. This time, surprisingly, we didn't have to wait for sailings and made it home in 7 hours instead of 9. It made a big difference. Tucker took some pictures and should have them developed by tomorrow. I'll try to post a couple in a next blog!
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