Lund Day 5-6: Pootling Around

Posted on July 27, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

We’ve just got back from yet another night under canvas. (In fact I’m at that stage of a hangover where all I want to do is eat and eat and eat, and I’m trying to resist). As fun as the weekend was, I don’t really count it as a proper camping trip. We pitched out tent next to our friends’ 5th wheel, which they park at Cultus Lake (barely an hour out of Vancouver) for 5 months a year. The campsite is great for kids, and our friends’ 6 year old son loves it, but I don’t really like being crammed in next to RVs and waking up to the sound of trucks on gravel not 3 feet away from my head.

Proper camping involves waking up somewhere like the Copeland Islands to the sound of waves lapping on the shore, birds singing, and arbutus leaves rustling in the breeze. Getting up and making breakfast over a propane stove

Breakfast: egg beaters scrambled with bacon, mushrooms and cheese, orange juice, tea.

and chatting to the few fellow campers and boaters who wander by. Playing some cards and eventually deciding to take the kayak out to try and catch some lunch.

Thankyou, BC Parks, for clearing the big rocks away to make this makeshift boat launch. It made our lives so much easier.

Pootling slowly around the entire marine park and the surrounding waters, dropping the crab trap occasionally with no success whatsoever. Playing with our jigging pole, and – in my first ever serious attempt at fishing – catching a fish on my second cast! I don’t know who was more surprised, me or the fish. (Actually it was probably Mr E Man, who confessed later that he thought I’d snagged some kelp in one of my frequent displays of clumsiness). Mr E Man caught one too, and dealt with all the cleaning and gutting, although I’ve promised to let him teach me this essential Canadian skill at some point.

Lunch: extremely fresh fish sauteed with garlic, lemon juice and white wine

A proper day of camping should take place in a pristine natural environment full of wildlife (we saw a deer right by our campsite) that’s ripe for exploring

Video taken from a small hill on our island. The film cuts out as the camera faces our campsite.

and should end with a delicious one-pot dinner

Dinner: cheese and asparagus ravioli with garlicky bacon and a jar of spinach/tomato sauce, bottle of local Merlot.

and a snuggle with your sweetie.

The next and final day dawned to the sight of two campers frantically trying to get packed and ready in time for the high tide. We were a little late, but luckily didn’t have to carry the boat too far. We paddled back to Lund by the fastest route, having illustrated John Steinbeck’s point that while some journeys keep on going long after you reach home, others end while you’re still on the road*. In our case, thoughts of home inspired us to dip and pull and unpack and hop in the car without much in the way of pauses or reflection. But the memories of Savary and the Copelands will stay with us until the next long trip.

For the record, here are the things I miss the most when I’m camping, in order:

  • The kitties
  • The shower
  • The king size bed
  • My electric toothbrush

And here are the things I miss the most about camping when I come home:

  • The ocean
  • Campfires
  • Scheduling our actions to the natural rhythms of tides and sunrises, rather than clocks
  • Getting away with being scruffy and talking to strangers
  • The eagles

*From Travels with Charley, one of my all-time favourite books.

Posted in camping, drunkenness, food glorious food, kayaking, nature, photos, videos | 3 Comments

Lund Day 4: The Copeland Islands

Posted on July 26, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

You know how I said I’m not a big fan of open water crossings? Well, Day 4 contained a doozy. We haven’t measured our journey properly yet, but we’re pretty sure it was our longest paddling day ever (at least in terms of distance – we’ve spent more hours on the water before but didn’t get as far, thanks to brutal currents and winds). Luckily the crossing was calm again, and we got to spend the afternoon in a much more interesting and pleasant kayaking environment.

Breakfast: oatmeal bars, apples, apple juice.

We timed our launch quite well, meaning that we got up early and had everything packed and ready to go just after the high tide. We decided to break the journey to the Copeland Islands by stopping in Lund for lunch and to pick up more beer essential provisions. There was hardly any wind, and the sea still looked nice and calm, so we decided to take the long way around Savary.

I do like to circumnavigate things, it makes me feel more adventurous.

The rest of the South side of the island was just as lovely as the parts we’d already seen – sandy beaches, trees, eagles, envy-inducing holiday homes. We even found the Gatorade bottle and crab trap that had been MIA since the day before – right where we’d left it, which was very confusing. How the hell did we miss it the day before when it was so visible this time?! It was a higher tide than when we’d lost it, so it wasn’t just a matter of the float being dragged under and then reappearing on the surface as the water level dropped. This conundrum is still bothering me!

Anyway. As we rounded the island’s Western tip we started to follow the original plan of hugging the coast, but then realised that the group of houses on the horizon were actually Lund. Mr E Man was getting hungry (breakfast did not meet his usual standards), and asked me if I’d mind if we just went for it. I eventually agreed, and we started a super-fast paddle directly towards the harbour.

The crossing wasn’t bad, as these things go, but my awesome power stroke (using my core muscles to pull myself up to the paddle, rather than pulling the paddle back towards myself using my arm and shoulder muscles) aggravated my recurring sacro–iliac joint problem. Ouch. It’s still a bit sore now actually. I started whining about it when we were about two thirds of the way there, and called more rest stops than usual. It was lucky for us that the conditions were so great, I wouldn’t fancy stopping that often in heavy rollers! I was exhausted by the time we reached Lund, having resorted to arm and shoulder work rather than using my core muscles, and was more than ready for a nice cuppa tea and some restaurant food.

Lunch (at the Lund hotel): halibut and shrimp burger with fries (I earned them), tea, beer (hey, I was on holiday).

By the time we’d finished eating and restocked the beer cooler front hatch, I was feeling much better and raring to go. I’d even managed to make my sacro–iliac joint click a few times, which always seems to help but is probably terribly bad for me. We headed North this time, into the Copeland Islands Marine Provincial Park.

Hooray for hugging the coast! And more circumnavigation! And for scanners that suddenly stop recognising colour for no apparent reason!

I can’t possibly recommend this destination highly enough. It was just amazing, and is now my favourite kayaking location (for the record it replaced the Northern Gulf Islands, between Vancouver Island and the mainland). Some of the park’s islands have steep rocky sides that towered over our heads, covered in starfish and plants; others have shallow gravelly beaches, studded with oyster shells. There were arbutus trees everywhere – I have included the embarrassing fan girl tag to come out of the closet about my adoration of these trees and the silky-smooth red wood that’s revealed by their signature peeling bark. I have an overwhelming urge to touch these triumphs of evolution every time I see one.

Arbutus porn. I challenge you not to stroke one of these beauties if you see one.

We toured basically the entire park looking for a good campsite, and eventually found one with a suitable beach that was not too crowded. It even had an outhouse! This feature made me very very happy, which proves that I need to toughen up if I want to call myself a wilderness camper.

Home sweet home!

Again the water was too cold for a long swim, but we gave it our best shot. By high tide the water reached the log at the bottom of the photo above, so we decided not to have a campfire due to the risk of embers flying up into the overhanging arbutus trees. A forestry official came around the next day to say that although a campfire ban wasn’t in place just yet, it was imminent (it actually started later that week), so could we please not have a fire, or keep it small if we did have to have one? When we told him about our decision the night before he replied that he was heading off to find people who weren’t as thoughtful as us!

Dinner: Thai red curry, beer, and a local Gewurtzraminer that was quite pleasant but a bit too sweet. A massive hit. I fried up some onion, mushrooms and red pepper, stirred in a packet of red curry sauce, added a can of coconut milk, waited until it was hot and then tipped in two packets of instant noodles, topped it up with a little water, and cooked it all up together until the noodles were soft and the sauce had thickened. Camp cooking at its best!

We went to bed earlier than on Savary Island, due to the lack of a fire and moonlight as much as the tiredness. And man was I tired! I usually wake up at least two or three times during the night when camping, but this time I slept like a log. Mr E Man’s loud snoring is very comforting in these situations as I’m pretty sure it scares the bears away. And I am TERRIFIED of bears, despite Mr E Mans insistence that there wouldn’t be any on such a small island. (Dude, they can SWIM! Although I’m sure they’re unlikely to bother given the temperature of the water and long odds of getting enough to eat). I have an amusing bear / camping story that I will tell in some other future post…

Posted in camping, drunkenness, embarrassing fan girl, food glorious food, kayaking, nature, photos | 5 Comments

Lund Day 3: Camp Life

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

We loved our Savary Island campsite and decided to just hang out and enjoy it for a full day. Here’s a little spinarama video – the sand fleas were indeed jumping all over the place, but only in one localised spot. And at least there were no mosquitoes, unlike at our second site.

The water was pretty damn cold, so our planned swim turned into more of a brief cleansing splash. Luckily the sun shone all day so we dried off pretty quickly. We made ourselves a hearty brunch that we shared with our neighbour, John,

Brunch: egg beaters scrambled with onions and cheese, olive focaccia bread, apple juice, tea.

and had a nice walk along the beach, checking out the neighbours as we went:

Jellyfish FAIL!

Mmmmm, pretty. We saw literally thousands of purple and orange starfish, stranded on the beach or above our heads on steep rock walls, waiting for the high tide.

There were hundreds of baby crabs in the shallows, so we decided to try our luck catching their bigger relatives in the rented trap. We paddled out towards some submerged rocks and dropped the tuna-baited trap into the water, with an empty Gatorade bottle attached to act as a floating marker. We paddled off and played with the rod and reel for a bit, with absolutely no success at all. We pulled the crab trap up after a while, found it to be empty, and set off paddling aimlessly again.

At this point we got distracted by the loud sound of *something* repeatedly jumping out of the water and slapping itself back down. We identified the source of the sound and splashing, and headed towards it, but we couldn’t get close as it kept moving away from us. We thought at first that it might be a dolphin, but were later told that it was probably a sea lion stunning its fishy lunch. Whatever it was, by the time we got back to the rock where we’d dropped the trap, the Gatorade bottle was completely gone. Seriously. We looked for it for ages, before deciding it could have been dismantled by one of the nearby seals trying to get at the tuna.

After a couple of games of crib, it was time for dinner and a fire.

Dinner: same as the night before, we could only get a big pack of smokies and damn they were tasty! Plus a nice tetrapak of French cabernet merlot.

Fires are almost my favourite thing about camping. Even our most miserable trip (in the Sechelt Inlet), when I dropped the kayak on my foot, got stung by a bee, burned myself with hot cooking oil and it rained from the time we arrived at the campsite until we got back to the rental place the next morning, was made tolerable by the time spent snuggling with Mr E Man around the campfire that kept us warm all evening. This beach fire brought John back for a beer and a smoke, and also attracted some random Brooklyn guys staying at a nearby cabin, who gave us marshmallows and fetched fresh wood in exchange for sharing our fire.

Dig a pit in the sand, add newspaper, cardboard food wrappings and driftwood, and unleash your inner pyromaniac.

The night’s entertainment was provided by a full orange moon rising over the town of Powell River. Seriously, who needs TV?!


Moon rise through the driftwood shelter. Also my new screensaver.

Posted in camping, drunkenness, food glorious food, kayaking, nature, photos, videos | 4 Comments

Lund Day 1-2: Savary Island

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

While there are some amazing kayak destinations close to Vancouver, this five day trip was our longest to date and we decided to go a little further afield. The trip up to Rockfish Kayaks in Lund involves a drive, a ferry, another drive, another ferry, and a final drive. Mr E Man usually hates to do any driving straight after his long and tiring day, but this time he agreed that we should leave after work on the Wednesday night. Luckily his Mum lives about halfway between Vancouver and Lund, so we got the familiar first ferry and some of the driving out of the way by staying with her on the first night.

The first of several amateur map doodles I’m going to subject you to.

Thursday’s drive felt like the real start of the adventure. The Sunshine Coast is gorgeous, but familiarity breeds complacence and it was great to continue North from Half Moon Bay for only my second time. We arrived at Earl’s Cove just in time for the 9:30 ferry, which took us through some lovely scenery as we ate our breakfast. Boats are my all-time favourite mode of transport, although BC Ferries don’t contain the bars that are de rigeur on British cross-channel ferries, so we spent most of the 50 minute crossing out on deck and enjoying the ride.

A most civilised way to travel. This photo was actually taken (on my iPhone!) on the return journey when all my muscles hurt, which explains why I didn’t get up from my shady seat on top of the lifejacket container to take a better photo that didn’t include a lifeboat.

We stopped in Powell River for groceries, and on a whim picked up a three day fishing licence and rented a fishing rod and crab trap. Upon arriving in Lund we bought the final essentials: cold beer, and plenty of ice. The girl in the rental place wasn’t exactly the passionate kayaker and enthusiastic source of destination information that we usually encounter – in fact she gave the distinct impression of being a local who’d taken any old summer job going. Having said that she had our boat and gear ready and waiting, helped us get it down to the water, attached a hose to a tap so we could fill our water containers, and was able to give us a vague recommendation that “most people prefer the South side” when we asked about good campsites on Savary Island.

We loaded up our lovely double kayak while it half-floated and half-perched on a boat ramp: clothes, pots and pans, cooking and eating utensils, stove and gas cannisters in the rear hatch; tent, sleeping bags and air mattress in the centre; food, beer, wine and ice in the front; pumps, charts, spare paddles, sun screen and water bottles strapped on top; and big heavy water containers between our legs in each cockpit. (We took way too much water, but it’s better to have too much than not enough. Ditto toilet paper – no camping trip was ever ruined by having too much of it).

And then we were off!

The first little stretch was the usual launch site obstacle course of boats and their wakes. This time we remembered to look backwards to see what the harbour would look like when we returned – failure to take this simple precaution has caused navigational confusion in the past. You can, if you choose, kayak in literally a foot of water and hug the shore for safety, crossing only at the narrowest point, but the sea was calm and we decided to head more or less straight for the Eastern tip of the island.

A more detailed amateurish map doodle

I don’t usually like open water crossings too much, but this one was nice – great weather, calm water, not too long, and full of the joy of being back in a fully loaded kayak after far too long on land. We saw our first seal – a sleek doglike head in the water off to our left – after about ten minutes, and it was quickly joined by some friends. In fact at one point there were more and more heads popping up like whack-a-moles around the boat until there were at least a dozen surrounding us, probably more. There must be some good fishing in that channel!

We rejected the first couple of beaches on the South side of the island as too crowded with people, cabins, and tents. The third beach (Duck Bay) was devoid of permanent structures and completely deserted, so we dodged the many underwater rocks to pull up close to a driftwood shelter that someone had made, complete with a sign declaring “Cutler House – Visitors Welcome”. One lone kayaker turned up a few hours later and camped about 200 metres away – he turned out to be a pretty nice guy who joined us for drinks around our campfire. But that’s a post for another day!

Dinner: gourmet smokies with fried onions, cheese, mustard and ketchup. And beer. Chocolate macaroons for dessert.

It is very important to know the time and level of the high and low tides, for optimal tent placement and launch times. Why carry the boat all the way down to the low tide when you can wait for the water to come up to you?! Unfortunately we forgot to pick up a tide table on this trip and had to improvise with a series of sticks and a cell phone clock display… oops!
Posted in camping, drunkenness, food glorious food, kayaking, nature, photos | 10 Comments

I was DEEPLY offended by PZ Myers today

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

His actions were truly reprehensible.

Dude, recycle that paper! And do you not have a compost bin for the banana skin and coffee grounds? Show some fucking respect!
Posted in atheism, environment, silliness | 4 Comments

Back in the paddle again

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

The specifics of my most recent trip are coming up next, but before I get into the maps and photos and meal plans I wanted to write a long-overdue generalised post: Why I Love Ocean Kayaking.

The last two summers have been full of house buying and wedding planning and debt, and have kept me on terra firma and away from the world of paddles and sprayskirts. So the first few paddle strokes on Thursday were like a rebirth, a reminder of why I’m so happy in a kayak and why a salty fibreglass cockpit offers the best view of BC’s spectacular coast.

I’ve never experienced anything else remotely like it. At approximately a walking pace, there’s enough time and peace to take everything in. The sights, smells, sounds and tastes of the ocean and beach and mountains. The rhythmic splash of paddles hitting the water. The swells and rolls and occasional smacking great waves. The wildlife – seagulls and eagles and seals, oh my! I’ve never been lucky enough to see a whale from a kayak, but I’ve seen porpoises in Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy, and seals literally everywhere. They come close, within a few metres, and regard kayakers with curiosity but no aggression. I could never get that close to the equivalent land predator (a wolf?) and feel so safe. The boats are incredibly stable and, with the exception of a couple of idiotic forays into rapids and strong headwinds (we learned a lot about what not to do in a kayak on that particular trip), feel as safe as a favourite chair. Especially if you’re in a double kayak, and especially if it’s fully laden with camping gear.

And that’s the other thing. Kayaking opens up campsites that can’t be accessed from land, but allows you to live a life of comparative luxury. My first ever camping trips as a teenager involved hiking around the Yorkshire Dales carrying all our gear, so we ate rehydrated packets of pasta and soup. On my first kayak trip we ate baked chicken, chili, and pasta salad made with fresh veggies, drank beer and wine, then followed up with coffee, French toast, bacon, fresh blueberries and maple syrup for breakfast. These days we always book a double kayak with a central hatch between the two paddlers, and we fill it with a large tent that hikers would die for, an air mattress, great food, plenty of booze, even ice! There’s nothing like a nice glass of BC Merlot or a cold gin and tonic (with lime, of course) on a deserted beach.

You don’t even have to go all that far, or go anywhere near a tent; I’ve seen seals, otters, eagles, leaping salmon, smaller flying fish (one landed in my sprayskirt once) and all kinds of bird life, all without leaving Vancouver harbour. I’ve paddled in the eerie calm of snow and of fog, all within a few hundred metres of roads and houses and shops and city parks. I try to persuade all our out-of-town visitors into a kayak, even if it’s just for two hours along Jericho Beach, and everyone who’s tried it has loved seeing the city from such a unique perspective. We try to get that same perspective on our own trips; the season was already over when we went to Portugal, but our day paddle in Nova Scotia was a resounding success, and also the source of my Blogger / Nature Network / Facebook profile picture – I really like that photo!

There is a downside, of course: sore muscles (mostly the stomach and back if you’re doing it right, and mostly the arms and shoulders if you’re doing it wrong), a wet bum, and sand all over your house for the entire season. How does it keep on appearing in the bath, weeks after the last excursion? It’s a mystery I can only hope to solve by planning more trips. Two a year for the next thirty years should just about do it.

Posted in camping, drunkenness, food glorious food, kayaking, nature, personal, Vancouver | 8 Comments

Catching up

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

How is it possible to get so many emails in so few days?

Ah well, until I get home, organise all the camping gear, find my camera, recharge its batteries and upload some kayaking photos, here’s a gem from the PA system on yesterday’s second ferry ride:

“Attention all passengers, we have a lost child in the Chief Steward’s office. We are looking for a woman who goes by the name of, erm, Mummy. I repeat, will Mummy please come to the Chief Steward’s office”.

Posted in personal | 4 Comments

To the bat links!

Posted on July 16, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Busy busy busy. This is what happens when you try to fit a full week’s worth of work into three days and you’ve promised to write posts for two other blogs.

So here’s a nice lazy post before I head off kayaking for the next few days.

  • The best story the BBC has ever run: Teenager finds bat asleep in bra. My favourite quote is “it looked quite cosy and comfortable in there so it was quite rude of me to take it out.”
  • Also from the Beeb: if you would like to repeat this feat of wildlife rehoming by buying a bigger bra with lots of bat cave space, beware the new tax at Marks and Spencers.
  • Staying with bats: this blog post from Uphilldowndale is one of the best photo essays I’ve seen in a long time.

Enjoy! See you next week!

Posted in blog roll | 6 Comments

Puppy Power

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Featuring various cuddly camping canines

I love my cats. I do. They’re cute and pretty and goofy and fun. But they’re a compromise. You see, I wanted a dog.

‘Twas ever thus. When I was a kid I was desperate for a dog, but my Dad hates the whole species with a passion. So, as a compromise, we got a cat. She was a very cute kitty, but not a good feline ambassador as she was a little quick to use her claws on anything that moved. Good little hunter though. RIP.

Maggie Scoops: lab/boxer cross, back rub addict, canine garbage disposal machine, and the only exception to my Dad’s “I hate dogs” rule.

I’ve never grown out of the wish for a puppy. I would love to have a dog to go camping with, to throw a ball for, to take for walks. Dogs are also great social ice breakers – thanks to the three dogs with us on our last camping trip, we made some new friends from a nearby campsite who are now invited to our friend’s annual Halloween party. So, now that I’m a grown up with a house and small yard, why didn’t I get myself a dog?

Eden: pedigree giant Schnauzer, wants to be a lap dog.

Well, it’s a lifestyle thing. We both work long hours, and I wouldn’t feel right leaving a dog by itself all day. They’re pack animals, so we would have had to either get two dogs, sign up for doggy daycare*, or resign ourselves to the house getting totally trashed. Plus it’s a lot of work – training, walking, finding dogsitters for vacations. The cats, on the other hand, are more than happy to have the house to themselves during the day, and require only a short daily visit from a friend when we’re away. So Google and Saba represent another compromise: this time, with myself.

Fidel: undetermined heritage, huge heart, tiny brain.

I still dream of having a dog one day. My ideal work week would involve two days in an office (for the social interaction) and three days at home (getting work done and playing with a dog). It’s not too far outside the realms of possibility if the freelance thing ever takes off, so I’ll keep working towards that goal, try not to spend too much time on the SPCA’s “pets available for adoption” site, and play with my kitty cats. They are incredibly cute.

I can has bike ride?

*The first time I saw such a business I misread their sign as “dodgy daycare” and I did wonder…

Posted in camping, furry friends, personal, photos | 9 Comments

Osoyoos: The R&R

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

So… we arrived, found our site, and survived the storm. What did we do next?

Very little! Hurrah!

It was a beautifully relaxing trip, which I sorely needed. It’s difficult for us to get much time off together, so it felt like a loooong time since the last time we’d just relaxed. There can’t be many couples who have to work around grant deadlines and movie shooting schedules, and in fact our next short holiday starts on Thursday as we had to cram all our holiday days into a short space of time.

The highlight for me was the day we rented a speedboat and went tubing. I’d never done this before and was expecting a nice fat inner tube I could wedge myself into, but it was actually just a flat inflatable with short canvas loops for me to hold onto while I lay on my front on top. After two of my friends alternated tubing and driving for the first two turns, and did their best to throw each other off, I insisted that they take it easy on me. They agreed – to some extent.

They’re coming to take me away, ha ha… with some serious horsepower

Unfortunately my arm strength is truly laughable, so I was already pretty tired by the time I’d given up trying to climb onto the damn thing by myself and accepted my friends’ help. I held on for longer than I expected, but the slamming of the tube into the waves and boat wake were pretty brutal and I had to scream “SSSSSSSTTTTTTOOOOOOOPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!” to avoid cartwheeling through the air like the two guys before me. It was truly awesome, but I got tired before too long and my arms and shoulders hurt pretty badly the next day! I will need to do some serious weight training before next year’s trip.

Apart from that brief adrenaline interlude, the rest of the trip consisted of hanging out on our inflatable living room, including one memorable starlit drinking session; playing frisbee in the lake (which conveniently enough had a nice flat sandy bottom in waist-deep water); swimming; playing with assorted dogs; reading; playing games (Risk, Scrabble, Yahtzee, cribbage, asshole (a card game, honest), Uno, but amazingly, no poker); eating; drinking; and being merry.

Our next camping trip will be a five day kayaking adventure in Desolation Sound, with just the two of us. The vibe will be completely different, but I think it’s going to be just as fantastic. The following weekend involves another car camping trip with a different group of friends. After the last couple of summers of buying a house and getting married and not doing anything else, it is sooooo nice to have time to actually enjoy our summer.

Wish you were here!

Posted in camping, Canada, personal, photos | 3 Comments