We woke in our awesome little camp spot ready for another day on the water... after cheese toasties for breakfast we packed up camp and headed off. It was a relief to be able to launch without waves crashing into shore, just slide off the beach and into the calm Salish sea. We paddled between the islands, exploring as we went and making the most of the beautiful day. Our main concern in this area was the boating channels and avoiding the tankers and ferries. From about midday we could see the island where we would be landing. Once we could see it it made the day feel like it took forever! We had to paddle with it in our sights for at least three hours, it sure felt good when we finally landed. Our camp for the night looked awesome, a small rocky beach with a tree covered bank. When we stepped up the bank we realised it was actually a forest behind the beach, with nice grassy areas perfect for our tents. We couldn’t believe that we had scored such a great spot. I couldn’t help but excuse myself from setting up camp to go and explore. I took my bow with me just incase I found something for dinner. I came around a corner of the island and there were two deer in front of me, unfortunately they saw me as I saw them and they were gone in a flash.

As I walked back I stopped on the rocks to take in the view, I heard a whale breath and looked out to see a huge black fin slicing though the water... Orca!

I raced down the rocks yelling at the others that there were orca off the rocks. I grabbed the drone and my camera and headed to the rocks closest to them. We were all mesmerised as we watched them come up the surface and cruise back down, big black dorsal fins cutting through the water. I made sure it was clear then I put my drone up to get a better look. I was so excited by what I was filming and the fact we were finally seeing orca, that I decided to override the auto home warning. Before I knew it the battery was critically low, I had the drone so far out to sea it was a race against the clock to get it landed safely. I had 30 seconds to land and I knew I wasn’t going to make it. Luckily, I remembered paddling past some rocks covered in seals, I had to land there! I was very lucky that I didn’t loose the drone to the big blue ocean, and very lucky that Jesse went out in the kayak to rescue the drone.

We lit a bonfire and checked out the footage of the whales. It was another beautiful clear night with no wind and a bright moon. We are up early tomorrow to catch the currents up the coast!

#kayaking #paddling #kayak #Canada #Nature #FirstNations #expedition #VancouverIsland