Quadra Island June 7-13, 2026
Sunday afternoon was very windy as predicted (winds were 18 mph sustained winds, enough to get reasonable sized whitecaps in Sutil Channel - not kayaking weather) )which is why I hiked that day to Beech’s mountain (previous post). Here are two photos of sailboats braving the waves.
On Monday the forecast was for rain off and on all day (which again was spot on) with highs only in the 50’s. Not unusual for early May. I’m seeing sun in the forecast and low winds by Wednesday so opted for a nice walk out at Rebecca Spit. I noticed a whaleboat heading back that way from our place and when I got to the end of the spit it (and a second whale boat) were sitting at the entrance to Drew Harbor and Heriot Bay. I watched for ten minutes and never saw a thing….perhaps an orca or an orca pod was sighted there, but I never saw anything. They both moved on and headed up the Okisollo Chanel towards Surge Narrows. Only a few other people there and an eagle “posed for me” so I got some good eagle shots.
On Tuesday, a low wind day but decent chance of rain most of the day. I went for it, and ended up being out 6 hours and kayaking 13.3 miles RT. Kayaked through Hyancithe Bay, Open Bay and up to Bold Island. I did get pored on twice. The first time I managed to sneak under a walkway out to a floating pier and rode out the worst of it for about 45 minutes. The second time I was a half hour from the car and it came down in buckets. I landed and loaded the car in a steady hard rain. Low on the fun list, but it was 90 percent a great paddle.
Apparently I had a whale siting this morning and didn’t even know it. I saw some sea lions moving down the coast in front of me feeding on something as they went. I quick took this photo and when I looked at it tonight, lo and behold a fin. It was a mini experience of that feeding behavior Mom and I witnessed a few years ago, where the whale is feeding on small fish and seals (or in this case sea lions) are following along picking off fish. Very low on the amazing photo scale, but high on the amazing experience scale. That’s been it so far for whales though.
Wednesday was another low wind day, this time with very low chance of rain so headed out again, this time launching from the end of Valdes Road. It was mid tide when I launched and this is a challenging location for a solo paddler to put in, but I made it work. It puts you right into some great paddling and avoids the 2 - 3 mile open paddling required to make it out to the Bretons from the boat ramp in Drew Harbor. When I returned an older gentlemen (probably my age - yeah older) was cutting driftwood for firewood on the shore and offered to lend me a hand getting the kayak out of the water and on to the car. He (Casey) had moved to Quadra back in 1974, and never left. He was a carpenter and all around jack of all trades and was still working part time. He told me a long time ago he commuted to a carpentry job on Read Island from Quadra in a kayak. He also had a confrontation with a mountain lion (they use the term cougar up here) on Read Island back in 2019. Another magical day on the water going around Bold Island, making it as far north on day trip ever (Colville point on Quadra), seeing a humpback in the channel north of the King Islets. Kayaking through the King Islaets and a great lunch spot there, and then seeing a humpback breech three times in fairly quick succession while I was crossing between Dunsterville Island and Quadra (no photo, a bit too far away and and I was bobbing up and down, but clearly saw the whole whale leap out of the water 3 times). Also starfish, jellyfish, sea cucumbers, eagles and a great siting of an otter eating along the shore of Read Island.
Did two hikes on Friday, although my intent was only to the first one. I drove to the trailhead for Mount Seymour, one I’ve never done and now apparently never will. It’s a strenuous view hike with vertical the whole way. I ended up only going 2.5 miles RT but 600 feet of vertical, but ended up losing the trail. You climb steeply up to a logging road and follow that for a long ways, but the logging road just ended about 1.25 miles up the mountain and I never did see any sign of the trail, so I just turned around and went back down to the car. Because of the logged areas though there were some good views of the surrounding mountains so I did manage to get some good photos of the area.
I decided to head over to the Shellaligan trailhead for Mount since it is not that far from where I was and I did the 2.5 mile loop that includes a stretch along the ocean. Because of the ocean piece it’s always been a favorite but it’s not all that easy either (or maybe I’m just getting older).
Saturday was very low winds so went out kayaking…9 miles RT. Out to the Bretons, seal island, and back…the usual suspects, but every time on the water, even is it;s the same area is always something different. In addition to almost no wind, I was out at a really low tide so saw a large number of colorful sea urchins that I don’t see at medium tides. I love tide pooling from the kayak, so peaceful and beautiful. Also the rainy weather has left and it’s settling in to the typical summer weather….partly sunny to sunny with highs ranging from the 60’s up to the mid 80’s, with typical highs in the 70’s most days.
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