Quadra Island July 5-11, 2026

                                                     Kanish Bay paddle

 July 5

Aria and Donna played at our place, Nic was a bit under the weather in the am, and rested followed by an afternoon of working on the kayak launching channel, and Anna and I went kayaking out to Bretons.  The kayak ended up being an epic paddle.  We were cruising through the Breton rock islands taking photos of sea life when we came upon a paddle boarder who alerted us to a pod of Orcas between the Spit and Breton Island.  We decided to head out there and wowise, we chased that pod for close to an hour as they made a big loop around the Bretons heading to Dunsterville Island and then the Quadra shore before finally heading north.  Tons of breeches, a big alpha male, a baby orca….it was absolutely amazing!  I paddled away while Anna filmed from the front.  She’s editing down her 35 minutes of footage into an amazing shorter video for the archives.  We finished the day with a great pizza dinner at the Cove restaurant courtesy of Brad and ice cream back at our place for dessert and an evening paddle by Nic.   Orca shots eventually when Anna shares her Orca footage.

                                                             Surf Scoter

                                                      Surf Scoters

Screen shots from Anna’s awesome edited version of our epic “Kayaking with the Orcas” video.  Not the sharpest (they look better in the video) but what an experience.  

                                                      Common loons

July 6

Local woods hike and playing at our place for Donna and Aria.  Anna, Nic and I went kayaking out to Marina Island, a 4.5 mile paddle each way..totally flat water…and along the Marina Island shore.  We look at Marina Island from our place, but never had paddled to it.  We had a great sandy area for lunch that has obviously been used as a camping spot.  Donna made fajitas for dinner and a game of Skull King finished off yet another amazing day.

July 7

Another day, another paddle.  This one into Open Bay.  Magical as always.  Donna and Aria hanging and playing.

         

                                                                 Morning at our place

                                                     Reverse order for the day again.

                                                             Sunset from our place

                                                   Common loon

                                             Our new “favorite” house on Quadra

                                            Looking into Hyancinthe Bay with Seal Rock in foreground

                                                   Eagle at the boat ramp at Rebecca Spit

July 8

Took a break from kayaking and we all hiked the nearby Haskins farm trail down to the ocean (just down the coast a mile or so from our rocky beach). Good photo ops.  Watched a breaching humpback in the distance through the binoculars in the evening, a great Thai stir fry meal, and wrapped things up with another game of Skull King, once again with Aria and Donna the victors.

  

                                                           Lorquin’s Admiral butterfly

                                                                      Ghost pipe

                                                Golden Buprestid Beetle

July 9

Overcast and rainy afternoon day.  Hung out, and went to Cape Mudge in the afternoon with Nic making a homemade soup from scratch.  

July 10

A whale cruising down in front in the morning and kayaking in Kanish Bay at the north bend of the island in the afternoon.

July 11

Anna and Nic kayaked from Rebecca Spit and kayaked around to our place, I helped them launch and did a walk at the Spit, and Donna and Aria played at our place.