Deer Group Trip Report August 2009
Three paddling amigos met at my house at 4:00am on Thursday 8/13 to load our gear and boats on the two cars we will be taking to Bamford, BC which is our jump off point for a six day paddle out to the Deer Group. We caught the 8:15am Anacortes to Sydney BC ferry which we had made reservations (recommended) about a month earlier. After the two hour ferry ride to Sydney, BC we drive to and stop in Duncan, BC to gas up the cars, hit a restaurant and the liquor and grocery store. Driving on the ’ south main ‘road west from Lake Cowichan the pavement ends at the little town of Honeymoon Bay then its 60 miles of, at times, axle busting, flat tire making three and a half hour drive. The drive along Lake Cowichan and the scenic mountain views makes the trip via road worthwhile; it is a beautiful mountain lake. Camped at the Huu-ay-aht First Nations site at Pachena Bay, which was a very economical and well maintained camp ground. Pachena Bay has a huge sandy beach, good for many hours of beachcombing.
Friday 8/14: Into Bamfield we go for breakfast then a stop at the one deli/grocery store to pick up a frozen steak, then stop to get a parking pass ( usually ensures you will have inflated tires when you return), all these places open at 9:00am so no need to rush. The boats get loaded and we head out at 11:00am down Grappler Inlet and out across Trevor Channel. Great to be on the water this overcast 70 degree morning. We have a little wind and only a slight swell which aids our northwesterly paddle towards Robbers Passage. Our planned destination is one of the islands or islets in the Chain Group which lies west of the biggest island in the Deer Group, Tzartus Island. Paddled past Meads Island, Diplock Island (wonder how that island got its name), Friend Island before we saw the bright sugar white sandy beach on Stud Islet. That was the destination and our home away from home for the duration of the trip. It’s a 9km trip from Bamfield out to Stud Islet via Robbers Passage with Trevor Channel being a 3 miles crossing.
Saturday 8/15: Today the dawn breaks with a fog bank to our west over Imperial Eagle Channel and the Broken Group. No rain but a nice cool 70 degree overcast day, good day to do some exploring. We paddled north to Weld Island which has several very large sea caves to investigate. Latter we paddled over to Holford Bay on Tzarus Island to check out a stream which is a potential water source. Although it has been an extremely dry summer the creek does have a modest flow and is a good water source. Back at camp the resident pair of ravens do a flyby as they did on a daily basis to check out the newest island residents. Also saw mink tracks in the sand, another good sign, as they keep the four legged pests in check. I get out my fishing pole and two hours of fishing off the east side of the island produced two small rock fish and one big orange starfish, Mac & cheese for dinner tonight! The starfish which come in every color of the rainbow are in no short supply on these islands.
Sunday 8/16: Crystal clean, bright blue skies greet us this morning along with our two friendly ravens who where up earlier than we where and they loudly discussed their plans for the day in the tree’s right above our tents. Today we paddle back around to our north and Weld Island then onto Link Island. Link has several pocket beaches to explore. One pocket beach on the north side of the island had tons of oysters on the rocks and ten tons of mussels! We did not eat any of the shellfish on this trip, not trusting the water which was fairly warm considering you are on the Pacific Ocean and the water in general was stained a brownish color. After a quick stop on Link we crossed Junction Passage which is about a mile to cross, only thing to watch out for here are the hundreds of salmon fisherman and their BIG boats. There is an abandoned Ecoole Indian village which we where interest in checking out. Lots of cool rock formations and caves on the south end of Seddal Island but the ‘abandoned Indian village’ is only a couple of rusting boilers and a bunch of ‘no trespassing’ signs. From there we crossed back to Crosse Pt on Tzartus for a lunch break and cocktails. We see the first of many, many humpbacks that are also fishing for salmon. Just next get over how cool it is to paddle with those big, majestic fish. The humpbacks put on breeching shows every day we were on our trip.
Monday 8/17: Another beautiful sunny morning. Following coffee, oatmeal and the ravens flyby we paddle south today. A shore crawl around Diplock, Meade and Swiss Boy Island which is the farthest south island of the Chain Group. The south and west side of Swiss Boy is exposed to the swell and wind off Pacific and the water has a lot of “character”. Great fun if you have some ocean paddling experience. On the Westside of both Swiss Boy and Meade Island there are rock gardens to play in. Got to have a souvenir scratch or two on the boat. After a couple of hours on the water we head back to camp just in time to be entertained by a couple of humpbacks no more than 50 years off the east side of our campsite.
Tuesday 8/18: Another beautiful sunny summer morning. Following the normal routine of coffee, oatmeal and raven flyby today I will take my fishing pole and re-paddle yesterday route solo. Yesterday I saw a lot of sheer rock faces and bull kelp at the water’s edge on south and west side of Swiss Boy Island which will usually be a good place to wet-a-line. The water is a little livelier today with the one meter waves bouncing off the rocks which surround portions of Swiss Boy. Juggling a fishing pole in the waves is some fun, and despite my lack of skill I managed to catch four rock fish which will sever as dinner tonight for the crew. One of the challenges in fishing besides the balancing act is to avoid those pesky seals, they follow you around like lost dogs and the fish disappear when they are around so you have to move frequently. On my paddle back along the west side of Swiss Boy and Meads Islands the humpbacks are within 200/300 yards from my boat. Several breaches and even one whale turned on its side to wave a flipper my way. Again, what an incredible site! After a quick break on another beautiful sandy beach located on the south end of Meade Is. I get back to camp after four hours in the boat to clean fish. Campfire is ready, fish are seasoned and wrapped in foil and soon they are but a pleasant memory… tasty!. Latter the humpbacks are patrolling off the east side of the island, this time there are a pair of the big fish putting on the evening entertainment and again very close to shore.
Wednesday 8/19: Another beautiful morning and our last. Today, we pack up and head back to the ‘real world’. Our plan is to be on the water by 8:00am in order to have plenty of time for the miserable drive from Bamfield back to Sydney. We had hotel reservations in Sydney so there was incentive to get back for the hot shower and steak dinner in a place you actually get to sit on a chair and the beer is cold, some incentive especially the first hot shower in a week. Anyway the paddle down to Robbers Passage on calm waters and minor swell is an easy paddle. Stopped there for a 5 minute stretch then made the three mile crossing on a very calm Trevor Channel. Stopped in Bamfield for a sandwich and then hit the road for Sydney. Since I was the navigator in the car I will not comment on the ‘little’ longer route we took back to Lake Cowichan and eventually Sydney. We did luck out a bit on the drive back as approximately twenty miles of the road had been recently graded.
As it turned out this trip could have been paddled by less experienced paddlers but one must be cognizant of the long crossing which can get dicey in a heartbeat.
Three paddling amigos met at my house at 4:00am on Thursday 8/13 to load our gear and boats on the two cars we will be taking to Bamford, BC which is our jump off point for a six day paddle out to the Deer Group. We caught the 8:15am Anacortes to Sydney BC ferry which we had made reservations (recommended) about a month earlier. After the two hour ferry ride to Sydney, BC we drive to and stop in Duncan, BC to gas up the cars, hit a restaurant and the liquor and grocery store. Driving on the ’ south main ‘road west from Lake Cowichan the pavement ends at the little town of Honeymoon Bay then its 60 miles of, at times, axle busting, flat tire making three and a half hour drive. The drive along Lake Cowichan and the scenic mountain views makes the trip via road worthwhile; it is a beautiful mountain lake. Camped at the Huu-ay-aht First Nations site at Pachena Bay, which was a very economical and well maintained camp ground. Pachena Bay has a huge sandy beach, good for many hours of beachcombing.
Friday 8/14: Into Bamfield we go for breakfast then a stop at the one deli/grocery store to pick up a frozen steak, then stop to get a parking pass ( usually ensures you will have inflated tires when you return), all these places open at 9:00am so no need to rush. The boats get loaded and we head out at 11:00am down Grappler Inlet and out across Trevor Channel. Great to be on the water this overcast 70 degree morning. We have a little wind and only a slight swell which aids our northwesterly paddle towards Robbers Passage. Our planned destination is one of the islands or islets in the Chain Group which lies west of the biggest island in the Deer Group, Tzartus Island. Paddled past Meads Island, Diplock Island (wonder how that island got its name), Friend Island before we saw the bright sugar white sandy beach on Stud Islet. That was the destination and our home away from home for the duration of the trip. It’s a 9km trip from Bamfield out to Stud Islet via Robbers Passage with Trevor Channel being a 3 miles crossing.
Saturday 8/15: Today the dawn breaks with a fog bank to our west over Imperial Eagle Channel and the Broken Group. No rain but a nice cool 70 degree overcast day, good day to do some exploring. We paddled north to Weld Island which has several very large sea caves to investigate. Latter we paddled over to Holford Bay on Tzarus Island to check out a stream which is a potential water source. Although it has been an extremely dry summer the creek does have a modest flow and is a good water source. Back at camp the resident pair of ravens do a flyby as they did on a daily basis to check out the newest island residents. Also saw mink tracks in the sand, another good sign, as they keep the four legged pests in check. I get out my fishing pole and two hours of fishing off the east side of the island produced two small rock fish and one big orange starfish, Mac & cheese for dinner tonight! The starfish which come in every color of the rainbow are in no short supply on these islands.
Sunday 8/16: Crystal clean, bright blue skies greet us this morning along with our two friendly ravens who where up earlier than we where and they loudly discussed their plans for the day in the tree’s right above our tents. Today we paddle back around to our north and Weld Island then onto Link Island. Link has several pocket beaches to explore. One pocket beach on the north side of the island had tons of oysters on the rocks and ten tons of mussels! We did not eat any of the shellfish on this trip, not trusting the water which was fairly warm considering you are on the Pacific Ocean and the water in general was stained a brownish color. After a quick stop on Link we crossed Junction Passage which is about a mile to cross, only thing to watch out for here are the hundreds of salmon fisherman and their BIG boats. There is an abandoned Ecoole Indian village which we where interest in checking out. Lots of cool rock formations and caves on the south end of Seddal Island but the ‘abandoned Indian village’ is only a couple of rusting boilers and a bunch of ‘no trespassing’ signs. From there we crossed back to Crosse Pt on Tzartus for a lunch break and cocktails. We see the first of many, many humpbacks that are also fishing for salmon. Just next get over how cool it is to paddle with those big, majestic fish. The humpbacks put on breeching shows every day we were on our trip.
Monday 8/17: Another beautiful sunny morning. Following coffee, oatmeal and the ravens flyby we paddle south today. A shore crawl around Diplock, Meade and Swiss Boy Island which is the farthest south island of the Chain Group. The south and west side of Swiss Boy is exposed to the swell and wind off Pacific and the water has a lot of “character”. Great fun if you have some ocean paddling experience. On the Westside of both Swiss Boy and Meade Island there are rock gardens to play in. Got to have a souvenir scratch or two on the boat. After a couple of hours on the water we head back to camp just in time to be entertained by a couple of humpbacks no more than 50 years off the east side of our campsite.
Tuesday 8/18: Another beautiful sunny summer morning. Following the normal routine of coffee, oatmeal and raven flyby today I will take my fishing pole and re-paddle yesterday route solo. Yesterday I saw a lot of sheer rock faces and bull kelp at the water’s edge on south and west side of Swiss Boy Island which will usually be a good place to wet-a-line. The water is a little livelier today with the one meter waves bouncing off the rocks which surround portions of Swiss Boy. Juggling a fishing pole in the waves is some fun, and despite my lack of skill I managed to catch four rock fish which will sever as dinner tonight for the crew. One of the challenges in fishing besides the balancing act is to avoid those pesky seals, they follow you around like lost dogs and the fish disappear when they are around so you have to move frequently. On my paddle back along the west side of Swiss Boy and Meads Islands the humpbacks are within 200/300 yards from my boat. Several breaches and even one whale turned on its side to wave a flipper my way. Again, what an incredible site! After a quick break on another beautiful sandy beach located on the south end of Meade Is. I get back to camp after four hours in the boat to clean fish. Campfire is ready, fish are seasoned and wrapped in foil and soon they are but a pleasant memory… tasty!. Latter the humpbacks are patrolling off the east side of the island, this time there are a pair of the big fish putting on the evening entertainment and again very close to shore.
Wednesday 8/19: Another beautiful morning and our last. Today, we pack up and head back to the ‘real world’. Our plan is to be on the water by 8:00am in order to have plenty of time for the miserable drive from Bamfield back to Sydney. We had hotel reservations in Sydney so there was incentive to get back for the hot shower and steak dinner in a place you actually get to sit on a chair and the beer is cold, some incentive especially the first hot shower in a week. Anyway the paddle down to Robbers Passage on calm waters and minor swell is an easy paddle. Stopped there for a 5 minute stretch then made the three mile crossing on a very calm Trevor Channel. Stopped in Bamfield for a sandwich and then hit the road for Sydney. Since I was the navigator in the car I will not comment on the ‘little’ longer route we took back to Lake Cowichan and eventually Sydney. We did luck out a bit on the drive back as approximately twenty miles of the road had been recently graded.
As it turned out this trip could have been paddled by less experienced paddlers but one must be cognizant of the long crossing which can get dicey in a heartbeat.
