A Large and Boundless Place

Night time arrival

Well folks, I had a potentially dangerous trip stuck in my head. I rang everyone I knew, and nobody was available. At the last minute I called the Irishman an hour or 2 before departure. Given the short notice and lack of details Clover had no idea what he was in for. He packed for a walk in the park and was out the door 20 minutes later, busted flip-flops, his tin, and about 20 Amnesiac overfill bottles from the brewery. Within hours we were dining at Lees Fried Chicken. At this point I quickly briefed Clove on how to land an 18 foot kayak in the surf without dying, and he informed me that he had never really been in a sea kayak before. 

Fearless and optimistic we arrived under the cloak of nightfall, unloaded our gear onto the wharf and went to work on the Amnesiac. In the AM we boarded the ship. We passed Orcas and redneck logging camps. The sea was calm as it gets, and the air was about 25 degrees. By the time the crane dropped us in the water the afternoon westerlies were blowing full speed ahead. After a careful assessment of the conditions we opted to attempt covering as much ground as possible, and continue north to the destination the following day. As we rounded our first major point we got a feeling of how large the great ocean really is. Even with only a 1-2 metre swell and a light NW breeze waves will rebound off cliffs and form clapotis far off the coast. Four hours later and almost halfway to our destination we pulled in at sunset and set up camp for the night. A terrible redneck was attracted to our fire on the beach, luckily he didn't stick around long. 

Clover found a friend

Log dump

Shamu swam by

Getting ready for a shower

The next morning we were off again, zero wind and full visibility. We found a tidally protected route to paddle through a complicated system of reefs. The surf was 6-8 foot and solid. Several glorious hours later we caught sight of our destination. We had to paddle about a mile offshore to avoid the boomers. It was sunny, hot, and apart from the ehukai, the air was completely still. Rafts of sea otters chilled in the kelp patties. We discovered a relatively sheltered area and beached it. The place was absolutely covered in wolf, bear, and cougar prints. At any time 4 or 5 herons would be lurking around on the reefs. Of course eagles, seagulls, kingfishers, ravens and all the other usual suspects were present in numbers. My bird watching was obstructed and an obnoxious new objective arose, I was forced to save the lives of 2 obtuse hikers who went for a swim and wound up caught in a rip, set course for the obituaries. They were in trouble and oblivious to the fact that its impossible to swim straight into a river mouth that is flowing. They were being sucked right out into the great ocean and were desperate by the time I reached them, more that a kilometre out. Eventually I put one fellow on my surfboard, swam beside him and pushed him until he was clear of the rip. I took great pleasure in shoving him into a wave in the shore pound. The other fellow swam beside us and remained calm. Clover was enjoying a surf down the beach. Without so much as an obrigado they left 2 blue bucks at our campsite and carried on. After that encounter we saw no other humans.

Dinner was served. 

The fishing was great. Instant fish as soon as the buzz bomb hit the water. We had perch and chanterelle fried rice one night, cod tacos with beans and hedgehog mushrooms another. No fish and chips this time though. We forgot to bring breading. We probably didn't have enough oil for fish and chips anyways. For some reason Clover and I really skimped on groceries. We sure had a surplus of beer though, which isn't the usual camping experience. We spent the next few days surfing, playing horseshoes, bocce, and flying a kite. Also we hiked up a mountain. The time came to leave and thus began a series of dilemmas. The surf was now much larger than when we arrived and our semi protected area was now a full on  5-6 foot beach break. Over the next few days both Clover and I (mostly Clover though) repeatedly dumped our kayaks launching and landing. Upon exit from our main camp, and by the time we both had passed through the immediate surf zone and pumped the water out of our kayaks, the fog started to roll in. We had a dangerous and difficult reef to navigate and both decided that landing would be our safest option until visibility improved. We hit shore at a river mouth and within seconds had a blazing fire lit. We were soaked from our launch minutes earlier, and were feeling a bit edgy because we had gotten stuffed by the fog. Landlocked, we decided to round the point on foot and check the conditions. By the time we returned to our kayaks, yogi bear was attempting to steal what was left of our picnic baskets. Two hours later the fog cleared up a bit. Even with the poor visibility we still managed to slink in and out of reefs passing through the surf zone a couple times. It was hairy. Wide eyed and white knuckled we eventually made our way to our destination for the night. On our last day of paddling the wind came up strong NW. Between that and the swell it was a real mixing bowl out there. We were ecstatic to set foot on land again after that. We camped on a reserve in a nice little cove. The people there sure were friendly. 

Next stop fried chicken

Early morning Clover

I made this net. Its designed after a wizard hat and marge simpsons hair. 

Buck knife fillets aint pretty

Clove con espinas

The Locals

The boat is coming

 Next we spent what felt like an eternity waiting for the ship. When it finally arrived the captain was a real asshole. We rounded out the trip with more fine dining at Lees fried chicken. Today was the first time I've checked the Gordon's beach webcam in ages. If the Neah Bay buoy was working I'd check it too. I fly out for Spain next week.

Capt Crunchy pants

Supervisor #1

Supervisor #2

Later