In September 2022, I planned a kayaking trip with my friend Shawn exploring the northern west coast of Vancouver Island. We travelled from the south Island up to Fair Harbour by road with great anticipation of the journey ahead. On the way we stopped at the Little Huson Caves before settling into Fair Harbour to camp for departure the next day.
Our original plans to kayak from Bunsby Islands south and back to Fair Harbour were kyboshed by a weather system that was blowing south of Brooks Peninsula. Our water taxi told us that it would simply not be possible to get to the Bunsby’s. We asked, ‘where could we get to?’, and he replied, ‘I can get you our to the east side of Spring Island and you can wait out the storm’. We took this opportunity, as anything was better than waiting in Fair Harbour.
We were dropped on a small island just beside Spring and had the whole place to ourselves. Our campsite cut through the centre of the island and we had good view from both sides.
Despite the ongoing storm, we braved a very short paddle to Spring Island. We made the most of our time on Spring Island, In fact it was a pleasure. We hiked around the island exploring the beaches, forest, and the old radar station.
The following day, after two nights on our little Spring Island satellite island, the weather broke. We decided to made tracks south for Thornton Island, a mysterious V shaped island well out to sea. We knew that it would provide some great bird viewing opportunities, a cabin to find, and would be interesting to explore. Winds were light but swells were building during the crossing and I recall some challenging conditions travelling with the incoming waves on our side.
Although tempting, we did not spend the night on Thornton as variable weather was still possible and it was quite exposed. We continued towards Rugged Point with a stop at Kyuquot Bay recreation site. With the swell now at our backs, we were pushed along quite well in this section. Depth and channel narrowing effects created some interesting challenges as we passed through the gap. At this time I recall seeing a giant black bear combing the rocks at White Cliff Head, but we could only observe so much with the waves pushing us on.
We spent the last two nights at Rugged Point and had a long walk on the vast beautiful beaches on day two. Travel back to Fair Harbour was straightforward yet monotonous. We did happen to come upon a giant sunfish breaching and travelled under fair conditions to Fair Harbour.
The final route map, includes both travel on land and at sea.
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