Justine’s Blog

  • 30 days, 500 miles… back in Queen Charlotte!


    SMILES ON THE LAST EVENING OUT


    THE LAST SUPPER LAST NIGHT

    We MADE IT!! Yeah! And what a fantastic trip in beautiful islands. This morning, we woke up to wonderful sunshine with clear views of the snow patches on the mountain tops. We could tell we were close to town because a steady stream of fishing boats started buzzing past us from about 7am, all heading for the west coast. Their engine noise mixed with the sound of 3 different eagles calling in the trees above. We ate well to the very end and our last breakfast was cheese and onion quesadillas, with the very last of the powered milk in Shawna & Leon’s coffee. We launched around 10am and for once we had wind and tide behind us for almost the whole journey. It was a pleasure to wizz through the ‘East Narrows’ at up to 9 knots having fought against 4 or 5 knots of current last time. At low tide it looked very different from last time when the channel was 5 or 6 times as wide. The sun shone all day and the wind pushed us along between tree-covered islands.
    We paddled a touch over 14 nautical miles to arrive back at Queen Charlotte City in three and a half hours. That brings our total mileage for the whole trip to exactly 500.5 nautical miles!!! I think we can round it down to 500 without worrying too much about the extra half! Strictly speaking, we should paddle the last 3 miles to the Skidegate ferry terminal to complete the figure of eight but we’ll save that until the day we catch the ferry home. We were out for 30 days and I felt relaxed and happy for most of it. It’s very peaceful here surrounded by 1,000 metre high mountains with no traffic noise, no street lights, no construction.

    SETTING OFF THIS MORNING



    A FOLLOWING SEA UP THE EAST NARROWS

    It’s 7pm now and I’m sitting in the ‘Premiere Lodge’ hostel now feeling refreshed and happy after a wonderful hot shower (my first wash for 10 days!), and a tasty hot meal in a restaurant (with a cold beer for Shawna and Leon & a margharitta for me!) That was a late lunch… it’s nearly time for dinner! I’ll write more tomorrow and post more photos from the last 18 days around Moresby. Shawna & Leon will also write their impressions of the trip in the next day or two.

    Thank you very much to Mike DuPas for writing the blog updates and putting up the photos and maps. Mike told Leon yesterday that we couldn’t thank him because we hadn’t seen what he’d written.. well, we have now so thanks a lot for doing a great job! Thanks also to Kokatat for paying for rental of the sat phone so we could update this, and to Kokatat, the North Face, Snapdragon, Lendal, Werner, Seakayaking UK & Native sunglasses, for sponsoring us with great kit.

    A few people have asked me if I’ll be making a DVD of this expedition – YES I will…. But it probably won’t be available for about a year.


    9 KNOTS!!!


    SHAWNA & LEON AT THE END!!

  • Downie Island

    Leon called last night from their camp at Downie Island in the West Narrows. He didn’t say but this days paddle was about 15 nm. On their 6.5 nm crossing of Englefield Bay, Leon said they saw at least 6 humpbacks with some of them splashing their tails. Then near the narrows around Chaatl Island, Leon got his wish and some travelers they met gave them 3 cold beers and some potato chips. Leon said they all felt both sad and happy their trip is nearly completed. I’ve included the last of the photos I have including a photo of Justine paddling in Skidegate channel, a totem pole from somewhere on Graham island I think and another shot of the 3 of them in Skedans. I look forward to seeing all of Justine’s photography and hearing some of their stories. They should be in QC City today.
    Mike

  • Denham Point

    Shawna called yesterday after about a 19 nm paddle to Denham Pt. in calm seas and not much swell. It was again a beautiful paddle along the cliffs. With all the cliffs, they couldn’t find a place for lunch so they got to practice the 5 star skills of landing and seal launching off of rocks. They are perhaps two days from QC City and I could tell they are getting close because Shawna was asking how their cat Skinny was doing. I’ve included a photo of Justine dressed for battle and a photo Rowland took of Capt St. James.
    Mike

  • Tasu Sound

    Leon called last night and all is well. Many thanks to Kokatat for sponsoring the expedition by supplying a satellite phone. The phone has worked quite well for the entire trip. On Tuesday they rested up all day in the sheltered waters and cabin in Puffin Cove and Leon recovered from feeling sick. Yesterday they paddled about 23 nm to Tasu Sound. They are camped by the lighthouse on the south side of the entrance to the sound. Again the winds were from the north (not prevailing) but they were light so they didn’t present a problem. Leon said they were in awe of the massive mountains rising straight up out of the sea. They also saw as many as 120 sea lions. They were also impressed by the geology of the area with large cliffs and granite formations. Leon says the last 24 hours was the first with no rain at all. He also mentioned he is craving a cold beer. They could be back in a couple of days but they will proably take their time. I’ve included a couple more of Rowland’s photos taken as they paddled the same shoreline and a photo of the group stopping for lunch earlier in the trip.
    Mike