The weather cooperated – the sun shone at times, winds were light and 17 PGOSA paddlers experienced the magic of a new location and some gorgeous rock formations as well as some beautiful scenery. This was a paddle to remember and do again next summer so more can enjoy the experience.
Two downers were hiking back up the steep boat ramp to get to vehicles so people could load their kayaks and the swarming wasps at the tombolo beach where we stopped for a quick lunch. I do mean quick as the wasps drove us back to our boats or to stand in the water as they came after us and the food we brought.
The excursion started at the Cedar Boat launch just south of Nanaimo.
Paddling we headed to Round Island, about a kilometre away and then over to Mudge Island which was across an open channel.
Paddling along the shores of Mudge brought us to a geographic feature called a tombolo – a very thin piece of land that joins two islands. Paddling south along the west shores of Link Island in calm and sunny waters we observed the spectacular rock carvings on the sandstone shore and cliffs.
The wind and water over thousands of years formed the carvings--they were amazing and our creative minds made them into figurines, designs, animals or other magical creatures. The weathered sandstone has been eaten away by ocean water, winds, rains and erosion – a sight to be seen as we glided by in our boats, being gently pushed by a NorthWest breeze.
Reaching the end of Link Island we
scooted through a small opening in the rock formation into the east side of the
island. This narrow passage opened into a large bay which contained a few
small homes, docks and boats. On the south side of the bay was De Courcy
Island which is much more populated than Link Island and has a mystical history
of a cult living on it during the 1920’s.
We then paddled up the east side of Link to the tombolo separating Link and Mudge Islands. We portaged our kayaks/boats across the tombolo so they were ready to travel on…… after lunch. Stopping for lunch here proved to be a challenge as the wasps appeared as we broke out the food and sat on the logs to enjoy our food and the view across to the community of Cedar.
Back in our boats after a quick
lunch, we headed north along the west side of Mudge Island, enjoying the view
of the homes on Mudge and of Cedar across the channel. We approached the
beginning of Dodds Channel and “an old
man in a shoe” (sandstone sculpture) told us to go no further and to cross the
channel back to the Vancouver Island side or be swept away by the increasing rapids.
After crossing the channel once again it was a short paddle back to that steep boat launch at Cedar.
The grumbling started as we exited our kayaks and trudged up the steep boat launch to our vehicles. The smart ones backed their car/truck down the ramp to load their gear while the strong ones carried or wheeled their boats up the hill – which one were you?
Don’t miss this exciting paddle, with spectacular views, next summer as this is one paddle you will truly enjoy!!
We paddled a total of 11.4 km on this trip.
Jim – Paddle Leader.
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