Broken Islands trip
This week, my nephew and I went to the Broken Islands on a kayak trip, somewhere I’ve wanted to go for a few years.
To get there we took the Frances Barkley from Port Alberni which drops you off right near the Broken Islands.
Broken Island group is as beautiful as advertised. The water is clear and warm, the islands are pristine and the nature is just stunning. This is a picture from Benson island, after three days of paddling. On the other side of the island (a short walk) the Pacific slams into the island (full version):
The weather varied, first day we had insane winds and had to navigate 4-5 foot high waves and winds that gusted at over 50kph (recorded at Tofino airport). By the third day we had wonderful sun all day and spent lots of time on beaches and hiking and enjoying the fabulous weather. The fourth day the rain hit and we got cold and wet once we’d got out of our kayaks. What the West Coast weather giveth, it also takes away.
And when the rain descends, you get something more like this:
And the winning campsite? Clarke Island which has a beach like this:
This was my first time using my Garmin GPS to navigate, something that I got on the assumption that there was no cell phone access. Which is now incorrect, there is full coverage throughout the islands. Took me a while to use it properly and I kept forgetting to stop it, so the data is a bit wonky:
Some notes so I remember for future trips: we used about 12 litres of water and one large primus propane tank.