Kayakaing Gwaii Haanas National Park

September 25, 2022 by Andrew Godfrey in Trips

Every year it gets harder to find a trip that evades cell signal. They’re adding towers faster than I can book adventures.

So when I stumbled upon Gwaii Haanas National Park on Haida Gwaii in 2019, and was promised a route that was completely off the grid, I started to get excited. The more I read about the history of this incredible place, the more pumped I got. I started organizing a kayak trip for Summer 2020.

And then something happened…

Our plans to cover 100km of BC coastline got completely derailed by a 0.1 micrometer obstacle. Trip planning went on hold, routes became local, and Gwaii Haanas became a distant dream. It wasn’t until August 2022 that we brought that dream back to life.

The Route

The starting point of our trip, the town of Sandspit on Moresby Island, is closer to Alaska than it is to Vancouver Island. There are only two ways in: air or sea. You can fly from Vancouver on a two hour once-a-day flight, or take the seven hour ferry from Prince Rupert.

Once you’ve arrived in Sandspit, you’re only a hop (one hour van taxi on logging roads), skip (two hour zodiac shuttle), and a jump (off the side of the boat to your campsite) to Gwaii Haanas. From there, you have 1700km of coastline and over 100 islands to explore.

Haida Gwaii and Gwaii Haanas have a fascinating, inspiring history. We have the Haida Nation to thank for fighting so hard to protect it. I recommend reading All That We Say Is Ours by Ian Gill before or during your trip. It’s an excellent view into the contemporary history of the Haida and will give you lots of context on the various places you’ll end up visiting. There’s a mandatory orientation to complete in order to access the park, which gives you a rich history as well.

The view of the Haida Cultural Center and Museum - a must visit.

A model village of what Skidegate looked like pre-contact.

Countless relics and artifacts, safe from the rain and salt water.

The famous Loo Taas and Bill Reid/Guujaaw’s Dogfish Pole.

We had a plan in mind but were advised that weather will ultimately decide our direction and distance. Being so close to the open Pacific coast, winds can pick up fast and make large crossings dangerous if not impossible. Luckily, unlike our 2019 route through the Broughton Archipelago, there was little boat traffic to deal with. In fact there were only 30 permits out in the whole park when we visited!

Our route from Juan Perez Sound and around the East side of the islands. Download the GPX file **here**.

Assembling nautical charts of our route.

The route we designed would take us from Ramsay Island down to Rose Harbour over seven days and close to 100km. This would give us a sampler pack of everything you’d expect to find in the park: open water, quiet bays, mountains, wildlife and, if we’re lucky, a couple of Watchmen sites. It also allowed a few storm days which (spoiler) we needed.

Ultimately we spent four days on the water, three days windbound in Rose Harbour, with two days on either side of the paddle for arrival/shuttling. Even with all we saw, it’s obvious we’ve barely cracked the surface of everything that Gwaii Haanas has to offer.

The Trip

This is not the kind of trip you can execute on your own. Even with stacks of information available, we leaned on tons of support from Moresby Explorers. MorEx mostly outfits guided trips and tours inside Gwaii Haanas. But they’ll also happily rent kayaks, offer shuttles, and set visitors up with a basecamp at their Seaport B&B in Sandspit before and after their self-guided trips too. They’re knowledgable, coordinated, and were instrumental in getting us on/off the water. Cannot recommend them enough.

Knowing our trip would be so dependent on weather, we kept our starting point flexible until the last minute. Our MorEx shuttle dropped us right at our first campsite on Ramsay Island, which happened to be a short paddle from the Hotspring Island Watchmen Site in Juan Perez Sound. (This last part was not a coincidence…).

The view of Juan Perez Sound from our site on Ramsay Island.

I was slightly nervous about this site, because it would leave us a 7km open water paddle across Juan Perez Sound the next morning - something that would be damn near impossible if the weather wasn’t right. But the forecast had us feeling optimistic so we settled into our site on Ramsay before making a visit to the Watchmen and enjoying a long soak in hot pools scattered across the island. I’d heard this can be a high-traffic spot, but we were lucky to have the place to ourselves.

Soaking in one of the pools on Hotspring Island, with Ramsay Point in the distance.

The walk down to one of the pools.

Two more of the (hottest) pools on the island!

In the morning we found calm water waiting for us on our paddle towards Newberry Cove. We stopped for lunch in a quiet bay south of Marco Island (which would have been an amazing campsite) and headed on for Newberry with humpbacks and sea lions popping up along our path. We arrived at our site just as the tide was coming in, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and a driftwood campfire before falling asleep nestled in the cove’s old growth forest.

Our cozy campsite at Newberry Cove. We didn’t need an axe/saw and could just collect driftwood off the beach for our nightly fires.

We had big dreams of hiking Yatza Mountain from Island Bay the next day, but the cloud cover wouldn’t burn off long enough to make the summit. So we switched courses and found a beautiful site on the West side of Burnaby Island, just north of the narrows.

Everything is deceptively far away in Gwaii Haanas. What looks like a short paddle across the bay will usually take twice as long as you’d think - because the trees are so big, they give the illusion of being closer than they are.

Clouds capping over Yatza mountain, with the open Pacific just on the other side.

It was on our paddle the following day, from the Burnaby Narrows to Jedway, that we watched the weather start to change. As we passed Bag Harbour surrounded by Risso’s dolphins, the wind started to pick up and gave us a hairy crossing over Skincuttle Inlet. By the time we arrived at our campsite in Jedway, we were watching 20km/hr winds capping in the bay and feeling thankful we’d reached our site!

The site at Jedway (marked as Funter Point) is an old mining camp slowly reforesting itself with wild grasses and alder. As we sat on the rocky beach listening to the radio weather reports, we made some swift adjustments to the tail end of our trip.

Kicking back at Jedway, watching the distant weather start to shift.

Where we had originally planned the last bit of our journey into two paddle days (Jedway > Carpenter Bay > Rose Harbour), we decided to compress the two days into one. We wanted to beat the weather to Rose Harbour, which would help us avoid setting up camp/tearing down/paddling in a storm.

I don’t recommend doing this route in one day.

It’s 33km and, with variable weather/tides, can be pretty gnarly. But other than a choppy riptide coming into Houston Stewart Channel, we got lucky and managed to beat the storm after all - settling in at Raspberry Cove.

A proper foggy, drizzly BC paddle along the east coast of Moresby Island.

The other reason we wanted accelerate this leg of the trip is because Courtenay at MorEx had coordinated with the Rose Harbour Kitchen to prepare a table for us for dinner. The Kitchen does dinner a couple days a week for MorEx tours, and curates a multi-course, locally-sourced feast for weary travellers who have made it to the end of the continent.

This was insanely luxurious, especially after a few days in the woods. It was like finding an oasis. Don’t underestimate the paddle from Raspberry Cove to Rose Harbour, especially at dusk, but also don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy a Michelin-worthy culinary experience.

Arriving cold and wet at our Rose Harbour oasis.

The guesbook for weary travelers to sign.

Having beat our planned route into Rose Harbour, we holed up in Raspberry Cove for the next three days. It rained non-stop for the first two, and the winds held us back from visiting the famous Watchmen site at SGang Gwaay. We spent our time hiking along game trails through old growth, playing cards, and finishing the last of our wine.

Hiking and foraging along the game trails behind Raspberry Cove.

On our final day, we were picked up by D’Leen (a MorEx legend) who shuttled us back along the route we’d just paddled, along the outer coast of the park for a brief visit at the Windy Bay Watchmen site, and then back to the Seaport B&B to dry out and reflect on an incredible trip.

General stokedness on our five-hour shuttle back to basecamp.

Itinerary (download the GPX here)

Day 1: Shuttle to Ramsay Island from Moresby Camp (2.5 hours)
Day 2: Ramsay Island to Newberry Cove (17km)
Day 3: Newberry Cove to Burnaby Narrows (15km)
Day 4: Burnaby Narrows to Jedway (16km)
Day 5: Jedway to Rose Harbour (33km + 4km return from Raspberry Cove<->Rose Harbour)
Day 6-7: Stormed in at Rose Harbour!
Day 8: Shuttle back to Moresby Camp (5 hours)

The Food

Getting outfitted with food for this trip was both simple and complex. Simple in that there is one grocery store on Moresby Island (the Sandspit Super Valu). Complex in that we had to assemble our shopping list ahead of time and send it over to Dean at Super Valu to do our picking for us.

Dean and his team were amazing and got everything prepared for us for when we arrived. If you need your ingredients picked, give them a call. Feel free to make a copy of this ingredients spreadsheet to assemble your shopping list!

On this trip, we tried to limit meats and aim for single pot meals. Some of the highlights included:

Cheesy Pesto Pasta. Egg noodles, pesto sauce, shredded cheese, and nutritional yeast.
‘Pizzaritos’. Pizza ingredients (onion, peppers, salami, cheese) chopped up and wrapped in a tortilla, and roasted over the grill on the fire.
Lentil Sloppy Joes. Red lentils, black beans, onion, green pepper, powdered sloppy joe mix, served on a bun.

Pro Tips

Read. A lot. Gwaii Haanas doesn’t have formally maintained campsites, and you can camp pretty much anywhere as long as it’s out of sight and sound of anyone else. You’ll want to pick up books and maps to help plan your route. We also recommend Nancy Turner’s Plants of Haida Gwaii, but remember that visitors shouldn’t be picking vegetation in the park.
If you’re intending to visit the villages of Daajing Giids or Skidegate, just know that they’re operating on island time. Stores/restaurants are only open certain days of the week and only at certain times. And Google might not be accurate. If there are things you really want to do, call ahead and organize around availability. Highly recommend calling Roberta, who runs Keenawaii’s Kitchen in Skidegate, for an amazing locally sourced home-cooked dinner.
Depending on rainfall, some water sources may be hard to find or non-existent. Bring a container big enough to last you at least a few days. Look for creeks at the end of bays, and where valleys cut between the mountains.
Consume weather reports with a grain of salt. Depending where you are in the park, you will likely find circling winds and very confused waves. Tides generally flood South to North, but this isn’t always the case.
Leave. Yourself. Wind. Days. Mentally prepare to use them. Revisit your routes nightly and be flexible with changes on the fly.

Staging kayaks on Ramsay Island.

Chicken of the woods dominating this standing deadwood.

A glassy paddle across Juan Perez Sound.

Stopping for lunch at a beautiful bay south of Marco Island.

Sunset at Newberry Cove.

Weather starting to rear its head in Skincuttle Inlet.

Fishing off Jedway. We tried. We really did.

The last rays of sun from across Skincuttle Inlet.

Our chariot (and rescue) back to Moresby Camp.

Kayaking BC’s Broughton Archipelago

December 29, 2019 by Andrew Godfrey in Trips

After a trek into BC’s Desolation Sound, I knew I’d be back. In fact, I started planning the next trip almost immediately.

Throwing darts at a map, I noticed a cluster of islands near Port McNeill, on the north-east side of Vancouver Island, called the Broughton Archipelago. After looking at some photos on Google it took me all of ten minutes to decide that this was the spot for my next BC tour.

I had initially planned on a solo, but the more I talked about the trip the more interest I had. To be honest, I was kind of relieved - this area was a lot more exposed and remote than Desolation Sound, and I was glad to have some company. Two pals (Chris and Tyler) ended up following through, and in September 2019 we landed in Nanaimo ready for some adventure.

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The Route

From the northern tip of Vancouver Island, the Pacific wind blows down the Queen Charlotte Strait past Port Hardy, Port Macneill, and eventually it hits a chain of islands and the Broughton Archipelago Marine Park. Established in 1992, it’s BC’s largest marine park and has over a hundred (varied-quality) campsites peppered across native, public, and private land. The area also crosses the Johnstone Strait and Blackfish Sound, both endearingly referred to as ‘whale soup’: a superhighway for orca and humpbacks. I’d never paddled with our distant cousins, but was excited at the idea.

I came across the folks at BC Marine Trails, who have amassed an ocean of campsite data. With their generous help, I was able to piece together a number of possible routes. It’s worth mentioning that the Archipelago is remote, but well-known - it shows up on tons of sea kayaking Top 10 lists. Even after Labour Day, I was assured we’d see other folks out there and that we may have to contend for campsites.

Our five-day/100km adventure. In order: black, red, green, purple, blue. Download GPX file here. — Our five-day/100km adventure. In order: black, red, green, purple, blue. Download GPX file **here**.

Starting out of Telegraph Cove we’d planned a 5-day/4-night route that, truthfully, was pretty loose. I’d heard lots about tides and currents in the area, and had no idea what our pace would be. The plan was to cross the Johnstone Strait and see how far we could get, turning back a few days later and finishing in Telegraph Cove.

Above you’ll see the actual route we pulled off. All in all, just over 100km. I had a rough idea that we should see Village Island (more on that later), and we should get beyond the Knight Inlet and into the northern part of the park. We were traveling just after a new moon so the tides were at their highest, which meant the currents were at their strongest, so ultimately they decided where we went.

In planning, I was also reasonably conservative with crossing such big segments of open water. We tried to limit that as much as possible, but ended up with perfect weather so we did it anyways!

The Trip

Air Canada just started direct flights from Toronto to Nanaimo, which made it a great rally point. We rented an SUV and ventured four hours north - past Comox (where we picked up kayaks at Comox Valley Kayaks and Canoes) and into Telegraph Cove, a tiny town with a vibrant history. Today, Telegraph Cove is owned by a resort and made for a phenomenal base camp. We were able to rent a cabin the night before launch, and grab a hot dinner/cold beer(s) at a restaurant in the harbour.

Our cozy foggy basecamp in Telegraph Cove.

On Day 1, the plan was simply to cross the Johnstone Strait and find a spot along the southern coast of Swanson Island or the western bay of Harbledown Island. We timed our launch with the tide, but were met with a common adversary in BC: fog. We could see all of twenty metres in front of us. We crossed the channel and made it into Blackfish sound, where we found… more fog. We had lunch and hoped it would pass, which it did briefly, and we powered across the bay to sounds of humpbacks breaching and ships cruising in the mist.

We were ready to settle in at Flower Island when a group of passing kayakers warned us there was a grizzly sighted there all of 45 minutes prior. Heeding the warning, we quickly crossed the channel to Parson’s Bay where we posted up at a sandy site on Red Point with a perfect view of Blackney Passage.

The very paintable view from Village Island back towards Vancouver Island (in the distance).

Day 2 took us eastward to a small cove on Turnour Island. The site was rugged, but at medium-to-low tide we had a nice midden beach and a rocky shoal to sit and watch the sunset. We caught a favourable current on the way out to Turnour, which left us with a lot of time on our hands - enough to make a day trip to Village Island, the former home of the Mamalilikulla First Nation. The island holds some interesting relics and abandoned buildings, and it’s necessary to clear your arrival with the nation before visiting.

Day 3 was… interesting. After another foggy start, we mistimed a current and got held up for a long lunch. By the time the current had calmed, we had lost quite a bit of time with a lot of distance to go. We passed several occupied sites, including one that served as a base camp for protestors of the local fish farming industry. (They won, by the way!) The Broughtons are light on places to camp, so we ended up tracking over 25km on Day 3, finally arriving at a secluded campsite in Spiller’s Passage, between Mars and Hudson islands.

Following a late night where we celebrated our survival (after a field injury involving an impressive fall off a ten-foot cliff) we woke up late to a calm and sunny Day 4. This gave us the option of an open-water paddle, and turned into the greatest day I’ve ever spent on the water. Humpbacks breaching everywhere you looked, a swift current (in the right direction, for once), and a perfect view of mountains made for happy paddling. We made incredible time and decided to return to our beach site at Red Point for our last night.

In the spirit of the rollercoaster ride that was this trip, our final return to Telegraph Cove on Day 5 was nothing short of terrifying. We had to beat a current early in the morning, which meant departing into another pea-soup fog. It’s difficult to express how uncomfortable it is to hear (but not see) whales breaching a mere ten metres away, or to have a sea lion pop up at the bow of your kayak and show you its massive teeth. Beautiful, but highly uncomfortable. We beat the current, and made it into the Johnstone Strait (crossing, again, in a deep fog - not ideal) for a leisurely paddle home as the tide ebbed out.

I’m sure there are mountains back there somewhere..

Itinerary (GPX file)
Day 1: Telegraph Cove to Parson’s Bay (17km)
Day 2: Parson’s Bay to Turnour Island (18km)
Day 3: Turnour Island to Mars Island (25km)
Day 4: Mars Island to Parson’s Bay (21km)
Day 5: Parson’s Bay to Telegraph Cove (14km)

The Food

The big complexity in meal planning for this trip was that I didn’t have my trusty cooler, so keeping food frozen wasn’t practical. I also wanted to avoid meat as much as possible because I heard grizzlies like meat, and I wanted to avoid grizzlies.

We didn’t have the benefit of a home kitchen to prepare anything, so we basically took stuff right off the grocery store shelf and into our bag. Once again, we did our own breakfast and lunches (which I highly recommend) and shared dinners. Think boxed PC White Cheddar Mac and Cheese, a curry kit, and Mr. Noodles repurposed with various sauces. Some day I will document some of these recipes.

Meal Plan
Day 1: Thai Green Curry with Lentils (Using a package like this)
Day 2: Mac and Cheese w/ Salami
Day 3: Knock-off Dan Dan Noodles w/ Tofu (Mr. Noodles, firm tofu, and a bottle of this peanut sauce)
Day 4: Poor Man’s Carbonara (w/ pancetta, Mr. Noodles, eggs, parmesan, pepper)

Pro Tips

Get a membership at BC Marine Trails. They have awesome campsite data you can download into your GPS, and you get 20% off rentals at Comox Valley Kayaks and Canoes. I would not have had as much fun as I did without their help.
Study the tides and currents of your route (a lot), and be flexible to the possibility you might have to change your plans.
There is some cell service, but consider getting a GPS. Fog is common and it can completely destroy visibility. Having a clear read on bearing and route is essential.
If you’re interested in an A-B route instead of a loop, there are water taxis in the area that could take you out at the beginning (and you paddle back) or pick you up at the end and return you to Telegraph Cove. They’re expensive (~$150 per person each way), but could help you explore even further.

Telegraph Cove is used to kayakers taking over the place.

A common sight.. fog rolling in and out to reveal mountains hidden behind.

Chris’ legendary shot of a humpback breaching in front of our campsite.

A phenomenal (tidally dependent) beach.

Massive arches on Village Island.

A group circle and the view from Village Island.

This little dolphin followed us around through the fog.

Opportunistic wildlife crossing to an island at low tide.

A well deserved pint in Telegraph Cove to cap the trip.

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Solo Kayaking in Desolation Sound, BC

July 17, 2019 by Andrew Godfrey in Trips

In June 2018, I had to be in Vancouver for work and figured I’d use the opportunity to tack on a trip. Up to then I hadn’t done any real tripping outside of Ontario, and was really excited at the idea of kayaking the coast of BC. I generally do one solo trip every year and, unable to convince my usual camping buddies to travel cross-country, this ended up being the one.

Without any knowledge of routes and parks in BC, I turned to Reddit to get some advice on the best spots. A few folks mentioned Tofino and the Broken Group islands, but warned that they’re highly trafficked. Others suggested the North Coast of the island, in an around Telegraph Cove, but with only three nights to spare it was a bit too far. (Worth noting, I did convince a few adventurers to join me up in the Broughton Archipelago this fall - so we’ll be back that way in a few months!).

One Redditor ended up reaching out to me in a private message and spilled some quality intel. He (or she) suggested checking out Desolation Sound - a marine park just north of Powell River, and a quick hop from Vancouver. After checking out a few pictures (and lifting my jaw off the floor) I was sold, and started planning.

You’ll find Desolation Sound just east of Campbell River.

The Route

Tucked away on the northern end of the Sunshine Coast, Desolation Sound is a group of coves and islands world-renowned by sailors and paddlers. Some 60km of shoreline has been protected since 1973 as a marine park and, despite some residential development and logging in the area, it looks pretty untouched. I’ve heard there’s plenty of boat traffic in the summer, but June is the shoulder season so I was promised a bit of peace and quiet.

I planned a four-day/three-night route that would take me from the Okeover Inlet, up to the Mink and Curme Islands, and back down to Lund. The route was only about 40km, but being in saltwater for the first time and solo, I wanted to keep it pretty simple. (In hindsight, I should have done this the opposite way because of prevailing winds. But then again if I did that I wouldn’t be living up to the name of the blog...)

My route from the Okeover Inlet back into Lund.

I had the loose idea of staying on the Curme Islands and the Copeland Islands in some combination, with a couple day trips to explore the area. Because it’s all contained in the park, there are designated campsites all over the place.

One interesting curveball I came across planning for a paddle in BC is managing your water. You can’t just dunk your Nalgene off the side of the boat. So I picked up a 10L MSR Dromedary water bladder that I could stretch for four days if I absolutely had to, but was hoping I’d find a source of freshwater somewhere along the way.

The Trip

The first challenge with this trip was actually getting up there. From Vancouver, you can take a couple ferries and drive the Sunshine Coast, which I’ve heard is beautiful, but I didn’t have a car and it’s quite a ways - about 5 hours from the city. I ended up booking a flight on Pacific Coastal airways to Powell River, and booking a shuttle to the Okeover Inlet through Sunshine Coast Shuttles. Combined, the cost was only a few hundred bucks and the whole trip took a couple hours.

Generous headroom (but still had to bend at 90˚ to get to my seat).

I had booked my boat with Powell River Sea Kayak, who have locations in Okeover and Lund. This meant I could grab my kayak at one location and return it to the other for a few bucks extra, which was a bonus. I’d left Vancouver at 10am, and was in my kayak paddling up the Okeover Inlet by noon.

Day 1 was roughly 17km, getting from the Inlet and out into the Sound, and I decided to scope out the Curme Islands first. The Curmes are a small chain of islands with over a dozen well-developed campsites - tent platforms, an outhouse, some picnic tables and benches. You’re not allowed to have campfires, but it’s a fair compromise for the luxury of a well-maintained site. After a rainy and windy paddle, I settled in alone on the island for the night.

The view from one of the tent platforms on West Curme Island.

My campsite was so spectacular, I decided to settle in and stay around another day. This gave me time to explore the island and head across the bay to Unwin Lake, where I was hoping to refill my water supply.

The route to Unwin Lake takes you across the Sound to a quiet bay, where you’ll find a couple more well-developed campsites carved out along a bubbling stream. It’s a short hike up to the lake, and absolutely worth the trek.

There had obviously been some logging in the area some time ago, and hundreds of logs jammed themselves up where the lake filters down into the stream. It was a bit cold for a dip, but I refilled my water stash and found a nice spot to have lunch on top of the log jam. Afterwards, I packed up and headed back to my site for the night.

One variable I’d considered when planning (but admittedly not considered enough) were the tides. We don’t have to worry about tides back in Ontario but, holy hell, they are very much in play in BC. During my trip, the tides had a range of about 8 feet (!) and made for some very challenging entries and exits.

If the tide is high, you’re golden. But in a low tide you’re stepping precariously over slippery seaweed and razor-sharp oysters to get in and out of your kayak. Because the high and low times change every day, deciding when to make and break camp requires careful planning. Luckily, tides are very predictable and you can get the information you need months in advance from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Low tide on Day 2. My kayak is in the exact same spot as the first pic in this post!

In the afternoon on Day 2, a fairly large group of kayakers had arrived at the island, and we ended up sharing the space for the night. They were a lovely group on a Spirit of the West expedition, and we enjoyed some wine and desserts before hitting the hay. The next morning, I broke camp and started the 14km paddle down to the Copeland Islands for my last night.

On my way out of the Sound and into the open channel, I was swiftly reminded that I was on the ocean. The wind picked up, and before I knew it I was taking 3-4 foot waves over the bow and riding massive swells between them. Thankfully, these massive fiberglass sea kayaks can take a beating. I surfed into the North Copeland Islands and found a beautiful site in a quiet cove between the islands.

A quick hike up a hill on the island rewarded me with this view.

The campsites in and around Desolation Sound have absolutely spoiled me for camping anywhere else. Well-constructed wood platforms kept me off the ground, and with it raining every few hours that made a huge difference. There were tables for cooking and well-kept outhouses nearby.

I absolutely could have posted up here for another few nights (once again, being the only guy on the island) but had to start the long road back to civilization the following day.

My campsite on one of the North Copeland islands.

I broke camp early on Day 4, finally getting cell service and reading that winds and rain were supposed to get pretty hairy later in the morning. Apparently I didn’t break camp early enough because I was absolutely manhandled by wind and waves throughout the entire 8km paddle back into Lund. Truthfully, I can say I’ve never experienced waves like that before.

Luckily the route is well trafficked, and multiple boats approached me in the channel and yelled over to ask if I was alright, which simultaneously made me feel safer (knowing I could get bailed out) and less safe (knowing pretty much everyone figured I needed help). Having boats nearby helped keep my head straight, and I landed safely in Lund in a little over an hour. (Oddly enough I find I actually move faster in a headwind because unlike in a cushy tailwind, you have to paddle at max power with no breaks).

After returning my gear, I hopped a shuttle back to the airport, a flight back to Vancouver, and I was sipping a Negroni in Coal Harbour by dinner time.

Itinerary

Day 1: Okeover Inlet to West Curme Island (17km)
Day 2: Island day and Unwin Lake Hike
Day 3: West Curme Island to North Copeland Island (14km)
Day 4: North Copeland Island to Lund (8km)

Pro Tips

There is no such thing as having too much information when you’re planning for an ocean trip. Topographic maps, tide tables, marine charts, and on-demand weather reports are all extremely valuable, and I wish I had done more due diligence here.
Seasonality is a big factor on weather and crowds. High season out here is June-September, so if you’re looking to avoid crowds plan your trip on the shoulders. (i.e., early June, or after Labour Day). If you want to see whales, I understand August/September are best.
Lean on the outfitters for intel. They know the area, and can give plenty of advice on the best spots and places to go. I also recommend paying $25 to get full access to the BC Marine Trails maps, which have plentiful data on campsites and areas of interest. Also they’re awesome and deserve the support.
Cell reception is spotty, so bring a VHF radio or an SOS device in case of trouble.

Editor’s note: I did this trip before I had my GPS, so unfortunately I don’t have defined coordinates/tracks to share. Luckily the folks at BC Marine Trails have already done most of the work, and you can download GPX/KML files of the area from their maps. Likewise, I didn’t track my food so I don’t have that information for you either. Next time - I promise.