Detailed Itinerary
It’s worth noting that both Jerome and I are experienced paddlers. The following itinerary covers large distances (we were helped significantly by favourable tides and winds). I provide this itinerary as ideas for destinations, and don’t necessarily suggest that you try and replicate the whole journey.
Day 1: Montague Harbour to Wallace Island - 20km
I think it’s fair to say that Jerome and I vastly underestimated the distance we were about to cover. However, good fortune meant the wind and tides were both in our favour and made the distance somewhat manageable.
The initial paddle takes you through Montague Harbour, with a mandatory pit-stop at the Montague Provincial Campground to fill up your water containers. As you exit Montague Harbour the islands open up into a huge expanse of water, just waiting for you to explore.
We were full of energy at this point and powering on, heading northwest and hugging the inner coast of Galiano Island. Along this coastline are all sorts of interesting rock formations that are well worth exploring if you can find a suitable landing spot.
This big white cliff, not too far from Montague Harbour can bee seen clearly from the other side of the Trincomali Channel and makes a good nav marker when you’re trying to place yourself on the map.
Along the shores of Galiano Island, you’ll encounter these incredible wave like formations. If the tide is right, you might find a handy spot to tie up for lunch, though you’ll need a little luck for this.
We planned to cross the Trincomali at at southern tip of Wallace Island, where the crossing is at it’s narrowest. Even there, the crossing is 1.5 and got pretty choppy. Thankfully, the waves were in our favour and we pushed on through some fairly hairy moments to reach the eastern side of Wallace Island.
Three quarters of the way along the eastern side of Wallace Island, we stopped to look at Cabin Bay campsite. There are only a couple of tent spots here with no real options to pitch up elsewhere. Quickly we packed up and continued on to Chivers Point Campground.
It turns out Chivers Point at the southern tip of Wallace Island is absolutely the better option. It’s location on the end of the peninsula is stunning, makes a great swim spot, and is far more spacious. From there we thought we’d do a quick sunset lap of the Secretary Islands to the north, before settling down for a beer and a homemade chili.
Night 1: Bio-luminescent plankton
Bioluminescent plankton was the reason I planned our first trip to the Gulf Islands. Some friends of ours had recently done a guided night kayak tour with Gulf Island Kayaking, and came back raving about this incredible phoenomenon. We had to check it out.
We re-launched our kayak at about 10pm, not really knowing what to expect. By this time the waters were calm and the choppy day time water was no where to be seen. We paddled just around the peninsula and about 100m down the eastern side of Wallace Island. Within seconds, I said to Jerome, “do you see that light?”. At first I wondered if I might have blinded myself with my headtorch and was seeing stars. We turned all our lights off and kept paddling in the almost non-existent light.
Sure enough the water beneath us was lighting up at every paddle stroke. This honestly was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Every splash of the hand and movement of paddle, would paint magical blue stripes through the water. It got better when we paddled fast. As the paddles reached deeper into the water, fish darted in all directions, disturbing the plankton and creating an underwater light display beyond imagination.
We continued paddling around for a good 40 minutes before returning to our campsite. It’s a shame I couldn’t really capture the phenomenon with my camera, as I find it very difficult to put into words how incredible it was. Here’s about the best photo I could manage.
Day 2: Wallace Island to Prevost Island - 16km
As luck would have it we again had the tides in our favour as we paddled back up the Trincomali, this time along the eastern shore of Saltspring Island. We kept paddling, looking for a suitable spot for lunch. We didn’t realize we were about the stumble upon the only sandy beach on Saltspring Island.
Welcome to Walter Hook Beach! Better still, this beach isn’t accessible by public road (though to be fair I wish all beaches were public access), so there’s basically no-one there. Ayelen and I would return here a couple of nights later to camp.
We continued our journey along Saltspring, hugging the coastline to avoid the tide that we knew would soon be flowing against us. The waters were calm and mirror-like, making easy paddling as we approach Prevost Island. From here we paddled across the short gap between Salt Spring and Prevost, crossing cautiously behind a passing ferry.
At about 5pm we paddled into James Bay campground, it’s sandy beach making an easy entrance for any level of paddler. We were amazed to see only one other tent at the campground, despite this being a bank holiday weekend! After pitching our tent we went back out for a quick lap of Prevost Island, before changing our minds a quarter of the way around. Instead we paddled back to camp for a beer.
Day 3: Prevost to Galiano + Galiano to Saltspring - 10km
On day three Jerome and I paddled back across the Montague Harbour, where he would catch an early ferry home, and be replaced by Ayelen who’d be joining me for the last night.
We woke up at 5am to pack up our tents, at which point it was still completely dark. Our shoulders were aching like crazy from levels of effort they just weren’t used to. The only thing I can compare it to is bad growing pains. We were motivated by the sunlight drooling over the horizon, and quickly jumped in our kayak to paddle across the bay. What we didn’t expect was possibly the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever experienced, made more incredible by the mirror-like reflection on the water.
After swapping Jerome for Ayelen, we paddled back out onto the Trincomali channel into what was now a bigger swell than I’d hoped for. Fortunately the conditions calmed down pretty quick which gave us a good opportunity to cross. I stayed in the back to do the steering and Ayelen took the role of navigator with our map in the front. The great thing about sitting in the back is you always know when the person in front is slacking, and you can crack the whip!
We could not have had a better experience of Walter Hook beach. Zero wind and calm waters made it another exceptional night to see the bio-luminescent plankton, and we even made a new friend along the way…
A Note on Beach Camping: Technically, all beaches are campable as long as you camp at or below the high tide line. This always seems like a bit of a debatable line to me, but in principle it means where all the logs get dumped on the beach by the highest of tides. We had a high tide at 11pm which filled the entire beach. We had to wait it out on the logs before pitching our tent. You may wonder why we couldn’t walk up onto the land behind the beach – which is because that land is private, and the farmer was there to make doubly sure that we know about it.
Day 4: Saltspring Island to Galiano Island
After a late start and a morning coffee, it was time to pack up and head back to Montague Harbour. Many logs on the beach make great wind shelters, though on this occasion as you can see there was almost none. Below you’ll see the stand up paddler and her dog that came by in the perfect morning conditions.
Ayelen was less reluctant about crossing the Trincomali Channel second time round. Conditions were calmer, and we were motivated by the thought of beers and fries at Montague Harbour. The journey back from Walter Hook beach took us about 2.5 hours, including a few detours to observe a couple of seal colonies and posh mansions from a distance.
So there you have it, our 4 day itinerary in and around the gulf islands. You absolutely do not have to follow the same path, and inf fact I would encourage you to look at the map of campsites, assess the conditions, your ability and your ambitions, and make a plan that suits you. Either way, stay safe and only tackle conditions and crossings you are capable of, and capable of rescuing yourself from.
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