Vancouver Island Paradise

I wanted to make sure I got something up on the blog before I left for Peru, so I figured I'd share a few pictures from the Bunsby Islands. For those of you who don't know...I'm leaving on a expedition to paddle the RIO HUALLAGA in Peru on July 10th. I'll come home from that trip and finish shooting and editing Pacific Horizons.

Back in May I got togther with the crew from BBB and headed out to the west coast of Vancouver Island. Shawna, Leon, Matt, and Djuna picked me up in Horshoe Bay and we rallied many hours on winding dirt roads, crammed into the BBB head executive vehicle, eventually arriving at Fair Harbor. Plan was to spend 6-7 days on the water, explore the Bunsby Islands, maybe head to the Brooks Peninsula, and play in the swell of the Pacific Ocean. I had been looking forward to the trip for some time, as it had been a couple years since Shawna, Leon, and I had been out on a real multi-day adventure and the first time I had done a coastal trip with Matt and Djuna. Like the week we did the tidal race tour, it felt good to go into the trip seeing a giant high pressure system engulfing the North island. May was a beauty here in the Northwest and we soaked it up on this trip.

The team less Shawna in Fair Harbor. We put on at about 6PM with a pretty big push to the first campsite.

photo by Shawna Franklin

The second day we pushed to get into the Bunsby Islands. The scenery was amazing and it was clear no one else was around. Pretty quiet this time of year.

photo by Shawna Franklin

A nice little play spot we found on our way to get drinking water!

photo by Shawna Franklin

Big part of coming to the Bunsby's was to have really good camping and lots of short day trips to play in swell. Here Djuna and Shawna are settling into the evening hours with some yoga.

photo by Matt Nelson

The tidepools around this campsite were incredible.

photo by Shawna Franklin

Ont the 3rd Day we got into some pretty solid wind and swell on the outside of the Bunsby's

photo by Shawna Franklin

Even though I was filming most of the time, I managed to do a bit of rock gardening.

photo by Shawna Franklin

Leon has just come through the same gap as the shot of me above. Timing is everything when rock gardening.

photo by Shawna Franklin

Working for the shot. I was shooting from above to capture the clear water.

photo by Shawna Franklin

The water was crystal clear.

photo by Shawna Franklin

Matt and Leon playing in the swell off the campite we had in the outer islands

photo by Shawna Franklin

We had 5 days of sun by the time this shot was taken. Very rare on the West coast of Vancouver Island in May.

photo by Shawna Franklin

I think people will really enjoy this part of the film. We captured some of the better rock gardening footage I have seen to date and saw tons of wildlife. Lots of big black bears, sea otters, and eagles. Hope everyone has an amazing July of kayaking!

Subscribing to this Site.

When I put the site up it appears that I did not get the correct code pasted into the blog for subscriptions. So anyone who subscribed to this site early on is most likely recieving "The Range Life" updates form the whitewater site that I contribute to. I appologize. Either way if you are interested in recieving emails when I have posted something new, glance over the the right and type in your email. I will be getting a post up soon about the trip to the Bunsby's. Ralph, Lannie, and Albert over at Coast Mountain Expeditions sent these shots along from the trip to Quadra. Some really cool ones that I thought I'd share...

I think the reflection of the boat in the water of this shot is really cool.

photo by Albert Keller

Dave White...intersting position to be in.

photo by Albert Keller

There is a pretty good sized whirlpool forming just downstream in this shot.

photo by Albert Keller

Love the late evening light on sea kayaking trips.

photo by Albert Keller

The Official Trailer is Here!

Just thought I would put a post up in regards to the trailer that I have posted. I hope everyone has been able to view it ok and that load times have not been too bad. I have posted a link in the sidebar as well. If for any reason you are having difficulty uploading it is probably because you need to download the latest version of quicktime. A really slow connection speed could also cause some trouble. Enjoy and let me know if you are having any troubles viewing!

Paddling with the Orca Whales

After we finished up the week of tidal race paddling, Lise-Anne and I headed straight for the San Juan Islands. It was a two-folded mission. First and most importantly we went to Orcas Island for Matt and Djuna'a wedding. So great to see these two spirits united and living such an amazing life on Orcas. They are now part of the team at Body Boat Blade and will be featured in the Bunsby Island segment of the film.

The second part of the mission was taking the inter-island ferry over to San Juan Island to paddle the west side in hopes of seeing some killer whales. We met up with our friends Pat and Dan from Mt. Vernon and Chris and Hillary from Bellingham. After a relaxing morning we put on the water, paddled out of Smallpox Bay and instantly encountered J-Pod heading North. The timing was incredible. We literally took 30 or 40 paddle strokes and we were seeing dorsal fins coming right at us.

Chris, Hillary, and me scanning the horizon line

photo by Dan Moose

J-Pod consists of about 24 whales and is the most commonly seen pod of whales in the San Juan Islands. The Center for Whale Research run by Ken Balcomb and his son Kelly Balcomb-Bartok has been studying these whales through photo identification for over 25 years.

One of the J-pod adult females just off the bow!

photo by Dan Moose

Filming the whales.

photo by Dan Moose

After a night in the rain, the weather cleared up fro an amazing paddle on Sunday. I got a chance to catch up with Kelly Balcomb-Bartok at Center for Whale Research for an interview and then we hit the water. The whales were rumored to be South at Eagle Point so we paddled South. No sightings, but we had a spectacular day on the water.

Lise-Anne and I paddling a double. Filming from the front of the double has provided some great angles for the film.

photo by Dan Moose

The team!

photo by Dan Moose

This is going to be a great segment in the film with a bunch of kayaking but also a lot of history and information on the killer whales. San Juan Island has become such a popular destination to come paddle with the whales, but there is a lot to know about these amazing mammals and their fragile state.