Waiatt Bay and Octopus Islands

Shallows at Octopus Island (lots of big snakes on shore)

Octopus Islands from Vikki's kayak

Ian and Jeff heading to Little Bay (very nice forest)

Vikki and Lily waiting out the rain

A day of rain in Waiatt Bay

Waiatt Bay and Octopus Islands

We raised the anchor early the next morning and headed westerly to catch the slack current at Surge Narrows. First we needed to get across the northern part of the Strait of Georgia in reportedly some stiff wind. Once we got out there it was not nearly as bad as we imagined. We made good time and were early for the slack at the narrows. We had expected many boats lined up to pass through at slack, but there was only one and he headed straight up them as soon as he got there (about a half hour before the actual slack). So we decided if he could do it so could we (they had a sail boat). We headed in and found out the current was still running and the pass was very narrow, but we made it! On the other side was the armada. About 25 boats were waiting for the slack. It must have been the weekend crowd heading back south. We were glad we did not meet that crowd in the narrow pass.

We moved north up the Okisollo Channel towards the Waiatt Bay and the Octopus Islands. They are located in a beautiful channel and the entry to the bay was a bit intimidating with a very tiny channel for our large boat. We followed the charts very carefully working around the rocks and emerged into a large bay. We hunkered down at the west end of the bay and the rain and wind moved in. The next day it rained and blew most of the day, but we were happy inside with books, cards and naps. We did take a small hike over to an inlet that extended across from the west side of Quadra Island. The forest was lush and we found a really nice freshwater spring. We passed on the walk to a lake, as the weather was turning bad again. We did find a patch of wild peppermint and pick a bunch for some wonderful tea.

We decided to make it one more day in the Octopus Islands to allow for more poking around. Ian and I started the day with some nice kayaking along south shore of the bay. Not much intertidal stuff, but great scenery. Later in the day I headed out north and east to the actual Octopus Islands in my kayak and spent a couple hours of just checking out the shore and all the nooks and crannies. For all the "plant heads" reading this I have noticed there is a lot of pickelweed that grows at the high water mark up here. Lyngby’s sedge, Baltic rush and tufted hairgrass are also very common in every bay we have been to. Doug fir, western red cedar and hemlock dominate the shoreline. There are lots of balds dominated by mosses this time of year. I have not seen evidence of many spring flowers except nodding onion to date.