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“Whipped Full of Wind and Waves” |
We left Toronto at about 9:30 a.m. on Sunday to begin our 4.5 hour
drive to Killarney Provincial Park. We had one kayak strapped to
Andrea's roof racks and had called in advance to make sure others were
available from Killarney Outfitters.
We decided to eat lunch in the town of Killarney, and after a lengthy 45-minute wait, we finally got our fish and chips from Herbert's. With a reputation of fish and chips "to die for", you might think I'd say it was worth it. But I won't. Yes, the chips were very good, and the fish was fabulous and incredibly fresh. (There's even a fish-cleaning and vacu-seal service right next door for successful fisherfolk). However, once you factor in the time it actually takes to get into town, it was just too much effort for fried food. Next time, my vote would be to grab anything from any store, and be on the water 90 minutes earlier.
Next stop was the Killarney Park office to get
a parking permit, and from there, the Chikanishing River Access Point
to drop off the kayak. Aidan elected to stay with it, while Andrea and
I continued on to Killarney Outfitters to pick up the rentals.
As
usual, the outfitters were staffed by capable, helpful and
generally great people. Although we had called in to check on
kayak availability, we didn't reserve. Bad call. All that was left were
the more expensive fibreglass boats. The staff generously gave us one
day free, so we ended up paying the same as we would for the less
expensive kayaks. Once he learned that we were kayaking newbies,
he offered a 10-minute demo lesson to show us how everything
worked: float paddles, spray skirt, rudder, and stroke tips.
Perfect!
Even better, he looked over a map with us and highlighted some of
his favourite spots along the route: Winakaching is a nice, easy trip
with good campsites.... there's a great beach in Desjardins Bay... if
the weather's good, you'll be able to make it as far as the Chickens,
they're really interesting etc.
We mentioned our plan to go head South-East along the islands and come back the same way (different
route /different islands, of course). However, if weather didn't
co-operate, we would return via the sheltered Collins Inlet. The outfitter guy
agreed with the plan (Collins Inlet is full of cottages and is less
interesting). He also pointed out that, if necessary, we could make the
Collins trip in one (very long) day. Surprising, because it's at least
25 km, but good to know.
It's only about 15 minutes from the Outfitters to the
Chikanishing River, but it took two trips (one for each boat) and
another hour and a half before we were sorted out, loaded up and ready
to go.
Kayaking in the Chikanishing River is easy. It's a lazy, winding canal. Sure, compared to a canoe, I found that a
kayak is a beast to turn, but easy enough to manage by paddling a few
times on one side, or using various canoe tricks. A little frustrating, but no problem. I'd get the hang of it.
Except that our 1 km river paddle didn't give us nearly enough time to get the hang of it. And all changed suddenly when we
reached the Western Entrance. It's only a short crossing, but it was
whipped full of wind and waves directly in from
Georgian
Bay. We charged on, but it began to look like an unpleasant battle was
ahead of us.
Didn't help matters that the rope used to raise and lower my rudder snapped and my canoe tricks no
longer helped make the boat behave. I was exerting tremendous energy
just keeping the waves at 45 degrees (or thereabouts) while I
zig-zagged marginally forward. Aidan was in potentially worse shape: He started powering
through the channel as fast as he could once he discovered that his
spray skirt would not stay attached while the waves sloshed over his
low-riding bow.
It was Andrea who called it off. A very experienced canoeist, she was not happy with the maneouverings of her kayak, either. Also the voice of reason. Some degree of mastery was needed before we ventured into the channel in rough weather, or there was a fair chance that one of us would dump. Most likely, this would not have been dangerous - sea kayaks are designed for this sort of thing, after all. However, it would have been quite a trick for an inexperienced person to figure out how to actually use a paddle float (at least we had that demo!), get back in and get the deck pumped out. Harder still in all of those waves.
As it was, I could barely turn my kayak around as we headed back to
a landing point on the sheltered side of a nearby island at the mouth
of the Chikanishing River. A great island for a campsite, as luck would
have it.
We spent the next morning playing in the water around the island: starting on the sheltered side, then gradually venturing into the waves in the open bay, eventually coasting on the mild surf as it rushed in through a narrow channel between islands. Our paddling skills were definitely improving, but the weather chose not to cooperate.
Islanders (Prince Edward Islanders, that is) have a great expression:
storm -stayed. If a sudden squall hits, visting friends, relatives and
even neighbours may end up staying on for a day or two until it's safe to travel again. This
is sort of what happened to us, though of course, there wasn't anyone
on our little island to offer up a friendly bit of shelter.
Shorebound is what we were then, due to a thundering sort of summer storm. We
crouched for hours under the slick, silicone tarp,
watching the rain pour down while lightning crashed directly overhead.
So close and crackling that Andrea advised us to perch on top of our lifejackets and
avoid touching rock or tree roots until the worst had past.
previous travel blog entry
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