Seth and I started kayaking a few years ago in an effort to find a hobby that we both enjoyed. I love backpacking and camping and Seth likes hiking and camping, but he does not really like backpacking. Seth kayaked with his family as a kid and liked it, so I thought touring with sea kayaks might be a good shared hobby for us because we could get out in nature and go camping without having to carry packs. Turns out it was a great idea and we both loved it! We took a kayaking basics course in 2018 and have gone on a 3-day trip every year since, so this year we decided to get ourselves a pair of kayaks!

Kayaks are definitely not cheap and have a lot of costs that come along with them (roof rack, paddles, PFDs, skirts, etc). To date we’ve always rented kayaks, and while that’s not cheap either, you can still go on quite a few trips before it approaches the cost of buying your own. But we’d like to start doing day and evening paddles as well, so we decided it was worth the money and are super excited about our new boats! We got them at Skyview Outdoor Store in Surrey, which I would highly recommend. We both got Boreal Storm 16 kayaks, which means they are 16 foot long sea touring kayaks. To differentiate between the two, I got a yellow one and Seth got red.

We took them out on their maiden voyage over the Easter weekend in early April. We wanted to launch from the Belcarra picnic area, but we were a little too late getting started on Easter Sunday and couldn’t find parking, so instead we took them over to Sasamat Lake. It’s a nice little lake and it was fun to test them out there, but it’s a bit on the small side, so we returned to Belcarra early on Easter Monday to kayak to Jug Island. If you’re planning to explore (by foot or boat) from the picnic area, arriving early is a must as its a small parking lot and Metro Vancouver does close the road once it’s full. They have also introduced pay parking this year for $2 an hour. There is an upside though – you can get public transit to both Sasamat Lake at Belcarra from Moody Centre!

We had absolutely perfect weather for it on the day we went – blue skies with a dead calm on the water. I really like Belcarra Regional Park and I’ve hiked out to Jug Island a few times. It’s only a 5km hike, so I recommend checking it out on foot if you’re in the area, but this time I definitely preferred visiting by boat! We took our time paddling up the coast looking at all the giant homes along the water. It has a very urban feel until you reach the end of the peninsula, but once you round the corner you can see Jug Island and up Indian Arm and it feels much more remote.

We paddled around Jug Island and then pulled into the little beach at the end of the trail to have a snack. We didn’t see any other paddlers on the way out, but there were already quite a few hikers enjoying the view. We paddled a little further up to take a peak into Bedwell Bay and get some photos up Indian Arm before turning around and heading back. We saw a lot more paddlers on our way back and round trip it was about 7km of paddling. With the break at the beach looking towards Jug Island, I thought this was a really good half day beginner paddle!

Going in April though, you definitely need to play close attention to the weather conditions and dress for it. It was a gorgeous sunny day when we went and Seth even kayaked just in a t-shirt for part of it, but the water is freezing, so I had a merino layer under my waterproof jacket and gloves and headband to keep my ears warm (plus extra fleece layers in my dry bag). I’m planning to invest in some neoprene booties next because the water is cold on your feet so early in the season!

Now that we have kayaks, I’ll likely be posting a lot more content about kayaking. We have a few ideas for where we’d like to take them this year, but since we’re still new to the kayaking scene, would love to hear anyone else’s recommendations! Like I said, we have the Sea Kayaking Basics course from Paddle Canada, but we’re planning to upgrade to their Level 1 course soon to grow our knowledge and be more prepared on the water.

Looking forward to lots of new adventures!