Day 8 - Friday - June 15 - Ballenas Island to Texada Island South


After crossing the Strait of Georgia I reached Squitty Bay at the south end of Lasqueti Island.

Today was the first day of the trip that I paddled with someone else. My new kayaking friend and I were both happy to have a companion along for the seven-mile crossing of the Strait of Georgia from South Ballenas to Lasqueti Island. We launched at 9:40am and had no problems crossing the strait arriving off the southeast tip of Lasqueti Island at 12:10pm. We followed the rocky coastline around into Sabine Channel and through a group of small islands and rocky islets.


I spotted this cluster of Starfish at low tide on Jedediah Island.
















This abandoned homestead is located at Home Bay on Jedediah Island.

The first place that we found to land and take a break was Home Bay on Jedediah Island. Although this was a good place to stop for a rest, it was not suitable for camping. We continued on a couple of miles further, and then crossed Sabine Channel over to Texada Island.


















This was the first likely campsite I had seen since leaving Ballenas Island.




My first Texada Island campsite looked out on Sabine Channel.

A beautiful campsite awaited us on a small peninsula jutting out from Texada just south of Mount Shepherd. The beach was easy to land the kayaks on and there was plenty of level space to pitch tents. The views up and down Sabine Channel were spectacular, with miles of open water to the northwest and southeast and the broken shorelines of dozens of islands visible across the channel.




Looking SE down Sabine Channel.

This evening the wind became very strong out of the southeast, and the sky was clearer than it had been at any time in the past week. Overnight the wind stopped and a light rain started. This rain continued for the next three days.











Looking across Sabine Channel to Lasqueti Island.

We had landed at 3:00pm after traveling 13 miles from South Ballenas Island to Texada Island in 5 hours and 20 minutes.