SKA Blog

Kayaking with orcas lead Sea Kayak Adventures to Johnstone Strait, the northern section of Vancouver Island’s Inside Passage. Johnstone Strait in July-Sept is the best place in the world to kayak with orcas and see killer whales up close, due to the concentration of orcas in this narrow, sheltered waterway.  This unique subspecies of orca, called "northern residents," is found nowhere else on earth and eats only fish.  They congregate each summer in Johnstone Strait to feast on the prolific salmon runs concentrated by the geography of the strait.

This part of British Columbia, Canada also hosts a wealth of other life, from dolphins and porpoises to seals and otters. Below the waves, a myriad of fish, crustaceans, and invertebrates support this diverse ecosystem. None are more vital than the Pacific salmon, which plays a key role in sustenance for the entire ecosystem.  Bald eagles, orcas, bears and generations of First Nations people rely on the salmon which is why we must take care to protect them.

Kayak vacations increase in popularity as adventure travel becomes more accessible and affordable, even for families. Here are some great reasons to consider spending your next vacation on a kayak tour:

Closer to nature: Our kayak tours operate in National Marine Parks and UNESCO World Heritage Sites – basically, some of the most beautiful and pristine wilderness areas on the planet.  The very best way to experience these natural wonders is without the interference of the industrial world (which is after all why you’re choosing to visit).  Kayaks are quiet, unobtrusive to wildlife, and will allow you to access beaches and inlets where even boats can’t reach.  Even better, the carrying capacity of a kayak allows us to bring some of our creature comforts – like gourmet meals with fresh produce – on our wilderness adventure. Rather than roughing it with beef jerky and freeze dried foods, as might be necessary for a backpacking or hiking trip, kayak vacations allow for a “camping plus” experience.

Guides: Have an adventure vacation – and all the thrills – with someone who can help you make the most out of the experience. Our guides know the weather, wind, and water conditions to plan for optimum paddling, camping, and hiking. They know where to find the best wildlife viewing sites, which beaches to camp at, and how far to pull the kayaks up at night.  They are wonderful teachers, naturalists, entertainers and cooks to boot!  Adventure doesn’t have to mean miserable or foolhardy!

Exercise: Many people spend a great deal of their lives bound to a chair and desk.  Though sometimes we may feel so exhausted from work that we just want to lie on the beach (and there is plenty of time and opportunity to do so on our Baja tours!), exercise can regenerate our bodies even more thoroughly than a period of idleness. A kayak vacation does just that! Moreover, for those who feel stuck in a monotonous gym routine, a week of kayaking, hiking, and snorkeling in fresh air will make use of those hard-earned muscles (or give you the impetus to get to the gym beforehand!).

Price: Our trips start at $895 for a 5-day itinerary, including hotel. Even with the addition of airfare above the trip cost, many folks would be hard-pressed to find a week’s worth of travel, lodging, meals and guided activities for this price.  Hotel and food alone would nearly equal the cost, and even with a meager budget for activities, most vacations far surpass our prices.  So why not leave the planning, packing, and supplies up to SKA? Just bring your clothes. It’s that easy.

Eco-friendly: We are often at our most wasteful during vacation, where we don’t have the ease and familiarity be eco-conscious. The steps we take at home, like recycling, re-using grocery bags, and watching our energy consumption, are nearly impossible from a hotel room. This year, keep your vacation in line with your eco-responsibility and travel eco-friendly.  Kayak vacation tours make the perfect vehicle for environmentally-conscious tourism due to their lack of emissions and low-impact. Additionally, SKA offsets 100% of the energy used on our tours and is a certified carbon-neutral company.

Sea kayaking and whale watching tours in Baja and British Columbia with Sea Kayak Adventures are fully-equipped and fully-catered, so all you need to bring is yourself! But don’t worry – just because you’ll be eco-camping doesn’t mean you won’t receive first-class fare. So how DO our guides prepare such wonderful, delicious meals in the middle of uninhabited wilderness?!

Dutch ovens are the first “ingredient” to our success.  Sea Kayak Adventures remains one of the few kayak tour companies that cooks with this authentic, versatile method. Dutch ovens are placed on or over a campfire or stove, often with coals placed along the lid to heat from the top as well.  While most people think of Dutch ovens as suitable only for slow-cooking, like roasts or stews, our specialty is dutch oven baking for savory main dishes like chili rellenos, baked salmon and vegetable lasagna.

We even make delicious desserts in these cast-iron pots, from brownies to pineapple upside-down cake. Want to test your culinary camping skills? See the recipe below – and let us know how it turns out!

Fabulous Dutch Oven dessert: 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake (serves 7-8 people)

Ingredients:

• Yellow cake mix (1 box for 7 people)
• 1 Can of sliced Pineapple
  
• 2-3 eggs & vegetable oil for cake mix/box
• 1 small jar maraschino cherries
• butter & brown sugar

Instructions: Oil inside of Dutch Oven. Cover D.O. bottom with butter & brown sugar.  Arrange pineapple slices & maraschino cherries on bottom of D.O.  Mix cake mix according to box directions and pour batter over pineapples/cherries.  Bake 45 mins.-1 hour. Invert cake onto D.O. lid for serving.

This week was amazing from start to finish, with orca encounters to take your breath away! Guests on our Johnstone Strait Base Camp tour Aug 15-18 on northern Vancouver Island were thrilled to view over 60 killer whales!  We observed pods: A30′s, I15′s, A23′s, A35′s & Springer, A36′s, A12, A34′s and the A24 matrilines of fish-eating "northern resident" killer whales feasting on the peak salmon runs. Quite often it seemed like everywhere you turned there were killer whales!

It was an amazing trip up in God's Pocket this week with a great group of people.  Highlights included a sea otter sighting and our host Bill playing with a giant pacific octopus (click here to see the octopus video)!  We saw some amazing wildlife including a humpback whale, porpoises, and seals.  During the trip we circumnavigated several islands, and visited an ancient First Nation's midden.  Mid-week we hiked to Harlequin Bay to view the old-growth cedar trees, and later paddled to the Scarlett Point Lighthouse for a tour led by the lighthouse keeper. Perfect paddling weather, just a bit of rain and no wind all week.  We capped off our trip with an amazing night paddle in the bio-luminescence.  Everybody enjoyed the incredible meals prepared by Shona, especially her baking!  It's back to the gym and cottage cheese.

On our first Johnstone Strait orca kayak tour of the season last week, we were thrilled to see orcas, humpback whales, Dall's porpoise, Pacific white-sided dolphins and harbor seals, and a wonderful time was had by all. We still have room this July and August on our 4 and 6-day paddling tours in Johnstone Strait, northern Vancouver Island, home to the world's only orca preserve Robson Bight Ecological Preserve - the best place we've found to be close to orcas in pristine wilderness.

Nancy just flew home from Port McNeill after a pre-season meeting with Terry and our BC guides - we are super excited for the season to begin with such a great team in place! The area is as stunning as ever with still plenty of snow on the BC coastal mountains to serve as our backdrop of paddling the waters of northern Inside Passage.

Some of our favorite things to check out traveling to or from BC's northern Vancouver Island:

1) Bill Reid's Jade Canoe sculpture at the Vancouver International Airport is the size of a VW bus and the airport's focal feature.

2) Tim Horton's restaurant chain (lovingly called Timmy's) is the coffee/breakfast sandwich/donut place beloved by BC folks of all walks of life.

3) The Whale Interpretive Centre/Museum at Telegraph Cove

4) Umista Cultural Centre - Alert Bay - if you have an extra day in Port McNeill

5) Half day or full day orca cruises with Stubbs Island or Bill Mackay 

Why this trip:
1. It’s home to the only orca preserve in the world Robson Bight;
2. The “Jane Goodall”of orcas (scientist Alexandra Morton has studied these unique orcas here for years);
3. The single best time and place in the world to paddle with these salmon-eating orcas when the salmon runs peak;
4. Sheltered location perfect for novices new to sea kayaking;
5. We provide all gear and instruction, hearty meals and naturalist guides - just bring yourselves!

Additional details about this trip can be found here!