Day 9 to Day 12: Blind Island to Blackberry Point

19th May 2023

18th May: Day 12
Montegue to Blackberry Point 
Distance 30km 

It’s a strange thing seeing your body change on a daily basis – from all the paddling I can actually see all my fingerprints: the patterns pronounced and the back of my hands starting to look like a tanned crocodile hand bag! 
The day started gloriously: we had a couple join us last night and for our morning paddle. Sharing a meal with Elizabeth and Bob Purdon – what awesome people – once again getting that local knowledge is priceless! Meeting kayakers from all over the world and hearing stories of the adventures they have had… And the laughter! Human kindness personified!! 
Our first couple of kilometres was filled with the bounty of the sea: jumping fish silver streaks breaking the surface, the amount of eagles perched on trees surveying their domain, an otter catching a fish and a mink! You see these clusters of deep purple starfish hanging onto the rocks and all of a sudden I had smoke on the water by deep purple playing in my head! Then multiple times a day I laugh uncontrollably at these little black and white birds with the most striking red feet that perch on the rocks and float on the the water’s surface, but when they take off from the water the flap flap sound they make has me in stitches… it’s like running in flip flops over a wet tile floor. The flap flap flop then they are up and away! 
We stopped and got stuck in this little cove, stopped for some lunch and then the wind started to pick up so we made a safety call to wait a bit so that it’s less hazardous. Well we couldn’t foresee this!! We were just lying on the rocks and washed up logs like beached seals trying to catch the right window. One of our team members discovered a 30cm snake sharing our log and sunshine – there was no high pitched noises just very fast moving!! And a picture of our new friend! 
We had some very interesting crossings today! A tug boat pulling this barge just as we were planning our crossing came into view so it’s slam the kayaks into reverse and hold position! Sounds easy enough however getting chucked around by the swell like a cork bobbing! It was a bit of white knuckles on the paddles! 
One thing expedition kayaking has taught me is be fluid, have a plan but make sure there are at least two back up plans! We are on our third camp site – just what you need after paddling the whole day! To give an example we are averaging about 45-55 paddle strokes a minute; that is 2700 an hour – multiply that by the hours we’re paddling!! The third campsite is breathtaking – we’re on the water’s edge surrounded by daisies with dragonflies weaving around us! 
Now we’re basking in the sunshine, kit all over drying out! Whilst I was sitting and writing this we just heard a swoop and a splash in the water – an eagle catching its dinner!!

17th May: Day 11 
Port Browning To Montague
Distance 25km 

It was like paddling on polished glass; a kayakers dream today! Perfect conditions – sun was shining, a gentle breeze behind you and a little bit of flow pushing you along! 
We had to change our route slightly due to the fact that Canada is having a long weekend so all the camp sites we were going to are getting booked up! Once again the scenery just blows you away! The rat tat tat of fishing boats bouncing on the waves as they cross in front of us. 
We did another crossing quick brief on the water, reference points marked and aimed for utilizing the flow to glide across. 
The wind creates these little divots and dimples, mad little hypnotizing patterns akin to a mythical sea serpent waking from its slumber stretching and contracting his muscles and scales individually and simultaneously rippling outwards over its skin. 
We paddled in crystal clear water, rich dark blue, dark green and foreboding water. We got on an escalator in the middle of the water, the flow pushes you along and all you have to do is stay the course! Then all of a sudden its like hitting a brick wall where two different flows meet and then you dig your paddle in deeper feeling the bite, and you paddle like crazy! 
I didn’t wear my dry suit today – I missed the familiar feeling, that comfort of pressure of your seals and the sounds it makes when you rotate and you hear that swoosh! I’m so used to paddling in a dry suit it felt almost wrong. 
Landing at high tide is always a pleasure because we don’t have to carry our kit that far!! 

16th May: Day 10
From Stuart Island To Port Browning 
Distance 21km 
What a sunset – last night I just sat on the beach watching the sky change colour! The sky was in hues of pink! The stillness you find here and in yourself no money can buy! 
It’s the morning and the rustle of sleeping bags, cookers getting fired up, coffee being made, packing away of your kit in dry bags – the maintaining of that discipline of getting up, changing into your damp paddling clothes from yesterday, sorting out your day, exercising that last bit of control before you get on the water. You can only prepare up to a point then its down to mother nature – the changing of weather, wind, flow – it is what it is and I want it all! 
Mother nature is smiling at us, we had a massive crossing and we had the wind at our back, the breeze kissing the back of your neck, the outgoing tidal flow giving us a little push along, the swell just rolling over your decks, little white horses forming on the water! When you hear this booming noise behind you this behemoth of steel and metal appearing from an island dwarfing its surroundings, then you think to yourself I’m in a 26 foot kayak sitting 6 inches above the water and this unladen bulk carrier that is approximately 300m long hurtling past – please see me, please see me!! We made the crossin: we are in Canada!! The joy on everyones faces; it was pure bliss! 
Stopped to get our visas checked and booked in – that is our first American phase done!!! 
We have arrived at Port Browning now. If you want to see how quickly blokes move tell them the restaurant shuts at 20:00 – nothing motivates like a burger and a beer. There was nothing but silence as we tore into our food like a hungry pack of wolves! It was elbows everywhere! That sip of golden nectar went down like a treat! 

15th May: Day 9
Blind Island to Stuart Island 
Distance 18.25km 
We started the day with wild geese honking, seagulls shouting and a family of seals frolicking in front of us – little playful dogs of the sea! 
We were weaving in and out of floating debris, jagged outcrops of rocks covered in sun-bleached barnacles. All of the the self deprecating thoughts, ‘Am I good enough?’, that self-imposed imposter syndrome shouting going on in your head disappears with that dipping of your hand into the bracing cold water, the water droplets beating a drum beat on your spraydeck. 
The feeling you get when the gentle waves wash over your kayak deck, the water washing the salt crystals away that have formed on your dry suit. 
We didn’t do so many kilometres today due to the fact we have to get our visas stamped to go into Canada! The first part of our American section of our expedition is coming to a close – I can’t lie to you, it is a great feeling! 
We spent the day island hopping and crossing fast amounts of deep hues of blue and green water! The further north we are moving the more of civilization we are leaving behind – we are getting the call of the wild! It is like a sense of calm and serenity that has washed over the team! We stopped and slowed down at Spieden Island – I don’t have words to portray the natural beauty of seeing this from the water’s edge! The gnarly trees that have been battered by everything mother nature has to throw and yet are on these 100 foot plus cliffs holding on by their roots, bathing us in their shadows and giving us a bit of respite from the sun! It was going back in time, just floating, feeling so small against this back drop! Seeing these roots reminded me of the human connections we all make, always supporting and holding you up. The path taken and not taken; the chances I have been given and squandered; these roots of my existence reaching out, hopeful that i will make in impact in someone’s life and that I will be better than I was yesterday! That my journey changes me and I become less rough around the edges! 

Last big push for the day! What a surreal experience whilst we were in formation – the heat waves dancing from the surface. We all stopped paddling and just listened – there was traditional first nation music rolling over the water like thunder! 
Now back to the routine of setting up camp
Today was a good day!