by Dorothy Van Esbroeck
Photos by: Terry Carleton
After enjoying a few ice-cream treats, duly noted by the participants, this trip began to take shape. My boat was already loaded – all I had to do was repack my food bags from food in my car and then I added some fleece thinking that the warm weather might end. There were 7 of us all ready for the 3 o’clock departure. Only one problem: 3 participants hadn’t shown up yet. Two arrived at 3 o’clock and one shortly after having been already with his boat packed at Dillon and of course wondering why we were all so late. I guess we could have headed out but that didn’t feel quite right – so we waited.
We made our way out to find a sheltered spot on the southwest of Franklin. I checked to see if my whistle was working which also kept the group together. This was important to me as I had e-mailed everyone that we would paddle the speed of the slowest paddler. We opted for a sandy beach to land at and then set up camp and started cooking as well as getting to know our new paddling companions.
The winds were strong the next day, so we spent the morning practising rescues as not everyone had done a self-rescue before. I had someone listen to the marine report for me. They reported, “One and a half to two knot winds.” Could it really be that light, or was it a problem with the radio lingo? Did it say one-five to two-zero knot wind? It became kind of a joke.
I crawled into my tent in the afternoon to read, but really hoping to catch up on some sleep after having some sleepless nights earlier with rain and now wind. Others hiked or paddled about. We often drooled over Sean and Karen’s cooking. They gladly treated us to a chocolate cake one night.
The next morning, much to my surprise, we were on the water by 9:15. This may not seem like a big deal, but for some this packing a boat was a new thing. There had been a visitor in the morning and even though skinny, he had a choice of which food he’d eat from some accidentally left out. This made the packing up easier. The guest, a fox, was photographed, as was the Massasauga rattlesnake the day before that Doug had spotted.
We paddled straight to Red Rock and then after a bit of a photo opportunity, for some more than others, we found some spots to stretch our legs and snack. Weaving our way through some of the islands we stopped on Green Island for lunch. Last year, I had spent a day and a half here, but this time the weather was gentle and it didn’t look quite the same as when I had been hunkered down inside my tent for most of the day with some of most miserable weather I have ever had camping.
We then paddled on to Big McCoy and engaged in our most debated decision of the trip, where to camp? After some radio bantering back and forth, those rooting for the nice southern campsite, complete with euchre table, finally gave in and agreed to camp on the north end. Well, it turned out that the noisy music neighbours at the south left as soon as the last 3 paddlers, still hoping for the south campsite, paddled to the north.
The northern campsite provided shelter from the south winds the next day. It also allowed me to see some fireworks that night. I saw flashes of light on the horizon from my tent. What could it be – a flare practice? I got out of my tent to see quite amazing fireworks.
Since we were staying put here for rwo nights it was finally fancy breakfast time the next morning. Well I had my usual – some variation on scrambled eggs, just like all my other breakfasts, but I also enjoyed some of Sean and Karen’s French toast with apples. Some then went for a paddle in the late morning, while I set off to circumnavigate the island by foot with Cheryl and Dale.
It is always amazing to see what people deem essential to bring along on these trips. That afternoon we compared things like everyone’s towel sizes, which ranged from the ultra small to the luxurious bath size. The weather was sunny and warm everyday (albeit windy at times) with perfect swimming opportunities and me being not much of a swimmer, still I was happy I had packed two bathing suits.
Later that afternoon, Terry led us on a botanical hike. My favourite plant was Joe Pie weed (because of its name). I wasn’t the star pupil, an honour bestowed on Grant, the horticulturist. Later that day, I was happy to be in the company of people of who didn’t let a few mosquitoes deter them from playing euchre. The cards someone had weren’t normal so we used some pebbles to keep score.
On our first night there, the boats had been pulled up high out of the water and well secured. Not having paddled at all this day, I knew my boat was well up on shore. The wind shifted in the night to northwest as predicted and the waves were coming now up the gently sloping rocks where the boats were. Several people got up around three in the morning, when the wind seemed to be the strongest, to check on things or better secure things that might float away. (Thanks Harold and others.) In the morning, the only thing missing was a yellow foam paddle float.
In the morning the plan was to leave by 9 a.m., but with the northwest winds increasing, I ended up going around ensuring everyone was awake by 6:30 to allow for an earlier start. By 8:30 we were ready! Louise led us in some breathing, stretching and a visualization of the water as our friend to carry us back. We were lucky to have a good tailwind and Sean navigated our route back. We got out for a stretch/food/pit stop break just after Oak Island. This was followed by a lunch stop on the eastern side of Franklin with Dale still constantly searching for sandy beaches. The boats were all pulled up in the same area and we had lunch as a cohesive group. It really felt like the group had come together. After yet another swim, we managed to get back to Snug at 2 p.m. and landed right before it got busy.
The trip goals had been to safely further develop kayaking skills by learning from each other while camping and exploring by kayak and on foot Franklin, and the Mink and McCoy Islands. Mission accomplished, well almost. We had started with 10 and we were down to 8 coming in to Snug Harbour. (Ah yes, two people had opted to avoid the holiday traffic and had stayed out on Franklin for another night.)
