Lake Superior: Silver Islet to Rossport

Sailboats at Agate Island
Sailboats at Agate Island

Mary Cavanaugh

Our departure time was planned for 6 a.m., however one member thinking that they may not be able to shower for a week or so, decided they should take the extra time now to do this important thing, delaying our start time. Had they known we would be in continual rain for the next two days on our way to Silver Islet, they perhaps would have realized they would have several ‘showers’ in the next few days.

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A Warm-Water Paddle Among the Snook and Wild Hogs

Pelicans and a cormorant
Pelicans and a cormorant

by Keith Rodgers

After the Christmas frenzy has died down, visions of sugar-plums no longer dance in my head – they are replaced by dreams of a kayak gliding over crystal-clear tropical waters and perhaps a lazy wet exit, done just for the pleasure of enjoying the warm sea.

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Strait Ahead – A Sea Kayaker Challenges Himself Against the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Abandoned buildings on St. Paul Island
Abandoned buildings on St. Paul Island

by Serge Savard

The Université du Québec à Chicoutimi requires everyone at the end of his/her three-year outdoor leadership programme to undertake a major project. While looking at a map of the Maritimes, I had no hesitation in embarking upon a solo adventure that would take me across all of the straits on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Strait of Belle Isle and Cabot Strait were two on the list, and they are not to be taken lightly. Both of them have a reputation that intimidates even fishers; one by reason of its distance, the other because of the huge volume of water it funnels through the narrow gap between Labrador and Newfoundland.

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Ungava Bay and Labrador

Abandoned Moravian Mission at Hebron (Photo: Tony Wright)
Abandoned Moravian Mission at Hebron (Photo: Tony Wright)

Nigel Foster

Three small wooden spoons sit on my bookshelf, crudely carved from driftwood found on Lacy Island, one of the Button Islands off the northern tip of Labrador. I carved those spoons after losing my cutlery landing in the dark having crossed Hudson Strait from Resolution Island. I planned to kayak Labrador from its northern tip as far south as Nain, but after two frustrating weeks of delays in Iqaluit it was really too late in the season to begin. It was almost September before I reached the Button Islands, perfect timing for the onset of autumn storms. Eight windy days later, near the deserted village of Port Burwell, I ran into an oil tanker and hitched a ride to Nova Scotia. That was 1981 and I have wanted to return ever since to complete the trip. That finally happened in 2004. This time I began at Kuujjuaq in Ungava Bay, northern Quebec, accompanied by the enigmatic ceramic artist Kristin Nelson, now my wife.

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