by Bob Farrington
Photographs by Rob Muylwyk
Friday, May 25, dawned overcast, gloomy and generally depressing. Carol and I had camped Thursday night at Cyprus Lake so we could start fresh Friday morning. We checked out of the Park with a bright young woman whose husband ran an outfitting/guiding operation from Tobermory. We happened to mention that we were planning to kayak to Flowerpot Island.
“My husband would never send anybody out there with a weather forecast like we have now. You should not go out,” she told us. Great – just what we needed to hear.
Only slightly undaunted, Carol and I drove to the meeting point, the BPNP Visitor Centre. It only rained, thundered and drove lightning spears earthwards for most of the trip. Eventually, the seven of us introduced ourselves at the BPNP Centre, told light-hearted tales and proceeded to the check-in.
Rob talked to a Ranger, who was also a kayaker. Rob and the Ranger had a common kayaking friend, so there was some authenticity to the Ranger’s words. “Don’t go,” he said. “The tour boats are not running, the weather forecast is bad, you should stay on shore.” Great – just what we needed to hear.
Rob said, “OK, we’ll check it out…” Off we went to the launch site at Dunks Bay. Boats loaded, encouraging words said to each other we headed out to our fates…
It was a great crossing from Dunks Bay to Flowerpot. We took the “Wolfgang Route” by Middle Island, passed the West point of Flowerpot and stopped for lunch at a spot on the north shore of Flowerpot Island.
Sarka treated us to some of her wonderful baking; we were a relaxed happy group of well-fed paddlers. Meanwhile, the wind had been unobtrusively building, putting us on a rocky lee shore. The trip report now becomes a littler interesting…
I was first in the water, and was more or less successful. By the time I was “organized” and was able to look back I saw Carol’s boat on its side with Carol in the water beside it. Hurrying over, I attempted an assisted rescue which proved to be remarkably unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the building wind and waves were pushing both of us closer to shore. She took off to shore with her boat. Here, willing and very competent hands were able to sort her out, get her back in her boat and on her way. I later learned that she had made two attempts at launching before she was finally set straight.
Fortunately, all ended well and safely and Carol and I were able to learn valuable lessons from this potentially serious situation. Many thanks to all the helping hands.
So, all of us back on the water, we continued our paddle to Beachy Cove on Flowerpot Island where we set up camp for two nights.
After we were all organized, Rob led our hike on The Marl Trail in search of the elusive Calypso Orchid. En route, he told us that there were 44 types of orchids on the Bruce Peninsula. Rob has found 21 of them. We found some Coral Orchids on the way and we did indeed find a group of the tiny, beautiful Calypso Orchid.
Most paddlers continued on a hike to the Lighthouse while Carol and I went back to “re-group.”
Saturday’s forecast was for light and variable winds. We took advantage of this calm weather and headed to the Lighthouse on Cove Island. We passed close to Echo Island, headed for Eagle Point and followed the coast to the lighthouse.
This beautiful structure, built in 1858, has been well maintained; a very nice place to relax and enjoy a leisurely lunch before continuing our paddle. While we were stopped, some exploration was done and Sarka was able to find some rhubarb, which she turned into a wonderful treat Sunday morning.
Heading back to Beachy Cove, we passed by the west side of North Otter Island where we found a cave that you could paddle into, and a ledge you could paddle underneath. Eventually, we landed again at Beachy Cove where most of the Tour Boats had left for the day. Thank you Rob, for extending the lunch break so we would miss most of them.
Sunday’s forecast included the possibility of thunderstorms. Rob elected to head for shore, specifically Big Tub Harbour where we inspected the wrecks of the City of Grand Rapids and the Sweepstakes.
Carol and I were always acting as sweeps; not intentionally, it’s just that we were unable to keep pace. We have no trouble doing 20+ kilometres per day, and average 5.5 km/hr. Two other paddlers have the same boats as we do, so what is the problem with us? We tried different paddling techniques – long strokes, short strokes and everything in between. It made no difference to our speed. However, it’s definitely not the boats, it’s the strokes. It’s obvious that Carol and I are going to have to practise stroking.
We were back at Dunks Bay by noon. Unloading the boats and carrying our gear through the sand was tiring. It got done; we helped each other with our boats, and said our good-byes, with the hopes of seeing each other on future trips.