Hotham Sound

I've never been able to figure out the exact pronunciation of Hotham Sound. Is it pronounced like the ice planet Hoth in Empire Strikes Back, or is it 'Hot Ham' as in, "a plate of hot ham sounds pretty tasty!". Anyway, it's a great place to visit and I thought I would catch up the blog with some photos of my August trip there with my friend Chris.

Although we messed up a bit with leaving late, and then driving in circles looking for a put in, we wound up leaving from the public dock in Egmont, and got the last parking spot in the $5 a day lot too!

We wound up hitting the water at around 6 pm. Sunset was scheduled for 8 pm so that left us just two hours to find a suitable campsite for the night.

This is the Malibu Princess, a large passenger ship that ferries kids up to the Christian Summer Camp at Malibu rapids, and tourists into the Princess Louisa inlet. It's also docked near where we should have parked and launched, the Egmont Marina and Back Eddy pub. Next time.

Finding a suitable site was a problem. We did not want to have to do that in the dark so we headed across Agamemnon Channel towards Captain Island. On my last ferry trip through here I spotted what looked like a potential camp spot so we headed there.

And luckily, it did turn out to be a sweet spot to camp. Room for both my tent and Chris's hammock with no bushwhackin' required (though I was packing my killer machete).

Spent a nice evening checking out the stars. I had brought binoculars and a monocular, and we were catching the tail end of the Perseid meteor shower. Perfectly clear skies, dozens of falling stars, and a clear view of the milky way. Living in rainy Vancouver in the midst of all its light pollution this was a rare sight.

Next morning I was up early and enjoying the sunshine. Had a hearty breakfast and prepared to head out. Unfortunately we had repeated the mistake of our gulf island trip and didn't bring enough water. We had planned to refill at Freil Falls in Hotham Sound but by now we were down to half a litre each, and it was a punishingly hot day. Hopefully I've learned by now to always bring enough water! Even if it's heavy!

Since the Sunny is such an easy loading boat I'm always ready first. I went ahead of Chris and we met up halfway to the falls.

The Earls Cove/Saltery Bay ferry usually takes the passage in between Captain and Nelson Island.

Seals were a constant presence on this trip, following us everywhere. Huge groups of them up around the falls and Harmony Islands.

The entrance to Hotham Sound is some of the deepest water on the West Coast. The area is designated as a military operations zone and the Canadian and US navies do submarine practice here. Fortunately we did not get torpedoed.

The entire weekend the Sound was as calm as a mill pond. The only wind was a nice warm breeze in the evenings. And the water was warm, freakishly warm. I have not been in water this warm since I was in Saudi Arabia swimming in the Persian Gulf. 99% of the time you put your hand into the water here and it's cold. Sometimes colder than other times, but always cold. Not here. I later learned that Hotham Sound has some of the warmest ocean waters in BC, and I can attest to that for a fact.

  

It seems that everywhere you look in BC you see the evidence of logging. 

We made it to the falls and the beach was covered in razor sharp oysters and barnacles. Rather than landing I anchored my kayak out a bit. Inflatables and oyster shells are not a good mix. Neither are folding kayaks and oyster shells!

Right after we got there a couple in a dinghy pulled up with their dog, and went straight under the waterfall to give him a bath. I was thirsty enough to drink dirty dog water but Chris went up the falls a bit with his filter. I have to give him a shout out for volunteering to filter the water. He did about 12 litres while I had the much easier job of watching the boats.

I figured since I had a waterproof camera why not put it to the test?

Swimming around in this warm warm water, surrounded by snow capped mountains was pretty amazing!

Our water resupplied, we headed over to the Harmony Islands Marine Park. While we were leaving we noticed a large power boat had slipped it's anchor, and was drifting towards the rocks with nobody on board. Luckily the owners were already racing back, and really drunk! One guy warned us of the rich snobs on their yachts up ahead, and how they had banned him! He was pretty hammered, but they saved their boat.

The oystercatchers have their work cut out for them around here.

Found a cozy little spot for my tent, one for the hammock. It was so warm out I regretted not bringing my bug bivy, so I could sleep under the stars.

The following morning, rather than leave ahead of Chris, I enjoyed an hour or so of just swimming around.

I also got some of my favorite photos of my good old Sunny. I really love this boat.

This was probably the best trip of the summer for me. Really good memories.

Eventually, had to get in the kayak and start paddling home.

Me in front of Freil Falls.

Another gorgeous day.

The heat was making things look quite hazy. We may have been getting some forest fire smoke too.

Crossing back over to Captain Island.

And back across to Egmont.

And back to the dock.

Great trip, fabulous weather, amazing swimming and the Sunny came through like a champ. I think this is one of those trips that is possible to do leaving Friday night after work and coming back Sunday. But next time I think I will take a few more days and explore this area a bit more. The sunshine coast is fast becoming my favorite kayaking destination.