T
he roulette wheel of searching for remote surf spots by kayak could be a fickle affair. Re-checking a break on a different tide wasn’t really an option with the large distances between spots, but when you hit it right, you could hit it big. We paddled past plenty of reefs when the tumultuous variables of swell direction and tide failed to produce surfable waves. Then we saw them: the reeling green backs of waves jacking up on the horizon. On closer inspection, the slabby left- hander sucked most of the water from the reef, threw a thick green lip and carved an angry path through a dense mat of bull kelp.
I love the unknowns of surfing a new break and one this remote and wild had me nearly jumping out of my kayak. The only information we had was what we were staring at in that very moment. Now I know a lot more: I am intimate with the impenetrable beds of mussels covering every inch of the treacherous rocks. I can picture the brightly colored eelgrass, sea stars and anemones that crowd the reef. And I know that if you miss your drop, you’re going to get a closer look at the creatures below and battle through foamy kelp on your way back to the surface.
nevitably, dense coastal fog rolled in, obscuring the peaks and the sun and seeming to add hours to the 25-kilometer paddle back into the sound. Mother and calf grey whales escorted us for much of the morning, and the silence was absolute apart from our rhythmic paddle strokes and the whales’ sharp exhalations echoing between the islands. As night fell on our last campsite, one final treat came in the unexpected form of bioluminescent phytoplankton glowing bright blue in the shallows and on the seawater-saturated pebble beach. With childlike excitement, we skipped luminous blue stones and ran with electric footprints down the beach. •
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