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Circum Navigation... hmmm, sounds good. Circum navigating the Tappen and Salmon Arm Bays, starting at Canoe wharf was one thing I had been thinking of for some time. I paddled several times from Canoe to Christmas Island, Salmon Arm's Bay bird sanctuary and back. A good jaunt of approx. 16 Km.
Today at 7:30 am I hit the water at Canoe wharf and angled over to Sunnybrae and on to Tappen Bay. The north end which is closed for boats has a lot of wetland wilderness and I counted half a dozen of blue herons. Once I was past that stripe of green I reached the north western shoreline and just about died from the traffic noise of the Trans-Canada Highway at the bottom of Kault Hill. Soon, I passed all the new cottages that were stenciled into the shore, Pierre's Point, the hundreds of campers and a few hundred people grilling under the hot sun at Sandy Point Beach.
It was about noon by then when "Show Time" started - the explosion of boats into the bay to exercise their daily ‘figure eights’ pulling water skiiers and tubes. That was the end of "Lake Placid" for me and my craft as the conditions changed from smooth over rippled to wavy...
Near the mouth of the Salmon River, I met "Frank", a visiting kayaker bobbing on his yellow sit-on-top. We exchanged some bits of thoughts and information and I was on my way to the river mouth. At one o'clock, I changed shirts, re-applied sunblock, had a drink and a bite while creeping about the river's switch backs heading south. I made it close to the railway bed and that's where I turned around to head down to Salmon Arm' harbour and wharf.
Just as I cleared the sanctuary at the Bay's eastern side, I ran into "John", a scruffy looking but very friendly fellow whom I had met a couple of weeks earlier on a trip to the harbour. There he was, like a red rocket in his mighty fast "Tsunami 135" by Wilderness Systems. It's almost identical to mine except his is a single and mine a tandem. We chatted briefly and I was on my way to Mallard Point and Ranger's Camp for a break. The beach at the camp was just about re-emerging from the flood and even the fire pit was starting to show.
From there, I paddled up to Engineer's Point, Captain's Cove Marina, Canoe beach and the public wharf at Doc's Pub at Canoe Village. The circum navigation of Tappen and Salmon Arm Bays - a mere 30.85 Km took me 8 hours and 45 minutes to paddle!
As I am sitting here at home with my feet up typing these lines, I have to look up once in a while to not get the feel of sea sickness as I feel I am still rocking with the waves...
Okay, been there, done that. What next? Who knows what I will come up with as the next challenge. Perhaps up the lake to Sicamous or Seymour with overnights or even on to the South Okanagan Lake’s Rattlesnake Island with GuyThaLizard....
For now I only got this Google Earth image to share that depicts a rough outline of my trip. I have taken many photos today to document my journey and as soon as I sort them out, I will post them here and possibly launch another video.