Trip Report
Sea Kayak - Camano Island
Paddled south about 3.5 miles from the launch at Tillicum beach, had lunch on the beach near the end of Camano Island, and came back up on the returning tide.
Michele Rushworth
- Sat, May 20, 2023
- Sea Kayak - Camano Island
- Camano Island
- Sea Kayaking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Easy road access by car, but limited parking at the launch. It might be hard to find a spot to park on summer weekends. The route is protected from west winds by the island itself but we found the northerly headwinds the day we went added a bit of extra work due to the long fetch of wind from the north end of the island and beyond. We were paddling over 4 kt with the outgoing southbound tide but on the return with the headwind we only managed about 1 kt average. As the tide turned we watched at the point as the 1 foot waves jumped around in some unpredictable ways, with minor tide rips that we paddled through to the beach. At a very low tide (-2.5 that day) there's a sandy beach where we stopped for lunch but it was quickly covered by the incoming tide and we were glad we had pulled our boats way up on the beach. Saw a couple of seastars and grey whale feeding pits on the exposed sand, and a very calm bald eagle watching us from the beach as we paddled past. A beautiful day, great leaders and a terrific 7nm paddle.
Easy road access by car, but limited parking at the launch. It might be hard to find a spot to park on summer weekends. The route is protected from west winds by the island itself but we found the northerly headwinds the day we went added a bit of extra work due to the long fetch of wind from the north end of the island and beyond. We were paddling over 4 kt with the outgoing southbound tide but on the return with the headwind we only managed about 1 kt average. As the tide turned we watched at the point as the 1 foot waves jumped around in some unpredictable ways, with minor tide rips that we paddled through to the beach. At a very low tide (-2.5 that day) there's a sandy beach where we stopped for lunch but it was quickly covered by the incoming tide and we were glad we had pulled our boats way up on the beach. Saw a couple of seastars and grey whale feeding pits on the exposed sand, and a very calm bald eagle watching us from the beach as we paddled past. A beautiful day, great leaders and a terrific 7nm paddle.