Sometimes, when we come across a magical place, we want to keep it secret – like a gem, cushioned inside a velvet-lined case. And sometimes these secret places are in plain view, thousands of people passing them by without ever imagining their hidden wonders.
Jesse Island is like that. It’s part of the rocky outcroppings that ring the northern curve of Departure Bay. Millions of people have steamed past them on the BC Ferries route from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay, but – like me, until recently – few suspect the inner secrets of these seemingly typical, coastal islets of the Salish Sea.
My partner Di and I set out from the popular kayak launch near the Kin Hut, just off Departure Bay Road at Loat Street. A leisurely 5 kilometre paddle took us by the Brandon Islands, Inskip Rock, around Jesse Island and back. We’d discovered in the BC Coastal Recreational Kayaking and Small Boat Atlas that there were ‘caves’ you could paddle through on Jesse Island, so off we went.
As we skirted the shoreline, we pulled away from the traffic sounds, and the people enjoying a beautiful summer day on the beach. It wasn’t long before we were immersed in a quiet zone of marine wonders. A flock of cormorants sunning on a rocky outcropping; geese, to lazy to fly away as we approached; a pack of seals watching our every move, cautious, but too curious to dive for safety.
The first hint of the inner spaces of Jesse was a basking seal, protected by the ramparts of a rocky formation. Just round the corner from there, we found the entrance to one of the ‘caves’. This isn’t the Grande Canyon we’re talking about; the channels are little spaces, perhaps twenty metres long, that kayakers can explore. But these niches offer their own sense of wonder – a convergence of geology and marine biology that makes you feel connected to the natural world.
On the return paddle we discovered a few more passageways and caves to poke our bows into and squeeze through… a delightful way to spend a sunny, summer afternoon, all within sight of the Island’s second largest city!
