Paddling with the Children of the Sea

March 1994

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

by Steve Hindrichs

This past summer I had the good fortune to visit Alaskan waters. After participating in the Ocean Kayak Festival on Gabriola Island in June, I set sail on my boat for Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands). I spent a month kayaking and sailing around South Moresby, then headed over to Prince Rupert to pick up my crew for the trip north to Haines, Alaska.

The crew consisted of Trish deMacedo and her friend Hanna Horn. I had met Trish at the WaveLength Ocean Kayak Festival and learned about her plans to travel with Hanna to southeast Alaska that summer. We agreed to rendezvous in Prince Rupert in early August for the trip north.

Heading out of Rupert on August 10th, we had great weather and the scenery became more spectacular each day. One day as we were cruising through Frederick Sound north of Petersburg, Hanna spotted the distant plumes of spouting whales. We decided to check it out and slowly drifted towards the action. What we encountered were about 30 humpback whales and numerous sea lions all playing together in the middle of the Sound.

There was just a wisp of wind, enough to let us slowly ghost along under sail, listening to the spouting, splashing and gurgling sounds of these magnificent creatures.

I had my whitewater kayak on board, so we launched it and took turns paddling among what felt like a school playground full of playful, mischievous children -children of the sea. There were a couple of younger whales that were playing with a group of sea lions. The sea lions seemed to be ganging up on the whales, swimming all around them, diving and splashing, with the whales doing the same and sometimes turning on their side, flapping their giant flukes in the water.

When I first got into the kayak I drifted around, letting the whales slowly come near, sometimes within 10-15 feet. The sea lions seemed very curious and didn't exhibit any aggressive behaviour, as they sometimes do with kayakers. They slowly swam under the kayak, looking up at me, checking out this new kid on the block. They soon got used to me, deciding I wasn't a threat, and were popping up only a few feet away.

After awhile I even started playing chase with them. I would quickly paddle away with the sea lions following, then spin around and chase them. They seemed to be getting right into this game.

I would normally not recommend this kind of behaviour with wild animals, but after spending several hours with them I felt we developed a certain trust between us. I have been in situations with sea lions where I felt uncomfortable and stayed well clear.

Later on, a solitary sea lion kept following me, swimming circles around the kayak and sometimes just lying on its back within 15-20 feet. He seemed to enjoy the company, as I did.

All this was going on with the whales surfacing close by, which made me a bit nervous because you just don't know where they will surface next. I had no doubt the whales knew where I was, and could easily avoid upsetting the small kayak. However, whales have individual personalities and are subject to errors in judgement -especially juveniles which occasionally exhibit some form of "delinquent behaviour".

We were in an ideal situation to observe these sea creatures, being in a small, quiet, unobtrusive kayak, yet having the safety of the sailboat quietly drifting nearby to help if one of us did end up "swimming with the whales".

It was a most magical experience and all of us felt that if the trip ended right there and then, we would be content. But the trip didn't end there and we were to have many more unique and memorable times.

Under the name of Carpe Diem Ocean Adventures, Steve Hindrichs offers sailing charters and leads kayak trips on the BC coast and in Baja.

Carpe Diem, the name of Steve's sailboat, is Latin for "seize the day". Steve will be at this year's Ocean Kayak Festival again serving as an instructor.
For his 1994/95 trip brochure, contact 1595 Comox Road, Courtenay, BC V9N 3P7 (604) 334-2628.