Paddle Meals: Bumbering Around Bamfield

Liz Issac, of the Bamfield Kayak Centre, talked to Debbie about her paddling life on the west coast.

Bamfield is a vibrant place with a wild spirit and no touristy atmosphere. The exposed west coast with its surf, boomers and surge channels is a challenging place to paddle. Fortunately, Grappler and Bamfield Inlets provide over 20 km of protected waters to experience the best we have to offer—eagles, river otters and black bears.

Having started kayaking in Sidney with another young mom, I got hooked. When I moved to Bamfield in 1993, I went paddling every day. Guiding day trips for Vancouver Island Canoe and Kayak Centre and Ocean River Sports out of Canoe Cove inspired me to start my own business. In 1999, I launched Bamfield Kayak Centre.

Since Bamfield is at the north end of the West Coast Trail, visitors from Europe and around the United States enjoyed paddling here before many Canadians discovered us. The intertidal zone is more diverse here than the east coast of the island—oodles of urchins, starfish, kelp and sea palms to ogle. I usually get paddlers to taste bull kelp while we are gliding over the seaweed.

I actually love doing day trips, so I don’t have to cook! For lunches, we serve up fresh tastes of the Island— fresh salmon sandwiches or lox, cream cheese and red onion rings on bagels.

Some of the canoeists and kayakers I met through the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club shared the following menu ideas while we explored the Deer Group, just off Bamfield, in Barkley Sound.

LIZZY’S FAVORITE POWER SNACK

Pitted plump dates (sliced lengthwise) stuffed with cream cheese and topped with a roasted almond.

GORDIN’S GRANDMA’S GREAT HUMMUS RECIPE

To one package of “Fantastic Foods” hummus add:

1 cup cold water

1⁄2 cup white wine

2 blurps (tablespoons) olive oil a squeeze of lemon juice

Whisk and enjoy with pita bread or cutup veggies.

BILLY’S FAVORITE CHILE

For a group of 4:

Open 2 cans of Stagg’s Vegetable Garden Chile into a pot.

Add 2 more cans of beans (e.g. garbanzo, kidney, lima)

Heat and eat with foccacia bread.

SANDI’S NO-PEEL-EM APPLE CRISP

In morning or an hour ahead of time: soak about 3 cups of dehydrated apple slices in a saucepan with enough water to cover and a little extra. Just before serving, heat the apples and liquid (add more water—or apricot brandy—if all the liquid has been absorbed) in the saucepan. Remove from heat and cover liberally with 1.5 to 2 cups of granola and 2 tbsp. brown sugar. Serves four—or two really hungry paddlers.

© Debbie Leach, a nutritional consultant living in Victoria, BC, invites Paddle Meals columns from the paddlers she meets.