{"id":7127,"date":"2021-10-29T21:51:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T04:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/?p=7127"},"modified":"2021-10-29T21:51:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T04:51:00","slug":"kayaking-around-newcastle-island-saysutshun-marine-provincial-park-in-nanaimo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/?p=7127","title":{"rendered":"Kayaking around Newcastle Island (Saysutshun). Marine Provincial Park in Nanaimo."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the many joys of living on Vancouver Island<\/strong>, B.C. is that nearly all communities are near, or adjacent to, the beautiful Pacific Ocean<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living in Nanaimo<\/strong> (population over 100,000), there are so many diverse ways to explore nature and the outdoors<\/strong>. This blog post focuses on one of the favorite kayaking<\/strong> areas to explore in Nanaimo<\/strong>. Newcastle Island, <\/strong>is also known as Saysutshun<\/strong> by the local Snuneymuxw people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Let\u2019s explore Newcastle Island! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The following excellent website thoroughly explores Newcastle Island<\/strong> (Saysutshun<\/strong>) from Ferry Schedules, to Camping, Moorage, Maps of Trails, and Explanation about the Culture and History of the Marine Provincial Park. http:\/\/newcastleisland.ca<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newcastle Island<\/strong> is less than a kilometer’s paddle across the water from several launching locations in Nanaimo. It is about 8.5 km to circumnavigate the island<\/strong> by water. These aerial views of Newcastle<\/strong> and Protection Island were taken from a float plane while flying in\/out of the Nanaimo harbour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nanaimo harbour and nearby islands. Views from float plane. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Newcastle and Protection Island<\/strong>s are popular locations, so expect to see other kayaks, sailboats, pleasure craft, even B.C. Ferries sharing the water with you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sharing the water around Newcastle Island, Nanaimo. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are several FREE locations available to launch your kayaks<\/strong>. The size of your kayaks and ease of parking influences your selection. Some locations have free parking. Other locations require pay parking. You can launch from the following locations: Nanaimo Harbour Marina<\/strong> (downtown); <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Downtown harbour <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Maffeo Sutton Park<\/strong> has access for smaller kayaks to launch;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maffeo Sutton Seawalk <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More launching sites include: Brechin boat ramp<\/strong>; Queen Elizabeth Promenade<\/strong> (near the Yacht Club); Departure Bay Beach<\/strong>; and Stephenson Point<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We own touring ocean kayaks<\/strong> which are longer than most day trip recreational kayaks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brechin Boat Ramp. Newcastle Island in the Background. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our boats are very seaworthy, designed for multi day trips with 2 hatches, but are over 16 feet in length! Our usual launching location is Brechin Boat Ramp<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s get kayaking<\/strong>! The following kayak adventure photos were taken during 3 different adventures while kayaking around Newcastle (Saysutshun) Island<\/strong>. One trip occurred during April (Spring<\/strong>), the other 2 trips occurred during August (summer<\/strong>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

April<\/strong>: Needing to take a break from Covid masks and restrictions? Kayaking<\/strong> on a sunny day in Spring<\/strong> is such a pleasant remedy to any feelings of confinement. We departed from Brechin<\/strong> boat ramp and headed along Newcastle<\/strong>, toward downtown Nanaimo, then continued across the water to Protection Island<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My husband and I paddled past a log sort boom and continued towards a beacon. From this location, there is a fabulous view of the cliffs on Gabriola Island<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beacon. The cliffs of Gabriola Island in the background. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dingy Dock floating pub<\/strong> was open with limited capacity due to Covid. A pleasure craft arrived before we could maneuver our kayaks to the back dock, so there was no space in the floating pub for us today! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dingy Dock Pub on Protection Island. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Returning to Newcastle Island<\/strong>, we explored the spit area adjacent to the park picnic area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Newcastle Island <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we continued to explore the craggy notches between the island and the water, we observed a few raccoons feasting on low tidal delicacies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Can you locate the albino raccoon in each photo? <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is common to observe raccoons on Newcastle Island<\/strong>, but today we glimpsed a couple of the more rare, albino raccoons<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Albino raccoon scavenging along the tidal rocks at Newcastle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time to head back… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was a beautiful day to explore! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Summer (August) kayak highlights<\/strong> from our paddle circumnavigating<\/strong> Newcastle Island<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Circumnavigating Newcastle. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 8.5 km trip<\/strong> around Saysutshun<\/strong> is lovely and there are many gorgeous hidden gems to discover. Expect a few larger waves when you round the corner and head towards the more open strait on the outside of the island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a video highlighting our kayak adventure around Newcastle<\/strong> island in mid August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/videopress.com\/v\/Ta715WEe?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata\n<\/div>
Our wonderful day kayaking around Newcastle <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The sunny weather and beauty of this location drew us back for an additional kayak the very next day! This time we went out for an evening kayak and swim<\/strong> in the ocean at Newcastle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mark waves hi as he swims. Cozy spot to rest the kayaks. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

August Kayak<\/strong> adventures and swimming at Newcastle<\/strong>…Part 2. The evening sunset glows were magical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Evening kayak and relaxation around Newcastle. Such a gem! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

No wonder Newcastle Island<\/strong> is such a popular kayaking<\/strong> destination in Nanaimo<\/strong>. Meanwhile…Switching sports, I have hiking<\/strong> adventures<\/strong> around Nanaimo to blog about next. Keep Safe and Keep Smiling! S<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the many joys of living on Vancouver Island, B.C. is that nearly all communities are near, or adjacent to, the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Living in Nanaimo (population over 100,000), there are so many diverse ways to explore nature and the outdoors. This blog post focuses on one of the favorite kayaking areas to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,13,28,39,55],"tags":[128,197,275,280],"class_list":["post-7127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-beaches","category-canadian-animals","category-exploring-vancouver-island","category-kayaking","category-newcastle-island","tag-canada","tag-marine-parks","tag-travel","tag-vancouver-island"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandysglobaleyes.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}