We spent 5 days in the Broken Islands Group in June. Lauching out of Toquaht Bay, we overnighted on the Stopper Islands, then proceeded to tuck in behind Lyall Point, Hand Island, and Dodd Island before arriving at Willis Island, our base camp for the next 3 nights. There were some winds in Sechart Channel, but staying close to the shoreline along the islands allowed us to make good progress without risk. We beached at Willis Island and found a good spot to camp. There are two large side-by-side crescent beaches between Dodd and Willis, protected from the winds. All of the Park's designated campsites have protected beach landings, areas for tents, and composting toilets, but the rest of the islands' interior areas are impenetrable forest. The campsites are just narrow strips above the high tide mark. Sitting and camp kitchen areas use logs on the shore. The Broken Islands are part of Pacific Rim National Park and they remain primitive and unspoiled. At Willis, our view looked northeast across Loudon Channel.
From the central location of Willis Island, we kayaked out around the various island groups. One day, we paddled west around Willis, Tricket, and Turrent to the Turret Island campsite for lunch. We really liked the sheltered cove, facing west into Coaster Channel. We agreed that this would be a good camp to explore the outer islands on another trip. We returned around Turtle Island. The lagooon-like area inside 4 islands (Wills, Dodd, Tutle, and Chalk) makes calm conditions and good anchorage.
On another trip, we paddled east through the Tiny Group (recommended), past Mullins, Keith, and Dempster Islands and beyond to Gibraltar Island for lunch. Three of us went around the outside of Gibraltar Island to see the sea arches on the windward shores. These were impressive and worth the extra paddling, but the open channel had big winds and large waves coming up Imperial Eagle Channel. Photography in these conditions is impossible. Constant attention to reading the waves and paddling aggressively is needed. From Gibraltar, we wanted to get into the lagoons created by Jacques and Jervis islands. There are lots of calm, narrow channels and bays to explore inside the protected area. The whole area has hundreds of islands to explore and it will take many trips to see them all.
Rainy conditions is not much of problem while paddling as long as paddlers use a spray skirt, paddling jacket, and a good hat. But rainy conditions (which is most of the time) make for wet camping. Bring a good tarp (or two), and extra dry clothes For my next trip, I will bring an extra siltarp to place above my tent. I will bring additional light, synthetic clothes (for under the rain gear) in separate dry bags (10L). I want to upgrade my rain gear to GoreTex to allow some breathability while I stay around camp. I am also looking for rain-proof booties.
The paddling and exploration was superb. Camping in the rain was ok, but I won't choose to do this again without better rain gear. Better yet, I will wait for better weather.
