2009 Destinations

With the last remains of snow about to disappear in our neighbourhood, the 2009 kayak season is finally about to begin!!!

It's always great to have a choice of destinations, it just takes a bit of effort to narrow these down to short list that can fit into our sometimes unpredictable schedule and Mother Nature's less than predictable weather.

Here's my first cut at our list of destinations for 2009. For each entry, I've included:

• a star rating system (five being best), based on my personal assessment
• links to relevant background information for anyone curious to know a bit more.

1) ***** Georgian Bay -Philip Edward Island & Area (Multi-Day)

What can I say, I fell in love with this destination last year and it always comes to mind when I ask myself "where next?". It offers more choices than Minks & McCoys (http://marccharron.blogspot.com/2008/09/georgian-bay-mink-and-mccoy-islands.html) with more islands and fewer private properties. It's about an 8-hour drive (not including stops), meaning you can put-in and set-up camp on a nearby island before dusk if you leave early enough in the morning. Click on the following link for more details:

http://marccharron.blogspot.com/2008/07/georgian-bay-philip-edwards-island-near.html

2) ***** Broken Group Islands , British Columbia (Day-Trip)

This one is a bit of side-excursion from an otherwise relaxing week on the beaches and trails of Tofino and the Pacific Rim National Park (see http://www.tourismtofino.com/ and http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/pacificrim/bg/visit/index_e.asp). Depending how we like this destination, we may plan to go back for a multi-day trip in the future.

For more details, see:

http://www.oceankayaking.com/day.html#bgi and

http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/pacificrim/bg/visit/index_e.asp

3) **** Lac des trente-et-un milles (Multi-Day)

This destination is on our list because it's less than 2 hours away and has offers great wilderness camping at no cost other than parking at the put-in (until told otherwise). For more details, see:

http://marccharron.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html and

http://marccharron.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html and

http://marccharron.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html

Other Possibilities Under Consideration:

• St. Lawrence Water Trail

(http://www.sentiermaritime.ca/english/index.asp)

• Maine Island Trail

(http://www.mita.org/)

There will be dozens of other destinations, probably all day-trips, throughout the season.

If anyone has suggestions that I should consider (preferably within reasonable driving distance of Ottawa ON), please don't hesitate to leave a comment.

New Olympus Cameras

Just noticed that Olympus has updated their line of Stylus Tough cameras with the new 8000 model.

See http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1448 for details.

It's a step up from the 1030SW model that I've been pleased to use on my kayak trips last year. The two have similar levels of "rugedness" in terms of shock, crush, water & temperatre ratings. The main differences between the 8000 and 1030SW seem to be:

• $400 vs $350 (USD)
• 12 Megapixel resolution vs 10.1
• 1/2000 shutter speed vs 1/1000
• Auto and High Auto ISO vs Auto only
• Dual Image Stabilization vs Image Stabilization
• Display Backlight Boost
• 24 shooting modes instead of 29
• 6.4 vs 6.3 oz