How old is too old to have a girl crush? I wonder this as the index finger of Hilary Masson traces the course on the waterproof map that our kayaks will follow as raindrops bounce off its surface.
The group leader and map reader with abs of steel, Masson is one Mighty Girl, and she's going to shelter me in the storm.
Last week, Masson was at arm's length from an orca whale while paddle-boarding, a relative perhaps of a petroglyph carved by the First Nations at the head of Degnan Bay on Gabriola Island; next week she's following the good weather south to Mexico setting off from Loreto into the Sea of Cortes.
Masson and her paddling partner Elisha Bandel have been watching the weather all week and the rain, now heavier, heralds the early arrival of the storm that was forecast here in Canada's southern Gulf Islands.
"Elisha will be up front and I will follow behind as we cross the channel. Let me know if you need to stop and rest," she says as we don our wet weather gear, tighten our kayak skirts and launch from the cove towards choppy waters.
Their smooth paddling technique as they push across the bumpy sea versus my, shall we say, thrashing, in now horizontal rain is almost comical.
But Masson and Bandel won't leave me behind.
It's not always this bleak in the Strait of Georgia between between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland.
Two days earlier In Nanaimo on Vancouver Island I was moving against the tide of school kids in short sleeves who had come off the ferry from Gabriola under a big blue sky.
I was headed to the artist's isle, a 14 kilometre by 4.2 kilometre volcanic island of sandstone cliffs, pristine beaches and forests of Douglas fir, western red cedar, arbutus and Garry oak, which is the most northerly of the Southern Gulf Islands.
While not the superstar status of the islands such as Saltspring, where Oprah holidays, it and Nanaimo has fostered plenty of other artistic royalty, thank you very much.
There's jazz pianist and vocalist Diana Krall and Christopher Hart, actor and magician, best known for his role of the disembodied hand, Thing in The Addams Family films in the 90s.
Gabriola claims more artists per capita than most other communities in Canada and its hot bed of creativity feeds a vibrant community of writers, actors, poets, painters, musicians, sculptors and potters whose studio doors are often open for the island's numerous festivals.
The island also has historical form among its counterparts in the strait, containing the highest number of the petroglyphs, rock carvings by the First Nations, not to mention tales of cults and buried treasure.
So in the alternative spirit of the region, our two-night kayak trip starts in full sun as we prepare to get off the grid, heading to a solar and battery-powered cottage on the speck on the map that is Ruxton Island and part of the De Courcy group.
It's a three nautical mile-a-day trip among the 25 Gulf Islands, 10 with larger populations and connections to the BC Ferry service, the others with boat access-only cabins.
Paddling through the False Narrows to Valdes Island, we rest beneath sandstone formations, overhanging stone "waves", in fact, weathered by wind, water and ice.
My face by now is dripping with sweat, but it's not just my lack of fitness, apparently.
We're in a Mediterranean climate, Masson, a graduate of environmental and Aboriginal studies from the Langara College in Vancouver, says later.
"This dry and Mediterranean climate happens in the rain shadow of Vancouver Island, creating the dry grassland ecology of the Gulf Islands," she says.
"The other difference about the gulf islands is the geology.
"Vancouver Island was a big chunk of tectonic plate that has moved north and is now subducting under the North American plate moving east, creating many volcanoes and new geological formations on top of the ancient sediments of Vancouver island," she says.
"These jagged, hard rocks, are way different than the Gulf Islands sedimentary sandstone rocks that are smooth and soft with amazing eroded formations."
Lingering, our kayaks rock gently, our heads tip backwards to admire the light bouncing off the now golden shape and the sea that helped make it so.
At the hole in the wall on Valdes Island, the cove between the two cliff walls, Masson shares delectable lunch-time tales.
There's the cult leader Brother XII and his mistress Madame Z, who in the late 1920s lived with disciples on De Courcy Island. The leader was said to have amassed gold bars around Pirates Cove before a revolt when the couple disappeared.
And there's the 1960s commune of Pylades Island, where only the caretaker remains, who is said to patrol its shores wearing rubber boots, a shotgun and little else.
There's no sign of the naked caretaker as we pass the island cross the Pylades Channel, but we do have company, a seal bobbing up and down around our kayaks.
Pulling up at Ruxton Island, we find steep cliffside steps leading to a cottage with a big verandah and cosy bedrooms, overlooking the glassy cove.
There's time for naps in hammocks, meals on sandstone slabs watching crabs walk past in the shallows, and dips in the icy water.
Berry season – salmonberry, salal berries, huckleberry, thimbleberry and blueberry – is over, so instead of foraging, Masson sends me in the direction of the community centre and library.
It turns about to be a cupboard among the trees filled with books for exchange, operating on an honour system.
Such is the style on Ruxton.
As we eat by candlelight, Masson tells of a seemingly idyllic life lived on water and among nature, of knowing how to read maps, tides and weather from an early age.
Indeed, this is the way of life for survival around here; where floatplanes are anchored next to boats.
On a day trip south to Tree Island, a flock of turnstones are overhead, flying more than 4000 kilometres from Alaska to Mexico. From our kayaks, we explore around the tiny island home to the protected Garry oaks, arbutus trees and a small variety of prickly pear cactus.
It's a classic Garry oak ecosystem, Masson says of the landscape that supports more species of plants than any other terrestrial ecosystem in British Columbia, according to Parks Canada.
It turns out there's more to Masson's reading of the weather than checking the weather station.
While the warm and wet chinook winds sweep across the prairies east and in Calgary, it's the low pressure storms on the coast that give Masson headaches.
"I can feel it coming in my head," Masson says, as we push off from Ruxton to Gabriola in the rain storm with gale force winds.
Passing De Courcy and Link Islands, with their private floatplane docks, I indulge in the fantasy that an interloper such as me might adapt to this place of extreme beauty, with a smooth forward stroke.
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
www.hellobc.com; www.www.canada.travel
GETTING THERE
Air Canada flies daily from Sydney. From mid-2016, a Brisbane service will operate. See www.aircanada.ca
Harbour Air operates 20-minute flights daily by sea plane between Vancouver and Nanaimo. See www.harbourair.com.
BC Ferries, the primary provider of ferry services in the province, with 47 ports of call, operates a regular 20-minute service between Nanaimo and Gabriola Island; Vancouver to Nanaimo takes two hours. See www.bcferries.com.
KAYAKING THERE
Silva Bay Kayak Adventures operates trips between May and October. Itineraries can be tailored. A two-night trip costs from $C450 ($457) a person and includes all food, use of kayaks and gear. 2945 South Road, Gabriola Island, B.C. V0R 1X7. See www.silvabaykayakadventures.com.
STAYING THERE
Nanaimo Coast Bastion Hotel. Modern and comfortable hotel within walking distance of the ferry terminal and town centre. Over a cup tea in bed watch the floatplanes land. Rooms from $C155 ($157) a night. 11 Bastion Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 6E4. See www.coasthotels.com/hotels/bc/nanaimo/coast-bastion-hotel/
EATING THERE
Mon Petit Choux cafe bakery. Organic breads, pastries and excellent coffee. 101-120 Commercial Street, Nanaimo. See www.www.monpetitchoux.ca
Gina's Mexican Cafe. The pink house at the top of the hill offers authentic hearty Mexican fare and margheritas. 47 Skinner Street Nainamo. See www.ginasmexicancafe.ca.
Jane Reddy was a guest of Destination Canada and Destination British Columbia.
FIVE MORE THINGS TO DO
NANAIMO
EXPLORE the four-kilometre harbour- front walkway and Bastion Square, home of the historic Hudson Bay company fort built in 1853.
THE BASTION, along with three floors of exhibits, costumes, and photographs, has a daily midday cannon-firing ceremony at midday from May to September. See www.nanaimomuseum.ca.
SNORKEL WITH HARBOUR SEALS OFF SNAKE ISLAND, a 15-minute boat ride, to see harbour seals on the shores or in surrounding waters. $C99 ($100). See www.sundowndiving.com.
GABRIOLA ISLAND
THE ISLAND hosts three festivals annually; the Isle of the Arts Festival (April), Gabriola Theatre Festival (August) and Thanksgiving Studio Tour (October) in which hundreds of artists open their doors to visitors over three days. See www.artsgabriola.ca.
PETROGLYPH PARK
THE PARK contains replicas of the sacred carvings made by elders of the Snuneymuxw , descendants of the First Nations, to the Gabriola Historical and Museum Society. See www.gabriolamuseum.org.
