Malpeque Sandhills via Bird Island

On a day where the weather was looking a bit unpredictable (rain), I decided to make a kayak trip to Bird Island and maybe to the back of Lennox Island. It turned out to be an excellent paddling outing with incredible scenery, nature observations, interesting weather contrast photos, and no rain!  My usual launch point for the northwest area of Malpeque Bay is Gillis Point.  You go to Port Hill, and then take the Low Point Road to the end.  From there, you follow a track around Gillis Point through a farmer’s field.

Gillis Point to Malpeque sandhill

GE map view (track 14.2 km)

I planned to paddle across to Bird Island and re-evaluate the weather before heading any further. After a walk on the western side of Bird Island and capturing a few nature observations, I decided to keep going towards the Malpeque sandhills (Billy Hook Island). At this point, there was no sign of any severe weather – although it was starting to look overcast towards the southwest. 

Beautiful day heading to Bird Island

The tide wasn’t the highest, but I did manage to get to the sandhill at SHA75 (about 3 km to the SE of Hardy’s channel). There’s a steep sandy path over the sandhill at SHA75 – a bit of a challenge to climb over. I had my lunch at the top with a sea view that would be hard to beat in PEI. I did start to get a bit worried, the overcast sky was approaching from the west, and there was a good chance that I was paddling back in the rain.

Sandhill, looking east

Sandhill, looking west

Merganser kayak on Malpeque sandhill

After lunch, it was more nature observation photography on the sandhill shoreline.  By chance, the on-line HOBO sandhill weather station was just west of SHA75. The return paddle (6 km) was a direct route to Gillis Point while expecting to get rain (or worse) at any time. It was my lucky day! Even though the sky got dark and threatening, the rain and wind never materialize, and I got back without any weather issues.

One hour later approaching Gillis Point

I hope to make this trip again next year over a full day (minus the dark skies)!

For all iNaturalist observations recorded on this trip, click here.

The Conway Narrows to Malpeque Bay Passage

I have paddled and sailed most of the waters along the PEI sandhills between Alberton and Cabot Park (40 km). But, this summer, I realized that I’ve never gone through from the Conway Narrows to Malpeque Bay via the Hardy channel. If it were practical to sail from Seaweed Road to Malpeque Bay, it would give me an alternate way to explore the Malpeque sandhill (Bill Hook or Fish Island), Lennox Island, Bird Island, and Hog Island.

Hardy channel bypass route options

There are two options to make the passage through the huge Hardy sandflat. There’s the deep marked channel used by the Milligan Wharf’s fishermen. This deep route follows the sandhill shore and eventually goes out into the gulf.  But, there’s also a deep narrow channel that leads into Malpeque Bay (see blue line on GE map). This sandhill route would be difficult to follow with a sailboat, so it’s better as a paddling route.

Kayak track, 12.5km

The other route is to follow the mainland shore all the way through. This is the area I set to explore this summer, so I made two trips to the area.  The first outing was by kayak from Milligan’s Wharf to assess the water’s width and depth in this area for sailing. It could be tight, but I think that my 16ft OSC would be able to sail through assuming high tide and some favourable winds!

OSC track, 12.9km

On August 10th, I launched the OSC at Seaweed Road (Conway Narrows) and headed SE hoping to get to SHA70 on Malpeque sandhill (i.e. Bill Hook Island). Initially, the wind was great as I progressed towards Milligan’s Wharf, but it didn’t last.  I went ashore after Milligan’s Wharf for a walk and to pick-up a bowl-shaped rock that I’d seen on my kayak trip a few weeks earlier. After thinking that the winds were done for a while, I decided to start heading back under sail and paddle. An hour later, as I was approaching Seaweed Road, a nice breeze came. So I headed towards the sandhill (SHA55) for a short walk and lunch on the beach (gulf side). Afterwards, it was a nice sail straight across Conway Narrows to Seaweed Road (1.6km).

Definitely looking forward to next summer to try that sail plan again!

	Milligan's Wharf
	Bowl-shaped stone

References: Some history of the Hardy channel area and lighthouse.

1) Lighthouse Friends, click Here.
2) PEI Lighthouse Society, click HERE.

Pics below from my July 27th kayak trip to the Hardy channels.

What could be better for a sail!

Exploring the NW Conway Narrows by kayak

The Conway Narrows section between Cascumpec Bay and Frederick Cove is the hardest to explore – especially by sailboat.  The channels in this section are narrow, and the water is relatively shallow throughout. So the best way to explore this area of the Conway Narrows is by kayak at high tide. During the summer of 2020, I made two kayak trips in this area from the end of Pete Con Road. 

Conway Narrows, the northwest half

GE map, July 29th, 15.2km track

The end of Pete Con Road is a good kayak and OSC launching point. It’s undeveloped, and the sandy shore is firm enough to drive on the beach at the end of the road (to the right). On the first outing, I headed SE to explore the Conway channel islands and the sandhills. On July 29th, I was on the water fairly early in the morning in very calm and misty/foggy conditions, which made for great paddling and some beautiful scenery.  

After crossing the 0.5 km to the sandhill, I kept paddling SE along the shoreline towards Frederick Cove. I made my way in the shallow water behind CONISA & B and went to check out SHA30, but decided that it wasn’t a great place to cross over to the gulf side.  After exploring CONISB, I went ashore at SHA35 and went for a sandhill beach walk. Given the calm morning, I was surprised to see so much wave/surf action on the gulf side. Then it was a short paddle around to SHA38 for another walk on the sandhill and some lunch. After lunch, I explored as far as the huge Frederick sandflat (1 sq. km) and then started my paddle home via the PEI shoreline. I went by the end of Mickie Allan Road – where I should have stopped for a bitter at the Moth Lane pub!

 

GE map, Aug 8, 2020, 10.7km track

On August 8th, I did a second kayak outing from the end of Pete Con Road, but this time I went exploring to the NW towards Cascumpec Bay. It was again a calm day, but this time the sun was out, and it was a beautiful clear day. I paddled across to the first sandflat from the launch beach and went for a short walk to the gulf side. This sandflat is entirely exposed to the gulf with a 0.5 km break in the sandhill. My next stop to the NW was at SHA25 to check up on another NCC Conway sandhill property. For the next paddling segment, I entered into the SHC20 channel. I could have paddled into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but I usually don’t venture in the gulf when I’m solo. I went ashore for another walk and lunch. After lunch, I paddled back to the mainland and followed the shore back to Pete Con Road. At the beginning of the return paddle, I did have to walk across parts of the sandflat in very shallow water. A bit of walking is fine as long as the bottom is suitably firm. 

This shallow 8km stretch of the Conway Narrows is great to explore since it’s mostly undeveloped and not heavily used for oyster farming.  It’s a great place to spot Great Blue Herons and other shorebirds.

Great Blue Herons	Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron	Sea Sandwort

Brae Harbour, Egmont Bay (via Campbell Road)

Egmont Bay is the longest bay in PEI.  It stretches from Cape Egmont to West Point – a distance of 42 km along the shoreline.  I grew up on the southerly end of Egmont Bay but have only started to explore the northern parts (Percival Bay to West Point) of the bay in the last few years. 

The Brae area, Egmont Bay (4.6 km track)

On this early August day, I decided to check the Egmont Bay area around Brae Harbour. The road into Brae Harbour is now closed due to erosion, so launching there is not easy. So, I went to the end of Campbell Shore Road (off Hebron Road, #164).  The end of Campbell Road is used by oyster fishers and is a great launch point for kayaks and small boats. It also has ample parking space.

There’s a channel at Campbell Road that extends from Brae Harbour to Indian Point Sand Hill to the west (about 3 km). The channel is about 600m wide at Campbell Road, and then there are another 600m of sandbars before getting into the deeper waters of Egmont Bay.

Beach area next to Brae Harbour

Merganser 17

Today, I paddled east following the sandbars towards Brae Harbour. I landed on the small crescent beach just to the east of the old harbour for a break. After a walk, the wind had come up, so I decided not to paddle any further east, and I started to head back to Campbell Road following the shoreline.  I chose not to go up the Brae River due to wind and low tide conditions. 

The old Brae Harbour wharf

The Brae Harbour wharf in disrepair

I plan to spend more time on this Egmont Bay shoreline exploring the Brae River and Indian Point Sand Spit.  This area’s deep water channel may be an excellent place to bring out the MYS15 for a sail.

The great Brae sea monster!

Beware - poison Ivy in parking area!