"Solo In The Broken Group Islands..."

I am just musing here at this moment, and gazing up, at the Broken Group chart mounted with another map up on my wall... and daydreaming about past times and future plans to again sea kayak solo out in the BGI...

This is another of those precious wild places I am grateful to have often visited and also thankful for those persons gone before us who made the time and spent the energy to advocate for and protect such vistas for future generations...

After many trips out in groups, and with my partner, over the last dozen years, I also wanted to experience another dimension of this cherished grid upon the map... but to journey on one's own is a very different way to experience a place... As Colin Fletcher wrote: "By wandering out alone into the wilderness... I can after a while begin to see and to hear and to think and in the end to feel with a new and exciting accuracy...".

Going solo meant more detailed planning & preparation, and carrying all that extra gear one needs when out alone. It meant too thorough rehearsal and practice of self rescue; of navigation skills also as the potential fog can be a fun yet exhilarating challenge...

I am especially cautious of the the fetch of wind and waves, and tend to stay closer to these small islands for solo safety as well as for their meandering aesthetic shorelines...

It is indeed a different kind of mindset to be out with only your Self as company; one I've enjoyed yet also found to be somewhat overwhelming at times...

It is the beaches and wild marine life within these island gems that seem to attract me most...

I remember... the Tiny Group; Dempster beaches; hidden beaches around Nettle & Clarke with their mix of sand and crushed shells...

I remember... the carved face on the old cedar jutting out from Island 21 just south of Willis; the old Totem at the Dodd campsite which holds special memory too...

I think I have placed Summit Stones on most every island, time and again, within the BGI... and when I return... days, weeks, or even months later... none of these remain. I am glad of this as that is my intent that they are 'found', then carried away... so that only the sand, rock, and driftwood remain...

There are certain islands... I am sure they are not visited very often at all... they have only the smallest point to step out upon; a very tiny sand or rocky area; where the timing for landing is only possible at the lowest spring tides... I remember these too... And have been tempted to spend days, rather than hours at these rather than the busier locations... The nature of seeking out solitude within solo experiences I sense...

As R. Schultheis wrote: "There is a potency in solitude that surpasseth understanding...".

There may only be a hundred tiny islands out in the Broken Group... but there are hundreds more hidden, secret places, and a thousand vivid adventure memories to be found out there...

DSD