Queen Charlotte Islands Sea Kayaking Trips
Our Queen Charlotte Islands kayaking tours explore remote Gwaii Haanas National Park and that offers both a unique environment and a rich culture heritage. Sea kayak routes on the west coast of Canada are some of the best in the world and experienced paddlers have long regarded the Queen Charlotte Islands ( now officially called Haida Gwaii - Haida place) as the best of the best. Located 80 miles off Canada’s extreme northwest coast (you can see the mountains of SE Alaska from the Islands’ north coast) the islands of Haida Gwaii are home to the Haida, a people with a formidable sea-going lineage and a remarkable artistic tradition. The Outside Magazine 2013 Travel Awards rated the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) as “Best Islands”.
The Queen Charlotte Islands are referred to as “Canada’s Galapagos” because of their unique ecology and Gwaii Haanas (Place of Wonder) National Park was founded to protect the natural and cultural integrity of the remote southern portion of archipelago. In the summer of 2005 a survey of over 300 park professionals and academics commissioned by National Geographic rated Gwaii Haanas National Park as the top park destination in North America. “Beautiful and intact. A great model for other regions,” said one panelist.
Our Queen Charlotte Islands trips are defined by our more than 19 years experience guiding there. They are timed for the very best weather of the year and visit the very best attractions of the Park. Your guides take you on a multi-day kayak camping journey through the southern portion of Gwaii Haanas, a place where sea lions lounge on rocky haul-outs, gulls, petrels and tufted puffins perch on cliffs. Humpback and orca whales glide through the channels and straits and tidal shallows are scattered with brightly colored sea stars. We stay at beach camps where generations of Haida paddlers landed their magnificent cedar canoes, and the rainforest floors are covered with a thick carpet of moss.
Come along with us and feel the silent power of the standing totem poles at the Skung Gwaii (Ninstints) UNESCO World Heritage Site. Float through the richest inter-tidal life in the world at Burnaby Narrows and experience the incomparable blend of landscape, cultural history and wildlife that make Gwaii Haanas National Park truly a place of wonder.