Twin Islands, North Vancouver: Beginner-friendly Kayak camping

The world is a big place and you can spend your entire life travelling and never see it all.  This is never more apparent than when you live in Canada.  My country is so vast that I could spend a lifetime just exploring my own province of British Columbia – which holds a landmass greater than all of Western Europe combined – and never see it all. The Coronavirus pandemic has been an opportunity to really see the vast adventure that’s just at my doorstep. Jens and I have been making the most of our time without international travel by exploring as much of British Columbia as possible.  A three-day weekend gave Jens and I the opportunity to do an overnight kayak camping trip to Twin Islands in the Indian Arm Inlet – within 20km of Metro Vancouver! Basically a staycation.

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Our journey started in Deep Cove, North Vancouver. The most difficult challenge of the journey starts before we even put our boats in the water.  That is: finding overnight parking in the city.  If it’s a weekend – you might as well forget it – however, given it was Friday morning before a non-long weekend – we lucked out and found some street parking – which after asking several locals, we were about 80% sure that we would not be towed or ticketed. There’s a small lot right across from the Deep Cove Kayak rental centre where we were told was also ok for overnight parking – but that lot was full – and even the locals warned that nothing was ever assured since there’s always the talk of ever-looming parking by-law changes that no one is ever sure of whether they have, or have not been implemented – so be aware of that risk.  For our experience, we found our public street parking decision was fine, and we were not towed or ticketed when we returned from our trip.

Twin islands is about a 5.5km paddle from Deep Cove, up the sheltered waters of the Indian Arm inlet. A wonderful overnight trip for beginners. Note there is no fresh water supply on Twin Islands so you must pack enough water for your entire trip. As the name suggests, Twin islands are two tiny islands right next to each other.  Each island is just about 1km from end-to-end so a perfect place to bring kids as they can run around and explore without much risk of getting lost, or nabbed by any animal larger than a squirrel.  The islands do not have a fresh-water source – so make sure you carry enough fresh water with you.  During low tide it’s possible to walk from one island to the other. The southern island is meant for day-use only, while the northern island has a free, first-come, first-served campground! 

Tip for camping: when you first arrive on the island you’ll immediately see a large forested area full of campsites. A good strategy would be to place some belongings on a site there first, and then walk further along the trails that take you all the way to the end of the small island (no more than 1km).  Some of the most beautiful sites are at the other end of the island overlooking the ocean! So definitely investigate whether those sites are free before setting up! Jens and I managed to score a gorgeous site overlooking the ocean. It was more beautiful than any honeymoon suite we could’ve paid for 🙂

Kayaking, camping and enjoying the outdoors was the primary objective of the trip; but we also decided to try our hand at crabbing on this trip as well! 

Last summer while camping on Saturna Island, I saw a couple of women casting crab nets just off the dock by the ferry terminal and actually hauling in a good amount of crab. “Less competition here” they said, handing me one of their crabs as they caught more than they could eat that day.  For any of you who have not had freshly caught crab – whatever crab you’ve had before – even if you bought them live from the fish market – they do not compare to freshly caught ocean-to-plate crab. It is absolutely delicious.

Buoyed by the memory of the deliciousness of that freshly-caught crab and also by the fact that a crabbing license cost less than $25 to catch as many as 4 crab per day, every day for a year; I jumped on the opportunity to bring some crabbing gear (which I conveniently bought off Amazon) along for our trip to Twin Islands – which is also a well-known crabbing spot.

Weirdly, crabs seem to really like chicken. I’ve been told by experienced crabbers that it’s all about the scent trail the bait leaves, and chicken apparently leaves a strong one in the water. I picked up some chicken scraps at the local grocery store for $1.50, froze them before the trip and used that as bait. With no more experience than watching a couple of instructional YouTube videos, we decided to just try crabbing off the boat dock. Nothing too fancy for our first try. To our utter surprise, we managed to haul in regulation crabs or “keepers” in each of our first two hauls! We ended up with two large crabs for dinner our first night on the island at the honeymoon suite. The staycation was going well to say the least 😀

We were only supposed to spend one night at Twin Islands and then head out to Granite Falls at the end of Indian Arm the next day; however, after scoring the honeymoon suite and catching dinner off the dock, we decided Granite Falls could wait for another trip. Both of us agreed that Twin Islands was too magical for us to only stay one night. 

The next day, after a 15km paddle around the surrounding islands which included a short beer and water refill run back in North Vancouver; we returned to Twin Islands in time to meet an Indian Arm legend: “Mike”.  We were hearing about this legendary “Mike” since we had arrived at Twin Islands.  Mike is a First Nations commercial fisherman who also runs wilderness tours in the Indian Arm area through his company Indian Arm Auxiliary.  He’s a crabbing legend and is one of few people who has the know-how to catch the elusive spot-prawn in the area.  When we spotted an old repurposed BC Ferries lifeboat docked at the island and giant buckets full of crab and spot prawns sitting on the dock, we both knew the tall, charismatic First Nations man standing in the midst of it all must have been the infamous Mike.  

One of the first things Mike did was give us each a large, live spot prawn, which he taught us how to eat raw by twisting off the head, sucking out the delicious stuff in the head, and then eating the rest of the shrimp ultimate sashimi-style.  It sounds gross, but it was a delicious experience!  He and his lovely partner and friends invited us to an an unforgettable crab boil that evening, where we ate, drank, laughed, and listened to Mike’s epic stories – which included everything from him somehow swimming through dangerous waters in Burma in the 1980s, to his affinity for rollerskating on Davie street in short-shorts as a heterosexual man in the 1990s.  We really liked Mike! 

Mike and his partner sent us off with leftover crab that evening which we happily turned into a delicious crab curry the next morning.  Crab for breakfast? Why not? We’re on staycation! We spent our last day sunbathing on the Southern Twin island and generally feeling amazingly grateful and happy for the amazing few days we had along with the lovely people we were so lucky to meet. 

Gratitude tally for our staycation: 

• Gorgeous oceanside honeymoon “suite”
• Massive beginner’s luck catching our own delicious crab dinner on night one
• Someone else caught our next crab and spot prawn dinner the second night and graciously shared it with us
• Met amazing people with whom we shared some great stories
• Sunny the whole weekend
• Car did not get ticketed or towed when we got back

What more can you ask for?

Trip Packing List:

• Kayak (Jens and I both have Advanced Elements inflatable Kayaks)
• Paddles
• Throw Kits
• Bailer Pumps
• Life jackets
• Tent (Jens and I use a MSR Hubba Hubba 2 person tent)
• Sleeping pads (I use this ultralightweight, super-packable pad)
• Sleeping bags (This super lightweight bag can be good for summers)
• Ultralight Packable camping chairs (a luxury item, but it’s so nice to have a comfortable chair at camp!)
• Headlamps (I like this rechargeable one)
• Lightweight day pack (This daypack is perfect for light hikes, and other uses like cycling. Wpockeeighs only 530g and also has hip pockets for snacks and your phone on the go!)
• Battery Pack for charging phone and other electronic devices (I like this one that also has solar panels.  Excellent customer service one mine stopped operating, they offered a full-refund right away)
• Smartphones (there is smartphone coverage in the Sechelt Inlet)
• Large collapsible water jug – there is no fresh water source on Twin Island, you must bring all the water you need
• MSR Dromedary Water Bladder (connect-compatible with Sawyer Water Filter)
• Clothing (I’m completely obsessed with Icebreaker clothing – as it’s antimicrobial and does not hold odors – you can wear the same shirt for a week without washing and it’s as good as new)
• Bathing suit
• Water-hiking sandals – allows for ease of getting in and out of the kayak on rocky beaches but also allows for hiking as well – excellent 2-in-1
• Light running shoes – to wear in the evenings as your sandals dry out
• Food 
• MSR Mini Stove (weighs less than 100grams!)
• Fuel for MSR Mini Stove
• Pot set (we have a pot-set and to save space we also eat from the pots)
• Cooking utensils
• Rainshell
• Down jacket (I have this one that I got off Amazon – it’s well-priced for a 100% down jacket and packs down small)
• Biodegradable soap
• Waterproof bags for clothing, food etc.
• Hat
• Sunglasses

Optional:

• Sunscreen (I really like this Ombrelle sport spray – it sprays on clear – and great if you’re travelling solo – you can get your back with the spray!). One of few clear sunscreen sprays with proper UVA filters like Mexoryl, Avobenzone.
• Insect bite healer. This device is basically like a mini heat-pen that when applied to a fresh bite, denatures the poison from the insect bite and greatly reduces/eliminates itching and swelling. This is an absolute game-changer for those who have allergic reactions to bug bites. I normally get very bad swelling and itching from any bite that I get – but if I use this device when the bite is fresh, there is typically no evidence I even had a bite the next day!
• Lightweight rain tarp in case it rains
• Waterproof First Aid Kit
• Arnica (My go-to non-drug treatment for any bumps/bruises/inflammation on the trail. I even carry a tube around in my purse. Great for anyone allergic to Advil like I am.)
• Lightweight packable backpack (folds into nothing!)