What to Bring Sea Kayaking

While the summer months in British Columbia are mostly warm and sunny, we can still have a few cold and wet days. Please bring the items listed below to make your trip as enjoyable as possible in any type of weather.

While our kayaks are designed to carry a large amount of equipment, they do have their limitations. All of the items listed below will need to fit into four dry bags (which we supply). Your clothing into a 20 litre dry bag, your rain gear into a 10 litre dry bag and your remaining personal items into a 10 litre dry bag. If bringing your own sleeping bag it will need to fit into a 20 litre dry bag (Kingfisher supplies sleeping bags, liner sheets and travel pillows to all guests but if you prefer to bring your own you can.)

It is important that your clothing be made of synthetic materials or wool to retain their warmth when wet. Most synthetics like polartec fleece and polypropylene also have the advantage of quick drying. Avoid cotton items as much as possible because they lack warmth and take forever to dry once they are wet. If you have any questions on what you need to bring please feel free to contact us.

Sleeping bag - fit into 20 litre dry bag

Please note Kingfisher supplies sleeping bags, liner sheets and travel pillows to all guests but if you prefer to bring your own we recommend:

• A three season synthetic insulated bag
• Small travel pillow or stuff sack to make pillow with clothes

Clothing - fit into 20 litre dry bag

• 2 pairs of shorts
• 2 pair of pants
• 2 long sleeve shirts
• 2 short sleeve shirts
• 3 to 4 pairs of underwear
• 2 set of long underwear
• 3 to 4 pairs of socks
• 1 sweater or sweatshirt
• 1 fleece jacket
• 1 baseball cap or sun hat
• sandals or shoes you can get wet
• shoes for around camp (preferably waterproofed)
• Wool or fleece cap
• Gloves

Rain gear - fit into 10 litre dry bag

• 1 waterproof rain jacket with hood or rain hat (does not need to be breathable but has to be waterproof - not water repellent)
• 1 pair of waterproof rain pants

Personal items - fit into 10 litre dry bag

• Toiletries
• Sun screen
• Sunglasses with a retainer
• Prescription eyeglasses or contacts
• Spare eyeglasses or contacts
• Medication
• Spare medication
• Book
• Flashlight
• Camera
• Extra film, digital storage and batteries

Optional Items

• Farmer Jane/John wetsuit (for those who want to learn new skills like self rescues)
• Wet Wipes
• Small hand towel (fast drying material)

Base Camp Guests

For our base camp we can be a little more liberal in what we bring (a little, everything still needs to fit on the water taxi and we have to transport it by hand from the beach to camp). In addition to the items listed above you may bring a larger pillow and a larger towel. A musical instrument like a travel guitar may also be possible if we have advance notice. Please note that our base camp is equipped with a propane heated shower and a solar powered charging station for digital and video camera batteries (we still suggest bringing extra batteries).