| Class: | (2-3) | ||
| Flow: | 8.5-11 knots on the flood tide (Not much happening on the ebb). Check Canadian Tide and Current Tables Book. | ||
| Length: | N/A | ||
| Time: | 2 hours | ||
| Portages: | N/A | ||
| Gradient: | N/A | ||
| Season: | Aug-Sept | ||
| Put-In: | Drive off the ferry on Quadra Island, and stay on the main road, turning left at the top of the hill. Drive past Quadra Foods, and turn right at the stop sign. Just past the elementary school, turn left onto West Rd. Drive for about ten minutes, and you will reach Heriot Bay. Turn left onto Cramer Rd. (if you pass the store you've gone too far) and then right onto Hyacinthe Bay Rd. Keep driving for about 40min. Hyacinthe Bay Rd. will turn into Surge Narrows Rd. and becomes gravel. Just when you think you took a wrong turn, you will get to the end of the road. Make sure you go left down to the public access parking lot. Carry your boat down the hill and paddle to your left (North). It takes about 10min. to reach Surge Narrows. | ||
| Take-Out: | Same. | ||
| Link: | Google Directions to Put-In | ||
| Link: | Map Quest | ||
| River Daddy/Mom: | AKeller |
Interactive map:
Map script: techrageo
Back to: Overview River Map
Run description:
Surge Narrows is a tidal rapid in the Surge Narrows Marine Park off North Quadra Is. The park n’ play spot offers small but fun features to challenge beginner and intermediate paddlers with spectacular marine life. Part of the challenge to paddling in Surge Narrows is that as the tide rises, the features change, so play spots will form and disappear throughout the two hours of the tide. Surge Narrows is also a relatively safe place to paddle, just watch out for the barnacles! Since there are often good tides for a few days in a row, you may want to spend the night. There is good camping on Peck Is., as well as accommodations at Discovery Islands Lodge (www.discovery-islands-lodge.com), just a 5 minute paddle South past the put-in.
I like to be at Surge Narrows about an hour ahead of max. flood. If the tide is running as you approach Surge Narrows, you may want to eddy hop behind one small island to get to an eddy and rock beach behind larger Peck Is. which you will have to climb over. The chute behind Pech Is. is good before max. flood, but as the wave there starts to die off, paddle around the base of the next island to a wave/hole. If you still need some play once that is gone, try the chute by Peck again for some small waves.
There are other small waves sprinkled throughout the area, including a very beginner friendly wave over on the shore of Quadra.
If you are looking for hardcore whitewater, Surge Narrows is probably not your place. It is however a beautiful spot with some fun playspots.
Other runs on the Ocean Spots: