Paddle here just once - rising and dropping with the breathing ocean, senses on high alert - and you'll be hooked. There is something primordial about bobbing in a tiny kayak on the edge of the Pacific, where one is literally staring into the void
Please enable JavaScript to view this content. Open this photo in gallery: Kayakers enjoy a late evening paddling offshore from Spring Island, as the sun sets over Vancouver Island's majestic Brooks Peninsula. Bruce Kirkby
1 of 5
Open this photo in gallery: Christine reads Bodi a night-time story at the Spring Island base camp. Bruce Kirkby
2 of 5
Open this photo in gallery: A kayaker prepares to pass beneath a dramatic sea arch on the coast of Spring Island. Bruce Kirkby
3 of 5
Open this photo in gallery: After a few days learning the ropes in a double kayak on calm waters, non-swimmer Isabelle Pitkanen felt confident enough to head out in a single Bruce Kirkby
4 of 5
Open this photo in gallery: Seated behind his mother Christine, three-year-old Bodi peers back to watch a passing sea otter. Dave Pinel, owner of West Coast Expeditions, is in the pink kayak beside, with his two year old son Morgan, and Bodi's grandmother Isabelle up front. Bruce Kirkby
5 of 5