(This story is sponsored by Coastal Bliss Adventures)

If Georgia Newsome and Gary Ward learned anything before founding Coastal Bliss Adventures a decade and a half ago, it’s that the world is at its most beautiful when there are no distractions. 

With that in mind, there’s one overriding goal for every person who signs up for one of Coastal Bliss Adventures’ kayaking, canoeing, birdwatching, or forest-exploring adventures, whether it be in scenic and serene Cowichan Bay or super-natural and wild Clayoquot Sound. 

“Ultimately, we want our clients to have had a real experience along the way, to reconnect to something primal and awe-inspiring,” the Coastal Bliss Adventures co-founders say. “Each trip is a journey, constantly watching, constantly moving forward, constantly renewing.”

There is no shortage of adventures to choose, with packages geared to all ages and abilities. 

Coastal Bliss Adventures offers multi-day kayaking and canoeing tours in various locations on Vancouver Island, starting with Cowichan Bay and Clayoquot Sound, and including Nootka Sound, Johnstone Strait, Gulf Islands and Broken Group Islands. Other experiences range from nature hikes to birdwatching tours to forest immersion experiences.

One of the most rewarding parts of leaving the city for a Coastal Bliss Adventures experience is being able to connect with nature. Kayaking and canoeing tours range from two-hour paddles to three, four, five, and six-day adventures. Chill out with the Paddle in the Estuary or the Evening Unwinder in Cowichan Bay, or discover what it’s really like to escape from it all with a multi-day tour of the Gulf Islands or Broughton Archipelago. Marvel at one of nature’s most amazing sights with a two-hour Bioluminescence Kayak Tour, or explore one of the province’s best-kept secrets with the five-day Quadra Island Main Lakes Canoe Tour. 

The three-hour Cowichan Canoe Birding Tour gives you a prime seat for sightings of Purple Martins, Osprey, Blue Herons, and majestic Bald Eagles. On the multi-day canoe and kayak tours expect up-close encounters with seals, sea lions, and even the occasional orca or sea otter. Whether you’re out for an afternoon or extended adventure, all trips come with highly qualified guides who diligently follow standards set up by Paddle Canada and the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC.

For those looking to go it alone for a couple of hours, kayaks, canoes, and stand-up paddleboards are also available for rental at its Cowichan Bay Kayaking outpost at Bluenose Marina.

Coastal Bliss Adventures takes the attitude that the Earth is ours to steward, with the job of protecting and preserving it for future generations an important part of our time here. 

With that in mind, the company pledges include the following:

• We strive to be safe at all times.
• We strive to think globally and act locally.
• We value and engage with First Nations and Indigenous people as much as we can.
• We educate others about the land, sea, sky, first peoples, and all our relations.
• We transport people by group as far as possible, provided it is safe, to be more efficient and save fuel and emissions.
• We clean up beaches and trails as we go.
• We buy local or grow our own as much as possible.
• We recycle as much as we can.
• We limit fires on trips.
• We do as much electronically as we can, limiting paper use.
• We buy in bulk as much as possible to reduce packaging.
• We follow or exceed Leave No Trace principles.

As for what you’ll take away from a Coastal Bliss Adventures experience, start with looking at the world in a different way, with no emails to answer, Zoom calls to sit through, or deadlines to meet. 

The beauty, and importance, of getting away from it all isn’t lost on the company’s cofounders Georgia Newsome and Gary Ward. Born in England, Newsome spent time as a physical education teacher before falling in love with British Columbia’s natural beauty and beginning her career as a guide. 

Ward started as a physicist and mathematician in the States with detours into the worlds of soap-making and renovating. Like Newsome, he ended up falling hard for the outdoors on Canada’s wild West Coast, leading him to co-found Coastal Bliss Adventures with her in 2009.

Their philosophy was simple and direct: “We all live on the land. That is the real world. We take away the obstacles to experience what is real, to experience your bliss.”

Goodbye distractions. Welcome to Cowichan country and beyond, where you’ll discover what’s really important. 

For more information on Coastal Bliss Adventures, including packages and rates, go to coastalbliss.ca.