Why Choose Butterfly Tours?
How we are different
- Each person is equipped with a single kayak.
This is unique.
- Our maximum group size is six guests plus two guides.
The smallest groups.
- Our guide has thirty-one years of experience kayaking Haida Gwaii.
Making a difference to the quality and safety of your trip.
- We specialize in the most remote regions of Gwaii Haanas.
This is an advantage.
- We provide organic food and prepare meals over driftwood beach-fires.
Appreciate our healthy menu and campfire cooking.
- Accommodation at the Rose Harbour Guesthouse is included.
Experience this small, fascinating homesteader community.
- Direct contact with the owner & guide.
Gord is pleased to assist you.
Single Kayaks
Butterfly Tours is the only outfitter in Gwaii Haanas specializing in single kayaks; each person is provided with a single for the entire trip.
- Other outfitters provide either a fleet of double kayaks, or a mixed fleet of double and single kayaks. With mixed fleets, the limited number of single kayaks often become very popular, requiring each person to wait their turn before enjoying the independence and rewards of paddling a single. In mixed fleets, stronger and weaker paddlers are commonly paired and encouraged to spend much of the trip together in a double kayak, to help keep the fleet moving.
Butterfly Tours guests are provided with an uninterrupted opportunity to experience Haida Gwaii by single kayak.
Our guides are highly experienced kayak instructors; we help people develop efficient paddling techniques. Our guests learn to comfortably maintain a reasonable cruising speed, each in their own single kayak.
As an alternative, a double kayak is available, however; we do not provide a paddling partner for the double. (We provide each person with the opportunity to paddle a single kayak.) If you would prefer paddling the double, please be sure to arrive with a paddling partner.
For more information, please see: Equipment
Those planning on arriving alone and preferring to paddle a double kayak, may be interested in joining a different tour company that provides a fleet of doubles. Please contact us; we would be happy to recommend another reputable outfitter.
Smallest Groups
Ours are the smallest kayak tour groups in Gwaii Haanas. The maximum group size is six participants plus two guides on our Waters of SGang Gwaay tour, Kayak Guesthouse Vacation, Cape Freeman Expedition and Evolution Expedition.
We offer quality-oriented kayak tours to small groups of people. Our smaller groups are significantly quieter and more flexible than large tour groups. With fewer people on each trip, our guests spend less time waiting for others and more time exploring. With fewer tents, we are able to camp on many beaches that larger groups must pass by.
Small groups tread softer upon the Earth. Our guides will demonstrate and teach minimal-impact camping techniques. We encourage our guests to help preserve the ecological integrity of this wilderness area. Minimal-impact camping is accomplished far more successfully by small groups of people.
Our guide to guest ratio is 2:6. This is the smallest ratio in Gwaii Haanas.
- Other outfitters will offer tours with up to ten guests plus two guides, making 12 people in the group. This creates a guide to guest ratio of 2:10. Large groups will dilute the talents and abilities of their guides.
Our smaller groups enjoy quieter surroundings, enhanced flexibility, increased safety and more opportunities for interactions with the guides.
Your Guide
Butterfly Tours owner & guide, Gord Pincock, has enjoyed well over a quarter century of sea kayak touring in Gwaii Haanas. His guiding experience and safety record are unsurpassed.
Guests of Butterfly Tours can be certain of who their guide will be; Gord is scheduled to lead each trip that we offer. Our guests enjoy the significant advantages of traveling with the most experienced sea kayak guide in Gwaii Haanas.
For more information on Gord, please see: About Butterfly Tours
Gord has guided every kayak trip that Butterfly Tours has ever offered, however; the guide schedule may be changed due to circumstances beyond our control.
Specializing in Gwaii Haanas
We offer guided sea kayak trips through Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve & Haida Heritage Site. This is what we do best; Butterfly Tours is dedicated to kayaking through the most remote stretches of Gwaii Haanas. There are many advantages to this commitment:
Butterfly Tours explores the isolated and pristine southernmost regions of Moresby Island; an area preserved in its natural state. By concentrating on the most remote regions of Gwaii Haanas, we leave behind all signs of civilization. Here, the temperate rainforests include giant old-growth cedar, spruce and hemlock, completely untouched by modern logging.
The equipment we provide is selected specifically for kayak touring on Haida Gwaii. Our extensive local support network has been established during three decades of business on the Islands.
Gwaii Haanas is a destination where the accumulated experiences of the guide will make a significant difference to the quality and safety of your trip. Our guide has an extensive history of kayak touring throughout Haida Gwaii. Gord is intimately familiar with this vibrant territory, it's waterways, tidal currents and weather patterns. Each Butterfly Tours guest will gain the benefits of traveling with the most experienced guide in the region.
Campfires & Meals
Our healthy, tasty meals are prepared over driftwood beach-fires, lending a "tribal sense" to our daily feasts. For most guests, the campfire becomes one of the focal points of each day. Cooking our meals over a fire brings us all closer to the ancient ways of the Haida, who once paddled their dugout canoes through the region.
Driftwood is plentiful in Gwaii Haanas. Our guides practice minimal-impact camping techniques to ensure that campfire scars do not remain on the beaches when we depart. Meals prepared over a fire create much more wholesome experiences, when compared to the alternative of heating food over propane camp-stoves. (We do carry a small stove which we rarely use.)
Meals are of a vegetarian nature, with the possibility of adding freshly gathered seafoods. Numerous certified organic ingredients are used during our food preparation.
For more information, please see: Meals
Rose Harbour Guesthouse
During the Waters of SGang Gwaay tour and Cape Freeman Expedition, our last night is spent in the fabulous Rose Harbour Guesthouse; a lovely, rustic accommodation carefully hand-built by resident musician Tassilo.
After enjoying several days of paddling and camping in this truly wild region of the coast, we return to Rose Harbour on the second-to-last day. Here, we indulge in wood-fired hot showers and a marvelous organic dinner hosted by the local residents. These fascinating homesteaders are happy to provide a glimpse into their unique self-sufficient lifestyles.
For Rose Harbour information, please see: Kayak Guesthouse Vacation
Contact Gord
Benefit from direct contact with the owner & guide. Gord is pleased to personally respond to email, phone and letter mail inquiries. For detailed and accurate information about your trip, you are welcome to contact Gord.
Travel agents and tour representatives may find it difficult to provide accurate information about itineraries, equipment and other important details. With Butterfly Tours, you may contact Gord any time before the kayaking season begins and receive detailed answers to your questions. Directly from the guide.
