To celebrate Ocean Week, the Trash Panda Brigade (Kayak, Canoe and SUP paddlers) are leading a clean up of the upper gorge. Paddlers will launch from the boat launch at Gorge Park beside VCKC, and meet up with on land participants at the Esquimalt Gorge Park beach. We will finish with a presentation at the Gorge Waterway Nature House at 1:45.  This is free for all to join – bring your own boat if you’re joining us on the water, otherwise, you’re welcome to do a shoreline clean up beside us. Please bring a pair of gloves, and wear water friendly footwear. We recommend rubber boots if walking the shoreline, or neoprene boots if paddling.

This clean up is sponsored by Tillicum Mall, who is supplying the trash bin for the end of the clean up.

The Trash Panda Brigade is a group of local Paddle Canada instructors of SUP, kayak and canoe that routinely do ocean cleanups around the South Island often in collaboration with local stewardship groups. We are inviting other paddlers to join us as we collect marine trash such as tires, plastics, Styrofoam and more from the inter tidal area. We have planned this for low tide, but we have been known to wade into the water or use pickers to scoop up trash just below the water’s surface. For paddlers who want to go all in, wetsuits or drysuits are recommended, but it’s not necessary.