About 22 canoes participating in the 2004 Paddle Journey left Port Angeles at 5 a.m. Thursday and arrived in Esquimalt, British Columbia, safely before noon.
Canoes, including those from Lower Elwha, Hoh and Quinault tribes, reached the south Vancouver Island shore at about 11:30 a.m., according to Lower Elwha tribal members.
Canoes will leave Esquimalt for Pat Bay today and continue traveling northward up the Strait of Georgia.
The annual, drug- and alcohol-free Paddle Journey will end Aug. 4 when canoes reach Kulleet Bay and ask the Chemainus First Nation permission to come ashore.
The Makah tribe was traveling along the British Columbia coastline near Beecher Bay on Wednesday and planned to continue pulling to Kulleet Bay during the next week.