DEREK SPALDING

Times Colonist

Two young women were found safe and well Saturday after spending the night lost in bad weather on a tiny island in Barkley Sound, near Ucluelet.

The pair were among nine members of the University of Victoria Outdoors Club on a kayaking and hiking trip through the Broken Group Islands.

The women, whose names have not been disclosed, failed to return after going for a walk on Dodd Island at dinner time Friday.

An extensive search on and around the tiny island began at about 8 p.m. Friday and included the Canadian Coast Guard, Parks Canada and both West Vancouver Island and Port Alberni search and rescue teams.

Fellow campers also scoured the shoreline, which stretches about one square kilometre, said Laura Judson, communications officer for Parks Canada.

The coast guard had two vessels circling the island Friday night.

Crews faced high winds and some “pretty severe squalls,” said Renee Wissink, manager of resource conservation at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

The women were found about 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Two search teams walked through the bush and sent out occasional sound blasts until they heard the missing hikers responding, Wissink said.

Neither of the women had proper gear for an overnight stay in the woods. They were both wet and cold, but reports indicated they were they were healthy.

“They’re all tired as you can expect,” said Clint Hamilton, athletics and recreation director at UVic.

“After a good night’s sleep, they will return tomorrow when we will have an opportunity to debrief.”

The party had set out on Tuesday on a four-day trip. They rented kayaks and launched in the waters of Toquaht Bay.

By Friday, on Dodd Island, where they settled in for the night, two women went for a walk.

When they failed to return after sundown, other members of the party called for help.

“I think they got disoriented and couldn’t find their way back to camp and spent quite a cold and rainy night in the bush,” Wissink said.

Extreme weather during the winter is the biggest risk to kayakers and campers in the area.

“You can get some extreme weather this time of year and high seas,” Wissink said.

“General travel is not recommended to the Broken Group, particularly inexperienced kayakers.”

Getting into danger on such a small island would be difficult, said John Mass, part-owner of the outdoor-activity company Broken Island Adventures.

Mass and his staff spend thousands of hours each year in the area providing a water taxi service and giving marine wildlife tours.

The thought of two hikers going missing on such a small island overnight can be “kind of scary,” but considering the people went missing on foot, they would have been fairly easy to find, Mass said.

“It would be hard to get into trouble, but you can get lost — it’s not an easy island to get around on,” he added.

dspalding@timescolonist.coma