I loved our 5 day family trip to the Broken Group Islands and would go back there again in a heartbeat. Taking the ship in from Port Alberni to Sechart Lodge makes accessing the BGI pretty easy. It's all pretty protected, or, that is to say you can stay in fairly protected water if you choose to. You can also paddle out beyond the outer islands where there's nothing but ocean from there to Japan.
Lady Rose Marine Services:
http://www.ladyrosemarine.com/kayak.htmlA slideshow of my pictures:
http://pawistik.blogspot.ca/2011/09/pho ... group.html


1 canoe, a bunch of kayaks, and gear about to be loaded on the ship (quite a few kayaks were already aboard) :

They call it "Fogust" - the Brokens were shrouded in fog the entire time we were there. We paddled into it on the first day and paddled out of it on our last day. But, it's the wet West Coast and we're from the prairies so it's pretty much what we expected. We were very surprised that as soon as we got to the edge of the group of islands, the fog remained behind us. Here we are aboard the boat heading back toward Port Alberni with the fog still sitting on top of the islands behind us.

I really want to head back there in October to take my L3 kayak course.
Another option would be to head off of Quadra Island toward Octopus Islands and area.
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.p ... &z=12&t=t5There is a lot of current here so you better know your tide & current tables. It's the location of famous Surge Narrows - a nice place to surf when the currents are right but easy to paddle through at slack. When I did that trip it was part of a kayak course and we launched from and returned to Discovery Islands Lodge which is owned and run by paddlers. There is also a public launch nearby.
http://pawistik.blogspot.ca/2011/05/pc- ... in-bc.htmlOh, and canoes work on saltwater, too. But you can expect a few people to give you funny looks and maybe be mildly offended.
Cheers,
Bryan