I just looked at this place on google earth, and I’ve done a fair bit of kayaking.

This is a sketchy place for kayaking specifically. If there is a company renting kayaks there you won’t be the last person in this exact scenario. The channel you’re talking about is the bottom of a funnel created by the two islands, low pressure system to the south of those islands will draw all the water and air toward it. This basically turns these islands into a geographical kayak gun aimed at the South China Sea.