It is low tide when we get up in the morning. A look on either side of the spit tells us the launch of the kayaks into the water is going to be a chore. John decides on the best spot to launch, which is about a hundred meters down the beach. Less treacherous green vegetation to walk over to get to the water. After breakfast, Murray and I schlepp gear down the beach while John and Richard have the heavier load of carrying the kayaks.
Once everyone is on the water, we have to paddle way around the spit between the buoys, which is almost to the shore of Cortes Island. From there, we dodge the Quadra to Cortes ferry and head north hugging the coast and looking for wildlife.
The sun is actually peaking through the smoke and clouds. It feels almost warm. It is so quiet on the water. Just the sound of my paddles. Splsh – dripdripdrip splsh – dripdripdrip is all I hear. The sound is soothing.
The water is calm. The seals pop their heads up to check us out and if we get too close, poof, they are gone. A flock of birds, perhaps harlequin ducks, flies by in formation. They move in unison, dipping wings and zig zagging across the surface.
We turn west and paddle towards the Penn Islands where we make camp for tonight. We join a couple already camped on the northern most island. The campsite we choose is a 5 star location as we find out from the couple that we are overlooking a bit of a whale channel.
Whales. They are the creatures of the day. Humpbacks. We see them during the day and now, as we dine in our 5 star restaurant, two whales travel through the channel. They even stick around for a bit and treat us to more sightings. We also spied, through binoculars, two orcas swimming through another channel far off to our left. Magnificent! We don’t want it to get dark as we want to keep watching for these splendid creatures.
John cooks up another great supper. He adds a can of this and that, some veggies (chopped by Richard), coconut milk and red curry paste, and voila!, supper. It tastes so good it is hard to not over eat. Lunches are very similar but we eat veggie and canned salmon or chicken or turkey salads, nuts, sugared fruit, wraps or crackers. One day it’s Greek, the next is Indian, then Italian. John always keeps us guessing as to what we will eat.
Inside our tent we notice our tent, sleeping bags, mats and clothes are getting damper and damper. We need some serious sun and some wind to dry us out. Us prairie folks with our drying wind have trouble comprehending this moist wind and damp environment, especially with no sun. Maybe tomorrow.
