Now that the Christmas celebrations are now over for another year we have migrated to Weir’s Beach RV Resort to ride out 2012 and bring in 2013. Yesterday the weather was quite stormy for kayaking so we decided to do a little Geocaching in the hills around Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific. It made for a great hike and I played around with the GoPro with GoPole handle taking video clips of our adventure along the way. No doubt the GoPole will come in handy (pun) when we head DisneyWorld in 19 days.
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| Our Geocaching Walk-A-Bout yesterday |
After over sleeping for the second day straight, we had a quick breakfast while I checked the weather forecast for our planned paddle in the Sooke Basin. For December, anything other than snow is good and today it was going to be a mixed bag of rain, clouds and maybe a peek of sun. Our put in location at Cooper Cove is only about 20 minutes away by vehicle but with the morning drizzle trying to change our minds we put our drysuits on in the RV and headed out for a much needed paddle.
We have paddled in the Sooke Basin a number of times and have found that it is such a tranquil setting especially in the winter season. Today was no different as we had the whole basin to ourselves with only the numerous waterfowl, seals and even a river otter to keep us company. Many times we forget that we are on the ocean as the protected basin can take on the look of a still mountain lake. As we worked off the rust of not being on the water for almost 4 weeks, we simply took in every movement on the surface or the flight path of birds around us.
Other than being on the water we didn't have a destination or paddle plan so we just made up our routing on the fly so to speak and ended up paddling around Billings Spit playing in the gentle flood currents that were trying to take us back towards our put in location. The only thing for certain was that this would be a leisurely paddle and our kayaks would be observation stations for us.
A group of small seals escorted us around the basin and quietly slipped beneath the surface when they got too close to us. Curious little fellows who no doubt were looking for treats. The always nervous Cormorants gave us a wide berth by taking flight while the many different types of ducks just paddled away not really bothered by our presence. Oyster Catchers danced along the logs they were riding on while a couple of majestic bald eagles kept watch of us from the peaks of trees on the Goodridge Islands.
While exploring the shoreline a lonely river otter spy hopped to get a better look at us before heading back to the bottom in search of lunch.
Soon we came across a rare sight of a penguin proudly standing guard on a rocky point. He didn't even flinch as we let the current take us close by for a couple of pictures. My guess is that he may be standing guard still …… even at this late hour. ;-)
Heading back towards Cooper Cove the rain started to fall and it had this amazing “singing” tone that made me feel that I was listening to something that I would expect within the Hobbit that I am reading now. One could say that we are fair weather paddlers with the luck we have had avoiding rain over the past year but we also are beginning to understand why paddling in the rain can be so rewarding.
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| I just couldn't resist this picture.... |
Paddle # 79 - 12.51 km
Total Distance (2012) 691.08 km
Great picture of the "spy hop". We were paddling off Gabriola last week and there were five or six river otters, all "hopping" up and down trying to get a good look at the two kayakers. They were so funny and I didn't even think to get the camera out until they had satisfied their curiosity and vanished under the water. Next time. :) Warm wishes to you both for the New Year. Duncan and Joan.
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