Monday, August 10, 2009

Starfish and Urchins




August 5
We are in Shearwater. I small little village that is busy with summer boating traffic. We can't get to the dock, so we anchor outside the harbor. We go in and take a shower and feel refreshed. We stop by the local watering hole and have dessert and a drink. We met a nice man (Bob) that is anchored near us and it is his birthday, so we invite him for a drink to celebrate his birthday. Little did we know that later we would meet him again - knock, knock, knock - who is knocking on the boat at 12:30, it is Bob and our boats are dancing a little too close together in the middle of the night. We get up Mike makes some adjustments on our anchor. It is now...August 6th - Happy Birthday Mike, what a way to start his birthday.

August 6
We decide to go outside of Price Island and down to Calvert Island. On the way we see whales near us and stop to enjoy. We decide to fish a little off the coastline and see thousands of birds. When the birds find bait fish on the surface the ruckus begins, screeching and squawking. We move a little closer and all of a sudden we are surround by fins, fish are flipping and diving all around us - they are black cod fish. We put our lines in the water, to hopefully catch salmon, but these cod fish are biting at anything. I hang my lure over the boat just touching the water and they are jumping out of the water to get it - it was a feeding frenzy. We celebrated Mike's birthday with a boatmade (toaster oven) lemon tart and a fun day on the water. Anchor in Adam's cove.


August 7
Got up early - not too early and tried our luck at fishing from the dinghy. On our way out of the cove at low tide, we noticed the incredible sea creatures clinging to the rocks. The tide change was at least 20 feet and the most beautiful creatures were peeking from the water; red sea urchins, some spotted, large and small, colorful star fish all wrestled together and white puffy sea anemones. So beautiful, we wanted to suit up and scuba dive, until we remembered we weren't in Hawaii. We fished for a few hours and caught a few rock fish, saw some seals slumbering on the rocks. Later, we went on a search for a beach that would take us to a resort. Mike promised me lunch at the resort. We found the beach - white sand, sea shells and crashing waves. The sand was like flour between our toes. Then we decided to find the trail, first idea was over the logs - no luck, next idea was the other end of the beach, no luck. Third idea follow the wolf tracks in the sand- no thanks. Last idea, look closely at where those buoys are hanging on the trees - BINGO! We walked on a rough trail through the woods, of course Mike didn't think we needed our "Bear Go Away Bag", but I snuck a fog horn along and I sang Christmas tunes the entire way. We finally came out on another beach - no resort, no lunch and thank goodness - no bears or wolves! Incredible anchorage, the rocks had varying colors of moss and seaweed, it was like gazing at an artist's canvas surrounded by water.

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