Thursday, November 26, 2009

Duck Day

Wednesday wasn't a great day for weather, but it was way better than weather had been lately. It's been November weather with rain and wind most days lately. So when we saw at seven am while dog-walking that it was going to be a mild morning, that meant a chance to spend some time on the water. Bernie and I walked along the beach, checking out the boats that had washed up on shore. We looked for an animal carcass that was mentioned on the Saanich News website, but couldn't find it.

Then I picked up my little inflatable kayak and went back to the beach. It was so good to be on the water, after days of wind. There was Mount Rainier, that tall volcano, visible across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with a couple of lenticular clouds floating beside it like UFOs. It was a treat to see these clouds, and remember the UFO sightings that regularly occur around Mount Rainier.

I tried to paddle out far enough to see if Mount Baker could be seen also. It's always nice to have a day with two volcanoes. But as I came by Flower Island, there were waves washing up on Evan's Rock just beyond it. Funny, there weren't waves washing up anywhere inside the bay. Sure enough, there was a stiff breeze blowing just outside the point, and the peninsula was sheltering the bay. Time to turn around, and paddle some figure eights around in the little rock garden along the shoreline.

Maybe a seal poked its head up to look at me, or maybe not... there were a couple of crab trap floats bobbing. But there were ducks here and there in the bay, mallards with their feathers whistling as they flew in little flocks, the ruddy heads of mergansers looking almost pink, and the funny round heads of buffleheads bobbing up from diving for fish. So nice to see the neighbours out and about.

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