Sunday, March 02, 2008

A Swell Paddle

Partly cloudy skies greeted us this Sunday morning. It was cold last night, down below freezing but already the sun was warming the air and us up. It had been windy over night but the breeze was dropping off and it was expected to decrease further as the morning wore on. So with Paula and Bernie temporarily grounded with car trouble, we headed for Cadboro Bay.
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It was a small group today, just Alison, Paula and myself. Bernie begged off with a bad back and Louise is trying to ward off a cold. It's been a heck of a winter for colds and flues. There's already been two bad outbreaks that have gone through the area, and it looks like a third one is going through now. It was pretty calm when we started....
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...but it did get a little choppier as we headed out. We went past Flower Island, then out to Jemmy Jones Island...
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...then we headed for the lighthouse at Ten Mile Point. We saw a bit of wildlife today -- seals, herons and oyster catchers -- but they were keeping their distance today. We saw a big young eagle take off from Jemmy Jones Island, but of course both Alison and I had just put our cameras away.
Oh... Thaaaat Lighthouse

As we rounded the point, we saw this huge house under construction. At least the owner has a sense of humour....
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....as he's flying a Jolly Roger.
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To the side of the house, there was this contraption. Paula thought it some sort of coiled piping or wiring, while Alison stayed with the pirate theme and suggested that this was an electromagnetic cannon of some kind.
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As we continued, we encountered the wake from a cargo ship that passed out the strait about 20 minutes earlier. We were faily close to shore and we caught the swells as they came in and bounced off the rocky shore and headed out to sea again.
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I wonder if there's a bit of an undersea ridge in this area as the swells seemed to keep bouncing back and forth around us.
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Paddling in the Sun
Approaching Gyro Park

And as we headed back, the wind unexpectedly increased dramatically so it became even choppier. But we still had a great day on the water,
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zzzooos

Trip length: 7.3 km

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