We were woken by the noisy crashing of waves against the shore. I opened the tent and was surprised to see the tide had come all the way up to our camp and the waves were just outside the door.

I checked the time, it was just after high tide, we would be fine to stay where we were. That was a relief, I didn’t really feeling like rushing out of bed. It had rained hard all night so everything was waterlogged. Thankfully the skies were looking pretty clear for the day ahead.

We were eating breakfast and and watching the seals in the bay when Ngaio saw a big whale come up to breath. A smaller one followed behind, we aren’t sure what type of whale they were but the water can’t have been too deep where they were. I guessed it was a Gray whale because they feed on the ground on their side, and that’s what it looked like these guys might have been doing. It was beautiful to be able to watch them from the shore while we got ready for our day on the water.

We headed up the coast and into a headwind! There was a gusting north westerly that made today slow growing, but the sun was out so no complaints from us! We cruised up the coast, enjoying the day on the water and making the most of the warm sunshine.

We paddled just over 20km when we came across a camp ground on the beach, we were about to start a traverse to Denmark island to find a camp but this was a much better option! The tent was up before the sun went down, Ngaio actually put it up because I was preoccupied filming 4 young eagles who were having a fantastic time dive bombing a flock of seagulls. We met a lovely lady from Norway who offered to make us pancakes for breakfast.

I’m getting some pain in my lower back, my shoulders are stiff and my legs are sore, Ngaio has stiff shoulders and she walks like a grandma when she gets out of her boat every day. We don’t want this trip to be over but our sore bodies would tell you otherwise.

#kayaking #paddling #kayak #Canada #Nature #FirstNations #expedition #VancouverIsland