Having a Whale of a Time

*Warning: this blog entry is full to the bream with appalling fishy puns.

Leaving Denver, Mike thought it might be interesting to consider a side trip via Guantanamo Bay, although an orange jumpsuit is not his look. We were lined up at security at Denver Airport behind an old guy in a wheelchair. His family was not allowed into the security area, so this bloke was struggling with the multiple bags hanging off his chair and person, while trying to wheel himself one-handed. Mike stepped in and helped him out with his bags. By now the security staff made the assumption that Mike was his companion and demanded that he remove the bloke’s shoes. I was on the point of saying that a) we don’t know this bloke so don’t push your luck, and b) what harm could a disabled old bloke do with his shoes?, but decided that silence was the best policy. After Mike went through the X-ray, he was taken aside by security and quizzed about the contents of the old bloke’s bags, which gave him the opportunity to say that he didn’t actually know this bloke from a bar of soap. Which lead to more questions about why Mike was helping him….thankfully they accepted Mike’s explanation, as it turned out that the old bloke was actually carrying a pair of brass knuckles which are an illegal weapon in Colorado! He was whisked away for further questioning and fitting for his jumpsuit, while we were free to go. That is after I was briefly detained for having a snotty tissue in my trouser pocket which I had to present for inspection – more fool them, I say!

What a relief to arrive in Canada and be back in the Commonwealth where common-sense reigns, and a decent cup of tea is a possibility. We stayed briefly in Victoria, a beautiful waterfront city on Vancouver Island and enjoyed glorious weather for the evening. We wandered around the harbour enjoying the sight of seaplanes landing and taking off at the waterfront – they had to dodge kayaks, ferries and the occasional seal making for an interesting runway. Next day we caught the bus to Campbell River halfway up the island, meeting the ferry to Quadra Island to join our kayak buddies for our Johnstone Strait Kayak trip. 

The trip started with a 3 hour water taxi ride to West Craycroft Island, the location of our camp. There are many narrow channels that funnel water through at great speed with whirlpools making for a rough ride – I had to salmon up the will not to puke. On the way up we saw our first orca which was very exciting. Our base camp was set up on a rocky outcrop with tent platforms overlooking Johnstone Strait and the Robson Bight Orca sanctuary. We were greeted by a river otter sitting on a floating log below our tent, eating a fish – we were otterly surprised to see it up so close. The camp was super, comfy spacious tents, endless yummy food, hot shower on demand, a hot tub and reasonably luxurious long-drop loo which they named the Turd Aquarium. All in all it was an extremely well orca-nised operation.  The only downside was that the kayaks were a little cold and wet, but then again you can’t have your kayak and heat it too.

On with the paddling. We did a series of paddles from the camp, heading up and down Johnstone Strait. On one of the days we did a walk up to an Orca research viewing platform, from where we saw our only other sighting of orcas – 2 brothers who hang out together. We didn’t see any other orcas for the whole trip, which was a little disappointing –perhaps they were avoiding us on porpoise? But still, we wouldn’t have missed it for squids. We spent some time paddling about the intertidal zones to get a good look at sea-life including the very weird and creepy sunflower sea-stars which have up to 26 legs and are voracious eating machines. Other wildlife sightings included lots of Bald Eagles, seals, dolphins, sea urchins and lots jumping fish. All this fun in the outdoors sure got our natural endolphins going! 

Being dropped off in the rain

Our guide doesn't take much Urchin on to make a silly hat.

A Kling-on

Sunflower Sea Star

When not paddling, we amused ourselves by eating far too much and too often, wearing silly hats, hot tubbing and games of giant Jenga, which morphed into extreme Jenga – aiming to make the tower as big and precarious as possible. Just for the halibut we waved at the cruise ship we will be on in a couple of weeks as it travelled past – sods didn’t wave back, probably all in the casino or at the buffet.

Keeping it weird

Mike's kayak has the water on the wrong side

Radiance of the Sea, the ship we will be sailing on in a few weeks. Passes by our tent. No-one waved though

After the kayak trip we drove across Vancouver Island for a couple of days in Tofino on the wild west coast. The locals were all blissing out as the temperature topped 25 degrees with sunshine – normally it is bleak, windy and raining. We did a whale watching trip seeing some humpbacks and grey whales, followed by some kayaking in the calm inlets of Clayoquot Sound (you think we’d have had enough?). What a beautiful place! Next day was bear-spotting day, with 2 black bears turning up to be viewed from the safety of the boat – no need for hideous codforsaken singing and bl***dy bells! We visited Tofino Chocolates to purchase a hand-made chocolate bear which was choc-full of chocolate sea creatures – fish, starfish and shells. Such a shame to have to eat it! It must be said that the food and coffee in Canada is so much better than in America!

Humpback lunge feeding

A Fluke shot- Californian Grey Whale

The view from our Tofino balcony

On to Alaska to see if Sarah Palin is home……….