While paddling toward the inner anchorage this morning, I found this heron fishing.

There has been so much rain for the past several days, that lots of seasonal creeks have appeared.

Near the creek I spotted this varied thrush. 

We had another very low tide, exposing lots of sea stars. 

On my way back to the boat, I came across this heron.

When Al pulled the prawn trap today, he had 88 prawns.  Not bad.

This afternoon, we headed to Forit Bay, just an hour-and-a-half north of Codville, which puts us  an hour-and-a-half closer to Ocean Falls.  We’re hoping this will make it possible to get to Ocean Falls before the wind comes up in the morning.  

It’s still raining this morning, but it didn’t dampen my hopes of discovering something wonderful to photograph. 

As I paddled along the shore, headed for the rocks at the entrance, I found this merganser fishing.

When the merganser finally had his fill and flew off, I continued along the shore until I found these three herons fishing side by side.  

We have another extremely low tide this morning, so, even though it’s raining off and on, I’m  anxious to get out and see what I can discover.  

From the boat, I thought I spotted a bear on the beach.  But, when I put the binoculars on it, I discovered not a bear, but the dark brown end of a huge tree stump that had been tumbling in the sea for a very long time…. a gigantic piece of driftwood!  So that’s where I headed to get my first photo of the day.

Just beyond the next point of land, I came upon a heron fishing.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the heron to spot me and take flight.  I spent the next hour paddling along the shoreline hoping to find him again.

While looking for the heron, I came across a momma merganser and her babies.  As soon as momma saw me, she started paddling for the other shore with her little ones in tow. 

When I got back to the boat, Al had pulled the prawn trap.  There were only 41 prawns in the trap, but plenty for a delicious dinner that night.  Al moved the trap to another position, hoping for better results.  We’ll see.

We’re up early this morning, hoping to get to Codville Lagoon before the wind comes up.  It’s only an hour’s run, so we plan on having breakfast when we get there. 

Conditions are perfect, and we make Codville by 0900 hrs.  It’s Sunday, so we’re having biscuits and sausage gravy, but instead of biscuits, we’re having the gravy over Al’s beer bread.  I had my doubts, but the beer bread was actually great with the gravy.  

After breakfast, Al went out to set the prawn trap, and I went for a paddle.  There’s a spring tide today, so I was able to find lots of sea stars.

I had to be careful, because I have an inflatable kayak and there were thousands of sea urchins lurking just below the surface of the water.

I’d never seen this colorful creature before. I don’t know if it’s a sea cucumber, anemone, or something else entirely. 

This very long and brilliant creature was new to me also.  

This evening, hours after sunset, the view looking north was so beautiful, I experimented with the settings on my camera and was able to capture it.

It’s another calm morning as I set out paddling toward the river.  

I spot a pair of Guillemots enjoying the peacefulness of the early morning  also.

Just passed the river, I find a lone merganser standing on the shore.

Eventually, he decided I looked a bit suspicious.  But, he played it cool, paddling away, instead of flying.  I was impressed.

Marbled murrelets are always difficult to capture, but this guy wasn’t camera shy at all.

I continued on to the first drying rock and found these harlequins.

The harlequins didn’t hang around long, however, when they saw this mink headed their way.

As close as I was, I was sure I’d be able to get more shots of the mink, once he was up on the rock, but he hit the ground running and I never saw him again.  So, I continued on to the rocks at the entrance, where I found more harlequins and oystercatchers.

The tide was really low, exposing lots of pisaster sea stars.

The seagulls were also enjoying the low tide.

By now, it was 1000 hrs and I hadn’t had breakfast yet, so I headed back to the boat.  I spotted this eagle so high up in a tree that I had to get almost directly under him to get close enough for a shot.

I’m up at 0600 hrs and out paddling by 0700 hrs, determined to avoid all the problems the wind caused me yesterday.  I am rewarded with flat calm seas.  Paddling is effortless, as I set out for the entrance, which is quite a distance south of the anchorage.  On my way, I check out the rock where I found the harlequins and oystercatchers yesterday.  Seagulls have taken over the rock.

So, I continue paddling south.  It’s such a beautiful calm morning.  

When I finally reach the rocks at the entrance, I see not one, but several oystercatchers scouring the rocks for mussels, and whatever other juicy morsels they might find.  A few harlequins are working the area also.

Out in Fisher Channel, I spot the ferry, “Kennicott”, headed south, passed Fog Rocks.

It’s raining this morning, and I can see the wind is already blowing more than I like, outside the anchorage, but I decide to check it out.  I paddle the back way, through the little islets, hoping to get some protection from the wind.  After about an hour of fighting it, I decide there’s no way I’m going to be able to take any photos in these choppy conditions.

When I got back into protected water, I spotted an angry kingfisher.  He sounded like he was giving another kingfisher a piece of his mind. 

I was almost back to the boat when I spotted this eagle.

To our surprise, it isn’t foggy this morning, which is good, because we’re heading for Kisameet Bay, just 17 miles north of Kwakume Inlet.  Unfortunately, the current is against us, but the wind is blowing in the same direction as the current, so the seas aren’t bad.  

Once we got out into Fitz Hugh Sound, we could see the fog rolling out of Hakai Pass, but by the time we got to Hakai Pass, the fog had lifted high enough that it wasn’t a problem, and we made Kisameet in about 2 hours.  There aren’t any boats in the anchorage, but I notice a skiff of some sort on the beach.  I’ll have to investigate.

Right after breakfast, I put my kayak in the water and went for a paddle.  I checked out the dingly tied to a buoy near shore.  I think it must belong to the people who have the clay mine.  The “mining operation”, such as it was, looks like it’s been abandoned.  

I headed for the rocks that dry at low tide.  This is where I found harlequin ducks and black oystercatchers last year.  Well, apparently it’s still one of their favorite hangouts.  The wind had come up, so I was having to paddle upwind, drift down to where I could get a shot as the wind carried me by, and then paddle back upwind to try for another shot.  

On my way back to the boat I heard the chattering of a kingfisher.  I finally spotted him way up near the top of a tree.  He was really carrying on.

It rained every day, off and on, so I wasn’t able to get out paddling much. However, I did manage to get some shots of harlequin ducks.  I was so happy to see that the harlequin ducks are still hanging out at Kwakume.  Everyday I found them feeding out by the entrance.  They feed on crustaceans, like mussels, barnacles, chitons and crab.

This female is tucking in for a little nap.  

Naturally, the male harlequins are the ones with the colorful feathers. 

If you like clams, and are brave enough to risk paralytic shellfish poisoning, Kwakume is the place to be.  Maybe those harlequins like clams too.

A pair of loons hung out near the boat.  So, when it was too windy or rainy to go paddling, I was able to get a few shots of the loons. 

 The loons look like siamese twins here.

This guy seemed to be saying “Howdy”…. either that, or he was trying to get rid of a cramp in his leg.

This brightly colored sea star caught my eye.

On my way back to the boat one day, I spotted this eagle.  The tree had lost its top and the eagle was nestled among the dead branches, drying his feathers.

This morning, we decided it’s time to move on to Kwakume Inlet, just 7 miles north of here.  The wind was light, so even though the current was against us, we were able to make Kwakume in an hour.

There aren’t any boats in Kwakume, so we were able to anchor in our usual spot in the north side of the inlet.

The wind had picked up, so I wasn’t able to go paddling until late afternoon, when the wind finally died down.  It was still a bit gusty, so I decided to head for the lagoon, hoping I might find some birds.  I found a little creek just inside the entrance.  It wasn’t big, but I enjoyed listening to it babble.  While listening to the creek, I spotted a bird in the distance.  When I zoomed in, I discovered it was a loon, still in winter plumage, poor thing.  The loon’s winter plumage is very unattractive.  Hard to believe they can transform into the stunning bird they become in the summer.  That must be why he was so camera shy.  We played hide and seek for about an hour.  I don’t think he wanted his picture taken.  It’s probably the same as when someone wants to talk to you on Whatsapp when you’re having a bad hair day, and haven’t put your makeup on.

The lagoon is pretty, but I was hoping to find more birds.  So, I paddled all the way out to the entrance to Kwakume and didn’t find anything but seagulls.  They were very obliging subjects, and I didn’t have to chase them for an hour.

While I was kayaking,  Al was doing an engine room check.  He discovered some wet carpeting .  When he investigated, he found that the fresh water pump has been leaking.  Luckily, he has spare water pumps.  But, until he fixes it tomorrow, we won’t be able to leave the Water Pump switch on the electrical panel on.  We’ll have to switch it on and then off every time we use it.  Oh, well.  Last week, the shower spray nozzle popped off the hose while I was showering.  Over time, the hose had stretched out so much that the connecting ferrule could no longer hold the nozzle to the hose.  We didn’t have a spare ferrule, but “Mr Fixit” was able to make a tool that worked to crimp the ferrule back on the hose.  This man can fix anything.