Tuesday, July 26, 2005

July 21 - SURGE NARROWS


Plan a long day, I'm up and in the water by 6 am. I paddle out of Teakerne arm and turn up into the wind in Lewis Passage. I fight the wind as I go up the narrow passage that is funneling the wind, once I get the the far side the wide lets up some. I cross the next open water and then paddle south through White Rock Pass to the beginning of Surge Narrows.
As I am passing along the shore I see a little brown Pine Martin running along the shore, down to the water and then he dives in the water. He pops back up with a little fish in his mouth. THEN a bald eagle flies over my left shoulder and lands on a rock just above the martin who dives under the rock to hide. The eagle then notices me 20 feet away and decided that I'm a little to close, make me feel good to save the little guy.
I will not be able to pass the Surge till slack tide, which is in 5 hours. I pull over and sit on the beach, have lunch and grab a book to read. While I am sitting there another kayaker shows up, Roger, a local who gets around to the store an friends by his kayak. He gives me great info on how to do the Surge and that the local store is open. Local info is always the best.
Watching the sealife under my boat and amazing thing happens in just a few miles. There is hardly any seaweed in Desolation Sound, but by the time I reach Surge Narrows I have rainbow of seaweeds under my boat, Kelp, Sea lettuce, Turkish Towel, etc. There are thousands of clams squirting in the sand flats.
I paddle over to the Surge General Store and spend the rest of the day with the owner Teresa till slack tide. I pass through the Surge with no problem and end up on Octopus Islands for the night. As I fall asleep that night I hear my first Loon of the trip.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How exciting. I'd love to hear a loon while camping... Love reading the stories!
Audrey