Echo Bay Resort
I am packed and ready to go, I plan to use the phone in the store to call Mary Lou, which opens at 7am. 7am – 8am – 9am store still not open. They finally open and I call her, no one home. As I set out on my paddle on of the fishermen on the dock gives me a pound of frozen wrapped halibut for dinner. I paddle down Fife Sound and find a beautiful camp on a small island about twice the size on my yard in Seattle with my very own 15' white shell beach.
August 3, 2005
Up early for a long day, paddle 29 miles to camp on Robinson Island.
River Otter!
I’m moving along the side of a island when an otter comes around a corner of the shore 25' away. He is only 15' away when he notices me. He stops and sticks his head straight out of the water 10" and looks at me in the eye. I can tell he is surprised because his whiskers pop out at 90 degrees from his face. He dives back down then pops right back up again as to say that he did not believe his eyes the first time.
August 4, 2005
Another marathon day, 29 miles to Burnett Bay. The bay is the last camp before Cape Caution. The beaches of the bay have the most amazing soft white sands, and incredible place to camp and have driftwood fires.
August 5, 2005
I was a bit windy so it became a rest day, walks on the sand beaches, cold stream baths, writing in journal and a good dinner.
August 6, 2005
Cape Caution and Kelp Head
Cape Caution day, I stuck my head out of the tent at 6:15 am to check the weather. It did not look ideal but it did look better than yesterday. I go into packing high gear and load the kayak and was off the beach by 7:05 am. It was 4 miles to the Cape from the beach. As I left the sheltered bay I ran head first into large ocean roller waves. These waves are about 4' high and 40' between crests. I am not used to such large waves but soon become adjusted to their mostly harmless roll. It is strange to have the world disappear for a few seconds at the bottom of the wave and then get a few seconds of mini hilltop panoramic view. Then the wind picks up, and just for fun mother nature adds in some reflection waves from the shoreline. Reflection waves are the hardest to deal with because they have no set pattern as the bounce off the coast and back out to sea. It took me two hours to get around Cape Caution, but on the other side it was calmer in Smith Sound. I enjoyed seeing Auklets, Gulls and Murres as I crossed Smith Sound.
From the NW corner of Smith Sound to Kelp Head, 3 mi, was worse than Cape Caution. By the time I got around Kelp Head I was beat, I was so happy to find another white sand beach tucked in behind Kelp Head. This beach could not of been better situated, it is in a sheltered bay behind the point and has soft white sand to rest on and drift wood for fires.
While walking down the beach I find a live dragonfly stuck in the wet sand. It’s wings had touched the wet sand and it’s wings were now coated with the very fine wet sand. It was sitting there just exhausted, every once and a while as I watched it would try to fly but it’s wings were just becoming more coated with sand. I took a leaf and slid it under him and took him back to camp. Then I took one of my paintbrushes and cleaned off his wings. He just laid there as I did this, once I was done I put him on a rock and left him alone. I came back later and he was gone. I guess my dragonfly first aid still works.
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