2008.11.104 - The Little Group

Unlike yesterday when the weather played out almost exactly as the weatherman predicted, today the weatherman's prognostications were less than stellar. It was supposed to be mostly clear this morning, sunny in fact. But as we arrived at our launch point in Roberts Bay in Sidney, it was lightly raining and clearly not, er, clear.

But we kayakers are hardy souls, so we headed out with a wary eye on the uncertain weather. It was Richard, Alison, Paula, Louise and myself today.

We passed by this marker that was festooned with cormorants. One provided a little comedy relief as he must have thought that I was venturing too close. He jumped off the marker and landed in the water to escape, but he was paying so much attention to me that he didn't notice that he had in landed in the water dead center in the middle of five kayaks. After a moment he suddenly realized that he had indeed jumped from the frying pan and into the fire, and he took off quickly!

We headed out towards what we call amongst ourselves the Sidney Islands, but are really called The Little Group. It's a small archipelago that can be used as a stepping stone to the islands that are further out. We had been thinking about going around Coal Island -- the currents weren't particularly strong today -- but we really weren't too sure about the weather, so we thought it best to save that for another day.

These two guys didn't mind the weather...

...but it was sure concerning us. It didn't seem to be getting any worse, but it wasn't getting any better, either. We were getting some light squalls and dark clouds passing us. At least we didn't get much in the way of wind.

After we explored The Little Group a bit, we decided to cross to Coal Island. The weather was clearing a bit now, but there was some *ahem* spirited discussion before we made the crossing. You can see that it's not terribly warm out. There's snow in them thar hills.

The crossing to Coal went well and we paddled along the shore for a bit, past this old boathouse.

We crossed back to the mainland and checked out a harbour.

A heron posed for me....

...and a goose, too.

These homes are on pilings. They may survive the rise of the oceans due to climate change, but I sure wouldn't want to be around them when the Big Earthquake hits.

A blustery but fun day on the water.

Trip length: 10.7 km
My photo's are here.