Although the sun is still shining and the days are still warm, the occasional cool autumn breeze has made its way to these shores. We weren't so sure about the wind forecast for our paddle, but as we put in it was clear that the winds were not going to be much of a factor. Scattered clouds rolled in front of the warm sun as Alison, Louise and I headed out to the point of Albert Head.
Here, we found seals. Lots of seals.
Frankly, the point was crawling with them. We considered using "The Shortcut," a small channel that cuts the end off of Albert Head and shaves a couple of minutes off the trip around the point, but as I poked my nose in to determine if the tide was high enough for it to be navigable, I disturbed about a dozen seals who quickly lurched off the rocks and into water. We decided that we'd clearly overstayed our welcome here in seal country and decided not to go around the point. Further, we discovered that Alison had never paddled in the opposite direction from Albert Head to Esquimalt Lagoon, so we decided to alter our plan and paddle the other way.
After a nice paddle along the shore, we tried to enter the lagoon itself, but the entrance was too shallow and the current too quick. Although facing forward, Alison is actually going backwards in this picture.
We spent a few minutes drifting around the lagoon entrance where I snapped a couple of pictures (well, 40 actually) of this heron fishing in the surf before we headed back.
Trip Length: 13.30 km
YTD: 207.63 km
More pictures are here.
