Sunday, May 29, 2011

2011.11.209 - Caddy 2 Willows

I'm cautiously optimistic that summer weather might actually be here. A warm and sunny morning washed over our launch point at Cadboro Bay, but before our official paddle, Paula quickly gave the small kayak she won a couple of weeks ago its inaugural paddle.
2011-05-29 Cadboro to Willows_0002

There was a lot of action of the beach today. A large group from the South Island Sea Kayaking Association had gathered for a clinic with Wayne Horodowitch of the University of Sea Kayaking, and later in the day Nick Castro of Active Sea Kayaking gave a lesson to a smaller group. And there were the occasional free-lancers like Louise, Paula and myself.
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Perhaps the most unusual event that occurred today is that I got on the water first for once! No, really! I have photographic evidence to prove it:
2011-05-09 Cadboro to Willows_0036

I had done a ton of work in our yard the day before, and I just didn't feel like I had a long paddle in me, so we decided to meander along the coast from Cadboro Bay to Willows Beach and back. As we paddled along the southern edge of the bay, we saw the result of a recent landslide.
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Paula believed that the slide is fairly new, perhaps only a month or two old. She was surprised to see it, as she assumed that the cliff was rocky as opposed to its obviously sandy composition. It looked as if the top of the slide was right up against the back deck of the house, something that I'm sure is giving the owner some worry with the rainy season just a few months away.

Someone not worried about another slide is this heron, who was blissfully unaware of the situation above him as he hunted for his breakfast.
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We decided to sneak through the yacht club...
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...but things got a little narrower than we expected.
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As we neared Cattle Point, we passed some geese.
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We figured that there would be lots of eagles about, considering that its baby bird season. But we really didn't see any until this one alighted in a tree.
"The eagle has landed!" I shouted.
Paula and Louise groaned.
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(Despite the rumour, I can assure you that the picture of the eagle landing was not faked on a Hollywood sound stage.)

We turned around at Mary Tod Island and passed some seals enjoying the morning....
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...and then we returned to our put in, another paddle done.

Trip Length: 8.52 km
YTD: 88.56 km
More pictures are here.
2011-05-29 Cadboro to Willows

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