Decisions decisions.
Suddenly it is our "last day of kayaking".
Where to go? We discuss over pancakes...
We head out into (you guessed it) fog..
And who do we find but the SEA OTTER. This guy is travelling alone. There is a "float" of male sea otters near Port Hardy we are told, and this guy is out doing reconnaissance. They are coming back, after being hunted to a zero population in the 1890's here, 70+ otters were relocated from Alaska about 10 year ago, and they are making a comeback. The women travel together, without the men, which means the toilet seat is never left up, so that makes life easy.
So adorable, looking at us and then rolling around and giving us another good look.
Our lunch stop is on the beach at Orca Lab (they have live streaming at their website explore.org). We have decided to circumnavigate the island today, so we have a lunch break and a short hike to use some different muscles and make sure the legs are still working.
Yet another magic moment is upon us as Declan leads us into the woods to find the Grandmother tree. And there she is, in all her splendour. Once again my heart pounds with astonishment and pure joyful love.
She is a Western Red Cedar, and is over 1,300 years old, her stories date back to a time before plastic.
The sun came out, the tide and currents changed in our favour and we paddled quietly along. Until we heard the splashes. Dolphins. Coming up behind us, over our right shoulders, closer and closer. We stop. Memorized by the sound and the energy and the synchronicity. They are upon us, they rise up and we can practically feel the water splashing us. And then they are gone.
Another moment of everlasting magic, for all of us. Not captured on our cameras but captured in our hearts and minds forever.
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