A Day of Rest and a Whale Show

September 7th (Saturday)
Jason and I slept in and rested for the day. We also made water a couple of times, as we could still only make water for half an hour at a time with the low-pressure pump in order to prevent it from overheating. Thankfully, our new pump has finally arrived at the post office in Shearwater, so we will get it when we are there next.
We have been watching as the birds that we see in our area slowly changes, as many of the birds have begun to migrate south. We no longer see very many Red Throated Loons, and we never hear them, and we have started to see more grebes, especially the Red Necked Grebe.
We also got to watch as many schools of little fish surfaced all over our bay throughout the day. The water was glassy calm, and we could tell where the fish were because it would start to look like it was raining in one area, but it was the fish coming up to the surface. Sometimes there were just one or two schools, but at other times they were everywhere, including right beside us at one point, and we could watch the fish swimming just below the surface. It looked really neat looking out from our boat and seeing all these glistening areas of disturbed water.
In the early evening the park ranger boat showed up and anchored, and our friend, Rob, came over to say hi. He invited us to come up to Sagar Lake in the evening, as he and two others were going to be camping up there for the night. 

So, in the evening Jason and I paddled ashore in our kayaks, and went up to say hi. It was a lovely evening up at the lake, and very mild.  As we arrived, the sun had just broken through the clouds before setting, and it was shining bright orange in two big streaks across the mountains across the lake. The lighting was spectacular! 

We met the second park ranger, Jordan, and the BC Parks biologist, Laurie. We had a lovely evening telling stories, and getting to know them, as we watched the bats come out to feed. 

Later, Jason and I hiked back down the trail in the dark with our light, and were rewarded with a beautiful paddle home. Each paddle stroke was illuminated by phosphorescence that glowed and shimmered in the darkness.

September 8th (Sunday)
In the morning the rangers came by before leaving, and we gave them some salmon from our freezer for their dinner. They were very happy and gave us a bunch of fresh apples and plums off of Laurie's fruit trees. What a lovely treat.
Jason and I headed out to do some salmon fishing, and when we got out into Fisher Channel we saw the giant splash of a whale breach, across the channel. Since whale activity of that kind is normally short lived, we got ready to troll.  As we started trolling we were still watching big splashes in the distance, but figured, surely they would be over before we could get there. 

As they continued, however, we decided to go check it out, and we reeled in our lines, and gunned it across the glassy calm water.  As we got closer we saw a beautiful breach, and I got ready with my camera, still convinced that the whale would stop at any moment. 

Over the next 30-45 minutes we watched as the whale slowly made its way up Fisher Channel, almost continuously splashing. It would lie on its back smacking both massive arm fins into the water.

Then it would turn and breathe, and then lay on its side waving and smacking one fin.

Then the whale would turn and breathe and dive, and start a set of breaches, breach after breach, after breach; usually 4-5 in a row. 

The whale must have been expending an immense amount if energy, but it did not stop. We must have seen at least 16 partial breaches, and many more splashes of other kinds. It was absolutely incredible. 

To be so close, and to watch as an animal so large hurdled itself out of the water, time and time again, often pirouetting as it leapt, with its arm fins wrapped gracefully around itself, spreading a twisting spiral of spray as it arched upward, before finally spreading its fins to the side and descending on its back into the water. 

We watched in awe, with my shutter attempting to capture every angle, until eventually, just outside of Lama Passage, it dove one last time, and instead of rocketing upward into a breach as it had done so many times before, it was gone.  We saw it surface a while later far in the distance, but just to breathe before diving again. The display was over.
We went back across Fisher Channel, and restarted our trolling, hardly able to believe our luck. We caught two small salmon, which we let go, four small Rockfish, and we each got one good bite, but that was it. 

We came back in to pull up our crab trap before heading home, but had no edible crabs, which was not much of a surprise. 

It was not a good day for food gathering, but it was an incredible day!!