Marine Life and Effects of the Wind

October 23rd and 24th (Wednesday and Thursday)
On Wednesday morning the mountains were socked in with a low hanging cloud, but we could see the pink clouds of the sunrise so we knew it was not a solid cloud cover. After listening to the forecast on the VHF radio we decided to head out fishing before the wind picked up. 

As we headed out over glassy water the cloud cover was building, and different clouds that signify approaching wind dotted the horizon. It was a perfect morning for fishing, the water was calm and we drifted perfectly along the line between Rithet Island and Regatta Rocks. As we jigged we watched as three whales surfaced in the distance. Over the calm water we could hear them breathing. Since reviewing the pictures I took of the three of them when we saw them quite close up a couple of weeks ago, we now believe that they are humpback whales. The odd thing is that I thought that all humpback whales in northern BC migrated south in the winter, so either we are wrong with our identification, or these three whales are leaving late, or perhaps, sticking around for the winter. They sure seem to like the area of Troup Passage and Seaforth Channel, as we seem to see them almost every time that we are out there. 

Later, as we drifted, we saw a pod of porpoises traveling through the channel; first we saw them traveling along the southern side, and then later they surfaced not far from us to the north. As we motored back up towards Rithet Island we saw a sea otter. We haven't seen a sea otter in quite awhile, and we were not expecting to see one here. It is pretty amazing that we get to go out fishing for our dinner and see whales, porpoises, a sea otter, lots of seals, and of course many birds. We are also seeing Pigeon Gullimonts again, except they are now in their winter plumage. Instead of being almost completely black with one white patch on each wing, they are now sort of a sooty mix of white and grey. They are very cute. We are also seeing lots of Grebes, including the Western Grebe. We headed home with our dinner as the wind was starting to increase, and we were happy to get home and get a fire going.
As the evening progressed the wind never did increase to what they had forecasted, and we hoped that the system would pass us by.
On Thursday morning it was still not windy, although it had been raining steadily all night. Through the morning the wind picked up, and in the afternoon we watched from the comfort of our cockpit as walls of rain were driven across the water; it was like watching the driving snow in a blizzard. It was also quite interesting to watch the "cat's paws" – tell-tales of the wind on the water. Sometimes the wind seemed to jump over the island, land on the water and disperse. Other gusts, the biggest ones, always seemed to come out from the inner area where we were anchored our first time here. They ripped their way out, creating a frenzy of white caps and mini rollers that spread out. The rollers wrapped around the island and hit us on the side, along with the strongest of the gusts. The lighter, more constant wind seemed to come over the island or around from the other end. As the winds from around both ends of the island combined with the wind coming over the top of the island, it got quite chaotic, and we even had some gusts coming at us from behind.
After dark the wind increased and the rain was being driven onto our deck. Our boat was rocking around and being blown to and fro as the gusts continued to come from all directions, and the waves coming at us from around the island increased in size. The constant howl of the wind changed pitch and tone, as the strength of each gust rose and fell.
We went to bed wondering how we would sleep.