I got up early this morning, eager to go exploring in my kayak. Al was still in bed. Half asleep, it took me several false starts before I finally got all my various layers of clothing on and my kayak in the water. Then, while holding on to the side of the big boat, I started to sit down in the kayak, at which point it shot out from under me. I was barely able to grab the rail on the big boat, or I would have wound up in the drink! I’m sure I’ll have a few bruises from this fiasco.

It took me awhile to regroup, but I finally set out on my excursion. I paddled around the little islets near the anchorage. The sun was still low in the sky creating beautiful shades of green in the seaweed exposed due to the lower low Spring Tide. The lower low tide made it possible to see sea life that isn’t normally visible at low tide, like giant sea cucumbers (stichopus californicas), a beautiful bright orange hydroid (garveia annulata), sea anemones, sea urchins, and lots of things I had no idea what they were, but were fascinating. About this time, I realized one other thing I had forgotten this morning — my life jacket. Oooooh, no! I immediately had visions of suddenly springing a leak, or being capsized by a seal, or one of those cute dolphins. But, then I settled down and assessed the situation, determining that those probabilities were remote under the current conditions, so I continued on, ever vigilant for the sneaky seals and dolphins.

There is a very old and small one room shack, in a mini-lagoon near where we are anchored. The little lagoon is an idyllic spot. Even though the wind was blowing quite a bit out in the anchorage, in this little lagoon the water was absolutely calm, and the silence was deafening. A mallard duck who was enjoying the peace and quiet took flight when I entered. Years ago we met a young couple who were making the shack their home for the summer. There isn’t any electricity or fresh water, and they paddled their canoe many miles each week to a very small store in Echo Bay, to restock their supplies. (Oh, to be young again!) Every year we check to see if anyone else, or maybe the same young couple, are calling it home for the summer. So, I checked it out and found that the glass windows are still unbroken, and the roof repairs seem to be holding, but it was empty. Something I did discover, which I didn’t remember from other visits, was a considerable midden right in front of the shack. It’s obvious the indians, many years ago, found this spot an excellent place to live also. And, judging by all the shells, they really enjoyed the abundance of clams as well. Now, you don’t dare eat the clams here for fear they might be contaminated with paralytic shellfish poisoning… so sad.

By the grace of God I made it back to the boat without sinking or being capsized. Al was getting ready to go pick up the prawn trap. He found 51 good sized prawns in the trap…yay!

So, tonight, for an appetizer, we had scrumptious prawn cocktails, with a good glass of wine. For dinner we had prawn scampi. And, for dessert, Al whipped up a batch of his dark chocolate peanut clusters….deeelish! Now, this is cruising.