It’s going to be another hot one, so I figured I didn’t need my fleece union suit today. It’s already 64 degrees at 0600 hrs.

I set out paddling along the north shore again this morning, hoping to see something worth photographing, or not. It’s another gorgeous morning, so just it’s enough just to enjoy the incredible beauty of this place.

I’d paddled for about fifteen minutes, looking along the waterline for sea stars, cucumbers, urchins, whatever, when I looked up and this black bear was staring back at me. At the time we made eye contact, he was sitting in the grass, just enjoying the morning. He didn’t know what to make of me. Since I was only about 20 feet from him, I decided I’d better give it a little reverse. I didn’t want to scare him off, but I didn’t want to be eaten either.

He intently watched my maneuvering and decided I wasn’t an immediate threat, so he decided to turn a few rocks to see what he could find for breakfast.

In the meantime I was trying to maneuver so that I wasn’t shooting into the sun, and wasn’t too close, and about the time I figured I had a good angle, a crow started making a lot of racket and the bear stopped to see what the commotion was about, and then turned tail and took off like a shot for cover in the trees. Oh, well.

About that time, Al called me on the radio and told me to be back by 0900 hrs for our Sunday breakfast. Yipee! Love those Sunday breakfasts.

I headed for the entrance to the lagoon to see what the current looked like. The current along the shore, was slightly against me, so I decided to try to paddle on through and then ride the current back in. Just to be certain the current was going in the direction I thought it was, I paddled to the center of the channel and turned around. Well, it was like deja vu from yesterday. Once again I was barely able to make any headway at all. So, I paddled as hard as I possiblly could and eventuall made my way to where the channel widened and the current was weaker. So much for going outside. I headed for the boat, looking forward to a delicious breakfast.

I spotted a tree floating with some Mew Gulls hitching a ride.