Absolutely Awesome!
Pushing past the typical pleasure craft season, Brendan and I continue to motivate each other and push into the chill of the November sea. Energized by the excitement of exploring and the discovery of things we have never seen, what this day brought was better than we could have ever imagined. With an original plan to stretch our distance and reach some interesting areas around Sooke and back, we ended up getting a little distracted along the way…
Very few photos taken… Oddly, it was lucky timing, on this day we chose to try and primarily shoot video, and packed multiple cameras. Wait till you see that. I'll get to the edit as soon as I can. Here is a short clip. So awesome…
Rarely watching television, we do often search for inspiring entertainment. Spending many evenings together, captivated by the stories of the Sea Shepard conservation group with their tremendous efforts to protect the oceans and it’s creatures. We learned about how so much of the ocean is exploited and abused. With sea life like whales taking centre stage in their documentaries, it’s an excellent example of this. Check out Whale Wars on Animal Planet if you”re interested in some intense scenes with some brave folks taking action and trying hard to do some good for the planet.
Going to sleep the night before with an image of slaughtered whales laying on the deck of a Japanese whaling ship, we started out our day on the water with a conversation of whales, only wishing we could get a glimpse of them alive and happily, swimming about their way. A rare and often hopeless dream. Making our way past Esquimalt Lagoon, again we headed along the shore. Staying close to land as usual, these small boats are great for that, giving you and interesting view of our island.
Intending to reach far beyond Race Rocks this time we pick a comfortable pace and relax. Around the point past Albert Head Lagoon and the water seemed to smoothen right out and we were flying along the shores of Metchosin. Then Brendan yells out. “Whales!” And so many it was hard to count them all!! One on the left and then… no there’s three… four!! And more on the right!! In the distance towards Race Rocks we could see mist spouts in the air everywhere. So awesome, just… really awesome.
I believe they were Humpback Whales… although were still learning. Traveling in the same direction as us we just kept our distance. Traveling slow and for quite some time we kept pace together while they returned to the surface for air again and again… You could have never asked for such an epic encounter. Peaceful and slow moving, there was so many, and all around us.
Letting them go as we arrived at the edge of Race Rocks, they went far to the left while we went right. Our desires to concur our initial journey faded for the day as there couldn’t be any possible way to top this experience.
Taking the time we had left to visit some friends, we pulled towards the light house, settled our speed in the current and just sat with the sounds and smells, observing the variety of personalities of the many seals. The whales will always steal the show, but these guys are pretty cool too.
Wouldn’t you know it, just when you think the day was done and we settled in to the trip back home, we ran in to more whales… Did I say this was an awesome day? Ok, last time.
