[Paddlewise] Whale watch

It was a beautiful sunny day here in Victoria BC.  With hardly a cloud in 
the sky it was one of those days when the horizon seems to shrink down to 
where you can almost touch it.  Myself and three friends launched from a 
place called Island View Beach.  We crossed Cordova and Sidney Channel 
making for D'Arcy Island.  D'Arcy was a leper colony at the out set of the 
20th Century.  Now it's part of the Gulf Island Marine Reserve with a real 
nice camp ground that is almost always empty.  Maybe people think the place 
is haunted or has bad karma.

Just off the shore our paths were crossed by a pair of porpoises racing off 
to who knows where.  As we made our way east towards Hughes Passage, two of 
the group tried to see if they could get their boats up to 10 knots as 
measured by their GPS unit.  Not surprisingly these characters are great 
speed freaks but downright awful at just about all the other strokes.  If 
it's not propelling them forward it's not important to them.

It wasn't long before they were well off.  Now that we were two groups I 
suggested heading south down the west side of D'Arcy Island.  My companion 
had never been to the island and I wanted to show her the ruins on the west 
side.  We poked along figuring that once the adolescent boys realized they 
were alone they'd turn and race back to us.

When we finally came back together, one of the speed freaks spotted a crab 
pot float on the beach.  I knew from past experience that he would go 
ashore and salvage it.  He really likes to collect rusty logging chains 
from busted log booms.

Anyway I continued on south.   Just as we reached the southwest tip of the 
island a whale sounded.  I saw the blow and called out.  I watched for a 
dorsal fin figuring we'd come across one of the local Orcas.  The whale 
sounded again and as it's back arched; there it was, the unmistakable 
dorsal knob of a Hump Back.

We watched to see if the whale would resurface but I was looking the wrong 
way when it reappeared well up into Sidney Channel.  We continued on and 
stopped for lunch and to soak up the sun at the camp ground on the east 
side of the island.

I could of spent the rest of the day laying around on the beach but reality 
was waiting for us back at the put in.   Still another great day here in 
the Gulf Islands.


Gordin Warner
Victoria BC
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