Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sunday Wonders - N

N is for Nature.

This post is a little late in the Sunday but after being frustrated with i'net connections, we're home again.  Ah, the luxury of having everything work properly.  And everything full-size.  The netbook is great for travel but the photos are so small.


So, on Saturday morning we set out on our boat trip.  I'm not the best sailor but we had a wonderful fresh day - lots of wind and not too much sun - and an upper deck where I could sit outside and simply watch nature slip by.  It was a marvellous holiday.


We took tons of photos of the landscape but there were also animals.  So, today it's mostly the marine life:   beginning with some little black crabs which were scuttling around on a pipe beneath a pier.  


This boat has two bald eagles which watch for it to come by their bit of land.  I don't know how they know but they do and seem to appear out of nowhere.  The captain threw some meat into the water and the eagle circled a few times so that we could admire him.  Then he swooped out of the sky, grabbed the food and took it to  a tall tree to eat in peace.  Very hard to get the right photo but I think Anne did a fine job of capturing this fellow. 


We went through a very narrow pass - Otter Pass - where it seemed that we could reach out and touch the oyster-crusted rocks beside us.


There were also some vivid purple sea stars tucked safely into the rocks.


We visited Refuge Cove on West Redonda Island where we could get out and walk around the waterfront stores.


I found a lone purple sea star clinging to a dock post.


On our return to Lund, we found a large rock (this is only a small part) which was the sun-bathing place for all these harbor seals.  They haul themselves out on the rocks and lie about soaking up the warmth.  I can't imagine how difficult it must be for them to get up on the rocks.  No difficulty getting back in the water, though.  They just slide right off and splash in.  They seem to make a game of it with some starting quite high up on the rock.


And, so this day ends and we head back to port.  I'm glad to get back on solid ground but I also enjoyed being close to the sea and the forests with the wind blowing through me.

4 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

I'm really enjoying your vacation, and I don't have to pay a cent! Isn't blogging grand? I love the way you started with the boat going forward, then we see out the back as you are leaving. Of course my favorite is the tiny black crabs. But the starfish are beautiful, I had no idea they were so colorful! And I love the colorful blue building on the shore, guessing it's one of the shops.

Joanna said...

Sounds as though you had a lovely exploring holiday, and I enjoyed going along with you. I love the photo of Otter pass and the purple starfish on the brilliant green rocks.

Stephanie V said...

Ginny - the blue building is actually a houseboat. There were several right down along the dock. Someone was building a new deck for the blue one when I walked by.

Joanna - I'm not done with this part of the world. We took so many photos so I think there's a couple more posts here.

Catherine said...

What a lovely day you had on the boat! I really enjoyed your voyaging around and the town looked like it was clinging to the side of the cliffs and the buildings of timber looked so quaint - it reminded me of a lakeside village in Laos! I must look at your older posts now to see the rest of the holiday!
All the best, Catherine xx

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