Day 3:: Wallace Is. - Montague Harbour Galiano Is., windy,, 17, mixed weather, 9 nautical miles (18kms)

Dead Stones and Sea Chop!

Today was a tale of many happenings. Our stop last night was something special. We had our little bay and point of land to ourselves except for when other kayakers wandered into camp and looked around most enviously. Did I say that the site was something special? Rob knew about it and we made a bee line there and as luck would have it we found it empty. A very memorable stop.

Today Rob was up at 5:30 banging around making coffee and lord know what else. He woke me up, so clearly he was doing lots, but I had no idea until I surfaced from my tent 45 minutes later to find that he had already taken his tent down and had packed all his gear into his dry bags. This guy has no concept of taking the pace a bit slower when on vacation! He has lots to learn from this retired guy! 

After a quick, but excellent breakfast of oatmeal smothered in friut, nuts and yogurt we loaded up the boats and found our way onto the water. As usual Rob was first launched. I got away from the shore just after him today as I had planned my seating and exit better this time and was finally able to move some gear from around my feet and into the hull storage. We are eating well!! I backed carefully out of the narrow passage and thinking that I'd earned a bit of praise the student paddled over to the master to be told that,"there are a few things for me to work on". Deflated. But what the heck, I'm learning in leaps and bounds and the grasshopper will work to impress the master as the week progresses. I mumble to myself, "just wait until the Camino. We'll soon see who's the grasshopper and whose Le Rabbit! Ha! We are having a brilliant time and there is really more to this process than you might think. P

We set off across Trincomal Channel at a gallop. The wind was picking up a little and there was rain lingering in both directions, from where we'd previously been and where we were headed. We were in one of those weather bubble places that Annemarie and I refer to while on Camino. Just on the edge of wetness! We crossed to Galiano Island and followed some amazing cliffs. We paddled just a couple of meters off shore to stay out of the growing wind and to see what there was to see.

As we plodded along I again found my mind wandering as it does when I walk. I'm sort of seeing what needs to be seen in the moment, but my mind is so very far away. A paddling meditation if you like. Today I was focusing on a few personal things and then I began to see the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs littering the shore as we passed. The geographer inside figured out the processes which brought these rocks to where they lay, but my mind also took an unusual turn which carried the process to a different place. I guess I've always though of the earth as a living thing, the rocks and the soil as just a part of the whole. Today I began to see beyond this. The fallen discarded rocks are the equivalent of snake shedding its skin, a shark flaking off teeth as it grows, a crab discarding its shell. What if the fallen rocks represent a similar thing? Discarded as the earth grows, changes and adjusted...essentially "dead stones". Clearly the early kayaking today wasn't too challenging! 

We passed through Retreat Cove to find respite from the increasing wind and it was like a small weather oasis. The sun popped out and all was calm. I watch an eagle swing through the trees. It was beautiful. A humming bird came right up to my red jacket and just hovered ther...wow! Rob's reaction...hmmm.

This all ended quite suddenly as we exited cover. The wind had increased quite considerably and also changed direction so it was blowing from starboard. This resulted in quite the cross chop. Something you wouldn't really notice from any of the big yachts we saw, but from the lowly elevation of a kayak it was quite the experience! And it continued to get worse. The wave refraction from the cliff faces just made it more challenging forcing us further out into the channel. Rob gave me a few more pointers, relax your hips, brace as needed, continue to stoke, but all I think I heard him say was "there's no landings along this shore"!  

I have no pictures from this part of the trip. I'd tucked the camera into my spray jacket and was worried that I'd take a spill or something and then it would become so much junk. We found a small calm spot and I quickly put it into the dry bag I keep on deck for this purpose. Then I felt better and more relaxed. 

We made it to Montague and Rob told me that he found the experience not too challenging, but very tiring with the chop and wind. Of course he's sleeping yet again as I write. No stamina!! I was definitely butt weary.

We found the camping area and discovered that it was $25 per night...for two nights. Oh well, we haven't and won't have to pay for the rest of the trip, so we cost average down!! We also found 100 high school students here camping in the group site. I watched the pain on Rob's face. Excellent! We chose to set up by the harbour in the temporary overflow grass field. As I write this the kids are playing a loud game in the field and Rob has just emerged from his tent with the comment, "shouldn't recess be over now?". I figure it's good experience for him. I quite enjoy their presence as it brings back lots of good memories.

So we are here for two days. No wifi as its blocked forcing one to pay ransom to the area operators to purchase wifi which I refuse to do...too much like Oz and NZ where this is common robbery, I mean practice.

Apparently the summer bus that takes the yatchys and campers to the pub doesn't start to operate until the day we depart. Figures. The park operator told us that it's "SIX KILOMETRES" to the pub with "UP HILL" too. He has no idea who he's talking to. It will be a good outing and we both brought our boots. I've been sitting more than enough these past three days. Time to walk!! We hope to find wifi there and upload to the blog and send out a few emails. 

Great trip!!