This whale breached right off the bow of my kayak!I just returned from our 4 day kayaking/camping trip through the Broken Group Island chain off of the West coast of Vancouver island. We had fantastic weather and it was a really great time! We saw sea lions barking on the rocks, sat in the middle of a group of seals feeding, watched a whale breach, right off the bow of my kayak, and paddled along with dolphins. I also got the chance to experience a channel crossing with 3 to 4 foot waves and large swells from the open Pacific which was a good experience. Great, great trip. It was a highlight of my summer for sure.
We forgot (well, I forgot) the tent poles for one of our tents, so we used our axe to cut new ones from a drift wood log. It worked perfectly!
When we broke camp to move to a new island, I had to haul the new tent poles with me.
My daughter Krista chillin in the tent
Helen and Val getting ready for another day of paddling
Seals feeding
Seals feeding
From left to right: Gary, Val, Greg, Helen, Dustin, Cody, Bridget, Krista
What fun!
Greg, Your activity is always a great inspiration to me. DJG
Hi Greg, good to see your active, been quiet a bit of late. Yes you are a blowhard, and I'm glad, it means your sharing some pretty neat stuff with a lot of folks, and your not getting down on anyone either. Whales are blowhards too!
At my blog THE-ARC.blogspot.com, I wrote about the early human development of the original ancient dugout canoe.
Briefly, the first dugout was not carved from a straight stem with fire, it was a fallen hollow log like a basswood, bent due to having reached over the bank for open sunlight, which was first ridden like a horse, but then the aechulean hand axes used for butchery were eventually used to cut a top hole down into the hollow, resulting in a kayak-like form (somewhat like your latest version but fatter) with a hole at the front and rear above the water surface, and a sagging belly where the pilot sat or kneeled.
The first ballast was a pile of slingstone pebbles on the floor of the boat, alongside a stash of push-pole thrusting spears, readily available ammunition against big cats, hippos & crocs and ready to use on prey along the waterway.
The dugout was the first "pick up truck on the aquatic superhighway", carrying cargo and people quickly in relative safety.
:)
Here's the link:
http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2007/09/diving.html
DDeden