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British Columbia Marine Mammal Studies

PWT11 Update - Saturday, July 09, 2011

Here Comes the Sun

This morning we got a much needed extra hour of sleep and got to wake up at 8am. Kirsten, Becca, and I decided to wake up the group by singing “Walking on Sunshine;” Leah joined in too! This song clearly gave good vibes to the sun because it stayed out all day! After taking down camp and having a relaxed breakfast of granola and hot chocolate, we headed into the forest for an educational nature walk. Our guides taught us all about the First Nations people and the traces they’ve left. We also learned how to identify different trees and ferns, like cedar, spruce, and Douglas fir trees. In the woods we played a couple rounds of ‘Camouflage”- a hide and seek type game where the person who’s “it” can only pivot on the foot. Olivia proved to be the best hider and won the game, and now has “camouflage” power to start a new game whenever she wants.

After returning to our campsite, we ate lunch (more sandwiches and wraps) while basking in the sun like a group of seals. It was finally time to move the kayaks down to the water, load up gear, and change into our dreaded wetsuits. After a quick stretching circle, we were finally paddling back to our first campsite on Blinkhorn Peninsula. The beautiful weather made for a great day of kayaking on the calm water. Val was sure to keep us entertained by singing catchy songs that we all knew. The water was super clear so we got to see tons of cool kelp, sea urchins, and jellies. After a couple hours, we were back at Blinkhorn Peninsula.

There was a minor scare when we saw a group of people at the campsite we were planning to sleep at, but luckily GW and our guides found enough room down the beach for all of our tents. Now it was time for the repeated, tedious tasks of unloading kayaks and setting up camp – we’re definitely getting ore efficient at this every day. Taylor, Anny, and Kirsten helped get a fire going, while Val, Maggie and Steven helped cook dinner, potato curry and rice. Dinner was delicious and warmed us all up. We solved some unanswered riddles and enjoyed our last night with our great guides – Cheryl, Tessa, and Amy.

After dinner we got ready for our first academic lecture, which was on oceanography. Leah talked to us all about the different layers of the ocean and how the properties of ocean water affect different ocean species. We also focused on our own views of the ocean and why we want to spend our summer learning more about it and it’s marine mammals. After our lecture, we were treated to a yummy dessert of bannic, a type of bread sweetened with cinnamon, sugar, and dried fruit. We were given small balls of dough to roll out and place on a stick like a snake. We held these over the fire and hoped to get the perfect golden brown, although it didn’t really matter because it was tasty burnt or raw too.

We ended the day with glums and glows and there were many glum-free people, evidence that today really was a great day. We were all ready for a good night’s sleep, our last on this kayaking adventure. Tomorrow is an early morning because we have to head back to Telegraph Cove in time for whale watching in the afternoon. We all can’t wait for a shower tomorrow!

Dreaming of more sunny days,
Lia