by Giovannina Souers (aka Woody’s Partner in Crime)
I can’t believe we are over half way done with our trip! As we plan our route home in the next two weeks, I get excited and can’t wait to get home so I don’t have to bend over and pull the tent out of the bow of my kayak one more time, my bed will be set up and waiting for me when I am tired. And then other days, I don’t want it to end, the ritual of getting up early, packing the boats, and getting on the water to explore new coves, ride the currents and find a new spot to make home for the next few days has become so comfortable and feels so right.
Every night we plan for the next day’s adventure looking at numerous tide charts and listening to the latest weather reports. Over the last two weeks the weather has begun to shift, letting us know that fall is here and it is time to wrap up our trip. Instead of being awakened by the hot sun beating down on our tent in the morning, I stay in my warm sleeping bag until I can’t hold my bladder any longer, because the tent is dripping with the damp moisture of the morning fog. As I sit here writing, it is a sunny day but the cold wind blows through our camp. I have layered up with all the warm clothes I have for the trip and I think back to the last month. There is so much to share, we will have stories to tell for the rest of our lives but here are a few highlights.
Our goal when we left West Seattle was to get to the northern most San Juan Islands of Matia, Sucia and Patos, Islands that Woody had never been to before and I had visited over 15 years ago when volunteering on the Adventuress. We got to Sucia on August 19th stopping for lunch and some exploration on Matia beforehand. When we arrived we ran into an old friend and dive buddy of mine (Gene) who was on a kayak trip as well with some buddies. Sometimes it feels like such a small world – we have run into so many friends and people who know friends of ours, all along the way and this time is was wonderful to be welcomed by an old friend when we arrived.
On our last day at Sucia we left early in the morning to circumnavigate and explore Patos Island. We timed the currents to be “overall” with us as we cruised the shoreline but there were back eddies and current rips at every point that stuck out – I loved the challenge and adrenaline rush I got from fighting across a rip and knowing I had to paddle hard (really hard) to get through it and then once safe on the other side the currents would push us along the rocky cliff walls to the next point and give us a break. At one point on the island there was a sunken sailboat and a fairly strong rip that was running through two rocks. Woody and I got out of the boats at the beach before the point and walked out to take a look. A harbor seal was playing in the current between the rocks riding it down one way and then swimming around to do it again – it was fun to watch him ride the rip over and over again and we decided if it was deep enough for him we could do it to. It felt like a river pulling us along and I loved it, ever since I have been asking Woody where we can find more currents to play in.
On our days off, Woody usually writes and I go hiking. Today I hiked from San Juan County park to Lime Kiln State Park and it felt great to get the legs moving. One of my favorite hikes so far, was on Cypress Island, actually the hike was not that great but the end was the best. We hiked (Woody came this time ) up to Cypress lake and spent the day swimming and relaxing by the lake. After over two weeks on the Sound and swimming in saltwater it felt amazing to swim in freshwater. We also brought our water filter and were able to fill up our dromedary – we were running low on water and this allowed us to camp an extra night on Cypress. Enjoying a day at a mountain lake while on a kayaking trip was amazing.
When we are on the water, there are times we need to keep to a tight plan to make sure we catch the right currents and there are days that we can cruise the shorelines, stopping whenever we want and exploring in every bay. These are the days I love, cruising close to shore and watching for wildlife. We have seen great blue herons, eagles, deer, river otters and harbor seals every day along with a ton of intertidal invertebrates at low tide clinging to the rocky cliffs. One day as we were cruising along, a Stellar Sea Lion poped up next to my boat, its head rising out of the water higher than mine and looking right at me. I almost flipped my boat leaning back to give him/her space. It went over to Woody’s boat and took a look at him as well. I have seen Stellar Sea Lions from shore and at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium but never in my kayak before and they are big! This one was easily as long as my boat (16 feet long and over five hundred pounds). It continued to follow us for about a mile and would pop up to take a look every now and then and then just swim along side us again. After a few minutes I relaxed and enjoyed its company, it was amazingly graceful and I wondered if he was thinking “why are they going so slow” as he finally swam away heading off in the same direction but leaving us far behind.
Well its about dinner time and I’m getting hungry so that’s all for now.
It has been an amazing trip!
Cheers,
Giovannina