Back in cool and beautiful coastal British Columbia; first week on Salt Spring Island
The drive to Delta, BC (just over the border and minutes from the ferry terminal) is uneventful, although we get a late start and don't make it to Delta until almost 10 PM. Our airbnb room is fine, but the home reeks of cat urine when we walk in - only one night though and the owner actually is fine..I don't mention the smell and we chat about kayaks and travel instead.
The ferry ride is beautiful as always, and we know the routine well now, so we head to the Country Grocer upon arrival and stock up on some groceries before heading to the Boathouse, our little studio cottage on the ocean. Lots of visiting with Harold the owner particularly about US politics..later some with Sabine as well. A great retired couple who have a fantastic property, worth well in excess of a million dollars now as Salt Spring real estate prices continue to rise - apparently there is a lot of Chinese money flowing into the BC real estate market driving up prices.
Donna and I break in the double kayak putting in down the road near Fulford Harbor. Donna does fine, but her leg is really not healing up as well as we'd like, so she takes much of the rest of the first week "off" and relaxes at our ocean front cottage while I go off every afternoon for a 3-5 hour paddle. She takes me to a few places and comes back to pick me up around 5, and a few times she stays put while I drive myself to my put in point. See the usual suspects; bald eagles, harbor seals, sea lions, etc. and get some good photos. A highlight was seeing a pod of orcas one morning perhaps a 100 yards out from our cabin (it was Donna's eagle eye). Managed to get one decent photo (at least you can tell it's an orca), but no dramatic leaps out of the water ....still quite exciting because although there are several pods of orcas in this area, the odds of actually seeing them are very low unless you pay the bigger bucks to go on a whale watching tour.
The weather is abnormally cool and wetter than normal for this time of the year, with highs only in the 60's and occasional rain...normally it very rarely rains from mid June through September with highs more typically in the 70's. But we are not complaining as the weather back in Littleton and Salt Lake City is 90's flirting with 100.....so glad to be away from the heat!
Pip comes over for the day on Saturday and Donna and Pip go to the market and various other places on Salt Soring while I take a day off from kayaking and relax in the cottage.
The ferry ride is beautiful as always, and we know the routine well now, so we head to the Country Grocer upon arrival and stock up on some groceries before heading to the Boathouse, our little studio cottage on the ocean. Lots of visiting with Harold the owner particularly about US politics..later some with Sabine as well. A great retired couple who have a fantastic property, worth well in excess of a million dollars now as Salt Spring real estate prices continue to rise - apparently there is a lot of Chinese money flowing into the BC real estate market driving up prices.
Donna and I break in the double kayak putting in down the road near Fulford Harbor. Donna does fine, but her leg is really not healing up as well as we'd like, so she takes much of the rest of the first week "off" and relaxes at our ocean front cottage while I go off every afternoon for a 3-5 hour paddle. She takes me to a few places and comes back to pick me up around 5, and a few times she stays put while I drive myself to my put in point. See the usual suspects; bald eagles, harbor seals, sea lions, etc. and get some good photos. A highlight was seeing a pod of orcas one morning perhaps a 100 yards out from our cabin (it was Donna's eagle eye). Managed to get one decent photo (at least you can tell it's an orca), but no dramatic leaps out of the water ....still quite exciting because although there are several pods of orcas in this area, the odds of actually seeing them are very low unless you pay the bigger bucks to go on a whale watching tour.
The weather is abnormally cool and wetter than normal for this time of the year, with highs only in the 60's and occasional rain...normally it very rarely rains from mid June through September with highs more typically in the 70's. But we are not complaining as the weather back in Littleton and Salt Lake City is 90's flirting with 100.....so glad to be away from the heat!
Pip comes over for the day on Saturday and Donna and Pip go to the market and various other places on Salt Soring while I take a day off from kayaking and relax in the cottage.
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