Pond Island, Kelp Bay & Chatham Strait
Glorious morning, my heart warms and welcomes your light! My eyes crave the need to squint, my head misses my wide brimmed hat, and the calcium in my bones longs to produce Vitamin D. The recently arrived may not know it, but the crew of the National Geographic Sea Bird has been these last two and a half weeks now without the direct rays of the sun to feed their photosynthetic skins. Perfect day for shore excursions and sea kayaking.
Mist evaporated over Pond Island, revealing calm seas and a lone humpback whale for the first round kayakers to enjoy. Launching from a shaded cove into the sky reflected on the mirror sea, paddling more idyllic would be difficult to envision. As the tide turned for the second round, currents picked up, and winds changed into a more difficult, yet still satisfying trip across the channel.
The sun remained throughout the day, allowing for lunch on the newly reclaimed “sun” deck. As post-feast basking commenced, we cruised up Chatham Straight to find other humpback whales to capture our attention and zoom lenses.
As we sail north, the sun threw up its final performance of the day, glancing blows off the sides of now visible peaks, some still capped with snow in this late summer, blistering purples and oranges to feed our color-starved eyes.
