July 4, 2017, Tuesday — Booker Lagoon —

The light is better, the seas are calmer, there is more wildlife at 0500 hrs.  Yes, I know.  But my warm bed felt sooooo good.  Then, I remembered how ugly the seas were at 0900 hrs yesterday, and I grudgingly decided I’d better get my rear in gear and suit up. 

I was on the water at 0600 hrs.  The seas were flat calm, not a ripple on the water.  Beautiful.  I spotted several flocks or gaggles of birds circling the bay, just out of range for a decent shot. Then, I spotted this Common Murre, or at least that’s my best guess as to what it was.  It was so far away I had to shoot at 200X.

 

I paddled clear across the lagoon and about halfway out Booker Passage before turning around when I started seeing little whirlpools.  I wasn’t about to hang around until those little whirlpools became big whirlpools.  So, I paddled toward the Southeast anchorage, hoping to find some wildlife.  I was just about to give up when I spotted this Kingfisher landing not too far away.  Kingfishers don’t usually hang around very long, so I couldn’t believe my good fortune when this one sat there posing for me for quite some time. 

 

 

 

 

 

There were lots of Salal Berries around, some looking ready to pick.  If Anne Reeves were here, she’d probably be picking them to make her delicious Salal Berry Jam.

 

 

I spotted this old fallen log that reminded me of a swordfish.

 

 

The sound of an outboard motor got my attention.  It was Al, going out to pull the prawn trap.

 

 

 

I started paddling as fast as I could in his direction, curious to see if the catch was as good as yesterday.  By the time I got there, he had already pulled the trap and was resetting it.  Sadly, the catch consisted of 6 rock crabs and 28 small prawns.