July 31, 2017, Monday — Bottleneck Inlet, Roderick Island —

I headed for the creek first thing this morning.   There hasn’t been much rain lately, so the creek was not very impressive.

 

 

So, I paddled toward the mouth of the inlet, checking out the shoreline as I went.  The only bird I found was a Merganser with her two ducklings.  Once she spotted me, she took off across the channel, paddling as fast as she could, with her two little ones doing the best they could to stay up with her. 

 

 

And, when it became too tough to keep up, they just hopped on mom’s back.

 

 

While searching along the shore for a small waterfall that I had discovered last year, I spotted the first blackberries that I’d seen all summer. 

 

 

The tide was getting low enough to see Sea Stars.  Just below the surface of the waterI spotted a very colorful arrangement of a crab on top of a couple of Sea Stars.

 

 

I was almost to the entrance to Bottleneck when I heard what sounded like a canon blast.  I looked up and saw a huge splash of water.  A whale had breached just outside the entrance!  And then, it breached again, even closer.  Talk about shock and awe.  This was scary……but exciting.  I just had to get a photo.  I’ve been waiting for years to get a photo of a whale breaching.  However, I didn’t want to die in the process.  So, I decided to shoot from behind the rocky point on the north side of the entrance.

While I was maneuvering into position, I spotted a very small runabout heading right for where the whale had gone down last.  This guy is crazy!  Then the whale breached again.  The sight was amazing, and the sound terrifying. 

 

 

 

The whale just kept breaching and breaching, and I just kept shooting.  There was no way of knowing where the whale would come up.  He seemed to be moving farther out.  I soon found myself outside the entrance, hoping for a better shot.  But then the guy in the runabout seemed to be herding the whale toward me, so I scurried back behind the rocks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually the whale surfaced farther south.  I was tempted to follow him, but decided to quit while I was still in one piece.