Soul Soothed by the Sea
On Thursday, work was infuriating.
On Friday, life was intensely busy.
On Saturday, Pinniped went up to Anderson Island for a gig. I spent an hour and a half waiting for the ferry in Steilacoom. An hour and a half on the pier in the sun, watching an unintentionally hilarious Woman versus Crab death-match, then wandering down to the dock to stick my bare toes in the water and tickle sea-anemones.
On the ferry ride back, we saw a pod of porpoises. I'm not sure whether they were harbor or Dahl's porpoises; they had dorsal fin color variation like a Dahl's, but I didn't see white flanks. Still, the more fin pictures I look at, the more I think it was Dahl's. At least five of them, too!
This morning, Erik, Kiyoko and I went kayaking for a few hours down where all the log rafts (and seals!) are. Seeing seals there is pretty much gaurunteed, which is why I thought it'd be a good place to take Kiyo-chan, but we were amazingly lucky. Not only did we get the usual Seal Escort, we saw lots of babies, including a nursing pup. (ZOMG, breastfeeding in public! Call the local busybody!). One mom-baby pair followed us a long way. Junior would come up very close to a boat -- literally six inches off my stern, once -- and then get shoo-d away by mom. He'd come up, and she'd pretty much shove him back under.
The babies aren't such sleek swimmers. An adult harbor seal can disappear without a noise, but the babies dive with a big ker-splash.
I'm feeling so amazingly right and content and wonderful after all my time by and on the water. The nasty work stuff just floated away. I need to spend quality time with my element more often.
EDIT: We heard the seals a lot more than usual this morning, too. I looked it up, and apparently the pups and moms vocalize much more than adults.
On Friday, life was intensely busy.
On Saturday, Pinniped went up to Anderson Island for a gig. I spent an hour and a half waiting for the ferry in Steilacoom. An hour and a half on the pier in the sun, watching an unintentionally hilarious Woman versus Crab death-match, then wandering down to the dock to stick my bare toes in the water and tickle sea-anemones.
On the ferry ride back, we saw a pod of porpoises. I'm not sure whether they were harbor or Dahl's porpoises; they had dorsal fin color variation like a Dahl's, but I didn't see white flanks. Still, the more fin pictures I look at, the more I think it was Dahl's. At least five of them, too!
This morning, Erik, Kiyoko and I went kayaking for a few hours down where all the log rafts (and seals!) are. Seeing seals there is pretty much gaurunteed, which is why I thought it'd be a good place to take Kiyo-chan, but we were amazingly lucky. Not only did we get the usual Seal Escort, we saw lots of babies, including a nursing pup. (ZOMG, breastfeeding in public! Call the local busybody!). One mom-baby pair followed us a long way. Junior would come up very close to a boat -- literally six inches off my stern, once -- and then get shoo-d away by mom. He'd come up, and she'd pretty much shove him back under.
The babies aren't such sleek swimmers. An adult harbor seal can disappear without a noise, but the babies dive with a big ker-splash.
I'm feeling so amazingly right and content and wonderful after all my time by and on the water. The nasty work stuff just floated away. I need to spend quality time with my element more often.
EDIT: We heard the seals a lot more than usual this morning, too. I looked it up, and apparently the pups and moms vocalize much more than adults.