This morning dawned misty and beautiful, but the weather cleared as the day went on. We started the day in Desolation Sound Provincial Park with expedition landing craft tours and kayaking. Because of the low tide, we saw a lot of marine life: moon jellies, Olympic oysters, blue mussels, and a variety of sea stars were accompanied by kingfishers, eagles, flickers, black oystercatchers, great blue herons, glaucous-winged gulls, and Bonaparte’s gulls.
In the afternoon, we headed to shore for a hike near Unwin Lake. The trail was slippery and wet, so we stopped and enjoyed the quiet, taking in the plant life around us. We saw red elderberries, red huckleberries, black-capped raspberries, and the native blackberry. We saw kinnikinnick, but we couldn’t find Devil’s club.
As we departed Desolation Sound Provincial Marine Park, we chanced upon a pod of Bigg’s killer whales, which we observed for about half an hour. While we watched, they made a kill, and proceeded to eat their supper. What a privilege to watch these magnificent cetaceans!
