Helis & Humpbacks

This morning I had my first helicopter ride ever! Here I am just before leaving Scarlett, wondering what I'm about to experience. It's been cold up here. You can see how we're dressed for winter in July. Thank you Taiga.



Dave gave me the safety orientation and got me all suited up. The life vest is surprising heavy as it's packed with equipment like flares and even a personal EPIRB. The Coast Guard takes safety seriously.



Cruising over the ocean at 115 knots, it felt like we were floating ... just a bubble in a slow wind ... deep evergreens, black bogs, miles of blue waves passing beneath us, and the odd spectacularly deserted sand beach. 

Still, it only took about thirty minutes to fly the 6o or so miles up the coast to Addenbroke Island.

One of the most spectacular things about Addenbroke is that it's prime humpback territory. According to the keeper here, a small group of whales cruise around the island all day long. We were lucky enough to spot this guy about 100 metres from where we were standing at the boat launch. Humpbacks are baleen whales--pleats allow their throat to distend like a balloon so they can gulp masses of krill, herring, and crustaceans. When the pleats contract, the whale uses his tongue to push the water out through the baleen, and anything trapped is then swallowed whole. Humpbacks feed here all summer long and migrate to Hawaii or Mexico for the winter--not a bad life, I'd say. 

You can just see the tail flukes as this humpback dives down. Apparently, they are quite acrobatic. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled and my camera ready.

Safely Stowed

I am now safely stowed at Scarlett Point Lightstation, 25 kilometres north of Port Hardy. Coming in on the Coast Guard lifeboat we spotted humpbacks off the port bow. Me, standing on the flybridge, and thinking how I need to knit a new toque quick as my left ear is tingling with the cold below my ballcap. Yesterday, I sunburned my left arm driving the 385 kilometres from Nanaimo to Port Hardy. It was humid and 30 C there, but here? This is wool country. White clouds, like layered cotton batten, obscure the horizon. Rock cedar islands shifting in varying shades of green and grey that a thesaurus can't explain. No wonder the Coast Guard paints everything red and white. 

We’d hadn’t yet reached the station when the captain brought the lifeboat to a dead stop. A small grey craft was making its way towards us from port side.

“We’ve got a huge wake,” he explained, “and that’s your ride.” My ride? And so, there in the middle of the channel, Laury and I, exchanged rides--she with her two small bags and me with gear for a month. 

After having just completed my first marine weather report with the help of Ivan, I am sitting down this afternoon to read Instructions for Marine Local Weather Observations.

Email is working but I've yet to find my phone service, so if I don't call or message you, that's why.

Day 1 @ Scarlett Point