Live Acquarium Lesson, Rescue and Scarecrow

Thursday was another perfect day.

An incoming low pressure system calmed the sprawling ocean and we skimmed along as on a mirror. It was so beautiful.

We were promised an easy paddle with lots of marine life, and that's exactly what we got. The early morning got quite hot and both Judy and Teddy needed to take off their jackets. Teddy's pedals also needed adjusting. Cal paddled over to Teddy first and lifted her skirt, reaching into the front of the cockpit to fix the pedals. Then he steadied her kayak and helped her undo the PFD, pull out her jacket and finally put everything back the way it was. Then he helped Judy do the same.

It was low tide and Cal took us to a section between some islands where we saw the most splendid display of sea life. There were constellations of brilliantly coloured sea stars shimmering in hues ranging from deep rich purple to pale violet, from brilliant blue to the prolific orange stars. Interspersed we'd see clusters of black batstars with webbing between their arms. The orange and dull purple stars were usually the largest, often around 12" from tip to tip with thick, fleshy arms.

Sea stars are symmetrical and their five arms are arranged around a central disk.
However, we also saw sunflowers. Cal pulled a large specimen up and we counted 18 arms.

Lana told us that sea stars have an unusual feeding habit. Instead of pulling their food into their mouth as we do, they flip their stomachs out through their mouth located in the middle of their bodies and digest their prey, such as a mussel, inside the mussel's own shell. When the mussel is completely digested the stomach is pulled back into the sea star's body.

The sea cucumbers we saw were sausage shaped and the size of a regular cucumber. They were mostly a fecal brown and covered with lighter coloured soft thorns. Judy picked up one of the slug-like sea cucumbers and draped it over her hand. Cal said when threatened they can shoot out water from their body, and that's exactly what Judy's specimen did. It looked like it was urinating a purplish fluid that just kept coming and coming and coming. Then it shifted its organs and got long and thin on one side and short and thick on the other. Apparently, they can shoot out their insides and then grow new ones and it may have been preparing to do so but Judy put it back. All this just to make itself more unattractive to a predator.

We saw lots of discarded moon snail egg collars. The snail lays its eggs in the sand and presses both egg and sand together with a mucous like glue. We examined the collars which are quite flexible and feel like rubber. Both John and Cal found a live moon snail with its fleshy foot. I held the one John had but it was flexing its and felt creepy. When I handed it back, long ropes of slime were dangling beneath it.

Moon snails eat clams and they do so by licking them to death. They lick the shell with their raspy tongues until they've worn a hole in the top, then they suck up the meat inside.

There were sea anemones and the occasional crab. Later we got a lesson in how to tell the difference between the males and females (females have a wider plate on their abdomen).

We had a late lunch (2:00 p.m.) on a broad beach and Brenda took the opportunity to go for a quick swim.

Lana's hair part was showing signs of turning very red, so Suzanne donated the pink scarf from her hat and with the aid of a cut-up juice box Brenda fashioned it into a cute little hat. I had a spare visor which went under the juice box brim and the effect was quite fetching. Lana is a beautiful woman with long ash blond hair and a generous smile, so it would have been pretty hard to make her look bad.

Following lunch we were given the choice of going for a longer paddle or heading back to the lodge. Since it was still an hour to the lodge, Teddy, Brenda, Suzanne and I chose to return so we could sit and sip wine on the deck. Cal accompanied us and in the lagoon by the lodge, he demonstrated a couple of rolls. On purpose.

Brenda wanted to try some rescue techniques so she rolled over and exited the kayak. Using the T-rescue, Cal hoisted the nose onto his spray skirt, draining most of the water. Flipping the kayak right side up, Cal stabilized it while Brenda pushed herself onto to stern of the kayak just behind the cockpit. Cal was able to grab the straps of her PFD to help her up. When she was lying facedown facing the stern, she slipped her legs into the cockpit and slid in until her hips were on the seat. Then she turned and sat. Perfect entry.

The next technique he demonstrated was the scoop. Again, Brenda is out of the kayak and holding her kayak with its bottom against the side of his boat, he lets the cockpit half fill with water to hold it in position. Lying in the water on her back, Brenda slides her legs into the cockpit and when her butt is in place, Cal flips her right side up. Then she has to pump out the water but this entry method looked easier than the first.

By now we were ready to go in, have a nice relaxing shower without having to line up, and enjoy the deck. Cal didn't stay but went back to meet up with the remaining group leaving his dry clothes behind for Suzanne to bring inside. Of course, Suzanne did no such thing.

She and Brenda poked a long branch through the arms of his shirt and hung it in a cedar tree. They attached his hat a little higher up, tied something around the waist of the shirt to give him a swimmers shape, and then filled another shirt with cedar boughs to use as shorts. Two stick legs stuck out the bottom. Then while they looked for a leaf to fasten to the front of the shorts, they heard some snuffling coming from the trees.

"Uuunh, uunh, uunh".

With two bear sightings already behind us,they chose the prudent path. They ran.

A little later they returned but were scared off again by more snuffling. But not before they fixed the leaf in place.

Cal took a picture of the scarecrow, but apparently felt the leaf was too small.