Well today was an interesting one… Started out feeling like deja vu with a couple things going exactly the same as yesterday… We stopped for harbour seals on a logboom being pulled by a tug just like yesterday, I spotted some Harbour Porpoise along the way, just like yesterday. Then things changed and the sense of deja vu went away… We continued to search for whales but stopped for a few minutes in an area we had humpback whales yesterday to scan and listen for their blows to see if they were still nearby.
While waiting we picked up a hitchhiker… Or at least I did… We had been seeing tons of moths fly by us as we travelled but when we stopped to scan and listen a dragonfly flew around our boat over a couple of our passengers and came straight towards me and landed gently on my chest… I let my little friend linger there for a likely much needed rest and assumed it would fly off when we picked up speed again… It did not. Instead it clung to me, so I tried to provide some shelter from the wind by cupping my hands around it as much as possible while still allowing room for it to leave should it be ready.
We made it to Porlier Pass where we stopped to see a couple Steller Sea Lions hauled out on the green can and I assumed my little traveler would be ready to fly off… It wasn’t. I gently moved it from my chest to my hand trying to encourage it but to no avail, I brought it back to the wheelhouse where the captain suggested I try to put him in the window (we were on a zodiac today). I coaxed it off my hand and it fell into the front of the window… I was worried at first but it found it’s footing and found a spot to rest.
On we traveled. We searched and searched for whales and out of the fog and smoke appeared the Southern Resident Killer Whales… Animals I haven’t seen for quite some time.
Animals we no longer have the privilege to watch here in Canada. They used to be extended family and now they are almost strangers… It was at this point, while stopped with the Ressies, that our wayward traveler, dragonfly hitchhiker, had rested enough and took flight, circling past me one more time to say goodbye before venturing forth with it’s adventurous trek. We stayed with the Ressies just long enough for me to recognize these beautiful strangers, to identify them as those we must not watch, no longer the protectors we once tried to be.
These animals both strange and familiar to me. We slowly altered course to avoid these special animals, recovered a balloon from the water (I then murdered it) and made our way into Howe Sound where we were able to see the mountains for the first time in days.
My day even ended with a sunburn!!
-Ashley
