Day 3

Day 3 unfolded from my dreams as the coastal sounds filtered through my slumber: the call of a loon, the guttural cluck of a raven and the ever lapping sea. By now we were efficient with the morning routine and soon we were launching our boats with anticipation for the day's scheduled adventure: crossing the 'Great Johnstone Strait'.

Nestled at the base of a steep forested hillside, 'Lunch beach', provides a premium haul-out for kayakers, and holds great significance for the killer whales. It is one of several beaches in the Robson Bight area (the only one outside the reserve) consisting of small, smooth gravel on an unusually steep angle. The Northern Resident killer whale population use these attributes in an activity exclusively their own: beach-rubbing. When the killer whales are in the area they often visit these rubbing beaches several times a day where they take turns rubbing their bodies on the pebbles for up to an hour or more. Although the practical applications of this activity are not well known (other then the possibility of it removing an external parasite) the social or recreational importance of this behaviour proves to be of extreme significance. Attempts to preserve these rare beaches resulted in the establishment of the Robson Bight/Michael Bigg Ecological Reserve.

The sun climbed high in the sky as we lazed on the warmed pebbles, snoozing and gazing at the immense beauty of our surroundings.) To our backs ancient cedar trees draped with silvery gray "Olds-mans-beard" reached for the blue of the sky and peacefully watched over the ocean. Again, an exquisite lunch appeared, and we gratefully indulged before relaxing back into our blissful peace.

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	Our Green Ethics
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	History of the Kayak
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