Albatross and Dolphins

Albatross and Dolphins, originally uploaded by macatay.

The past three days we have been traveling rapidly. Tuesday we crossed back over the Hecate Strait on a day of benign weather. When we left our Queen Charlotte's anchorage very early in the morning, we were tailed by big Albatross for the first part of our journey. They were looking for the easy pickings typical of the local fishing boats. We nearly ran over a sleeping whale, but otherwise had an easy crossing and made our way cautiously into a remote bay on Aristazabel Island on the outer BC coast. From the anchorage we could see out into the Hecate Strait, and were able to enjoy the sunset shown above. Wednesday, we had a fine day of downwind sailing to reach the Seaforth Channel, and today we traveled further south, and are now just north of Cape Caution. Yesterday late in the afternoon, we spent a fine half hour idling mid channel while a herd of dozens of Pacific White Sided Dolphins performed their acrobatics around our boat, leaping, looping, diving and generally surprising and amusing us. Such a treat to encounter creatures who appear to operate from shear joy.