I was up at 0545 hrs this morning, hoping to get some smooth-water kayaking in.  It had rained during the night, and it looked like we might be in for more rain today.  At the moment, however, I had calm winds, smooth seas, and a bit of blue sky here and there….I’ll take it.

I headed for the bitter end of Illiahie Inlet.  I wasn’t able to paddle that far last year, so I was determined to make it this morning. 

After about 30 minutes of paddling, my VHF came to life.  It was Al calling to tell me he just saw a bear swimming across the inlet, about 300 feet from the boat, headed for Fitz Hugh Sound.  Darn!  If I hadn’t got up so early, I would have had me some bear photos.  Oh, well.

About that time, I spotted some very small birds ahead.  They turned out to be Marbled Murrelets — not quite as exciting as a bear, but cute.  Murrelets are very camera shy, so I couldn’t get very close.

 

 

After over an hour of paddling, I finally reached the bitter end and was rewarded with these beautiful tidal falls.

 

 

 

I could hear mergansers chattering away, but I could never spot them.  They must have been hiding in the trees, taunting me.

The wind had started to pick up, which made the paddle back to the boat a real workout, since, of course, the wind was right on the nose. 

I spotted a dark mass near the top of a tree and decided to investigate.  I got lucky.  It was an eagle’s nest, and the eagle was home!  The eaglets probably haven’t hatched out yet.

 

 

The nest was obviously built for function, not aesthetics.  It looks like it’s been added on to over the years in a slap-dash fashion.

 

High tide this afternoon was very high, showing off these picture-perfect trees.