shadesofmauve: (Default)
shadesofmauve ([personal profile] shadesofmauve) wrote2011-07-31 03:59 pm

Soul Soothed by the Sea

On Thursday, work was infuriating.

On Friday, life was intensely busy.

On Saturday, Pinniped went up to Anderson Island for a gig. I spent an hour and a half waiting for the ferry in Steilacoom. An hour and a half on the pier in the sun, watching an unintentionally hilarious Woman versus Crab death-match, then wandering down to the dock to stick my bare toes in the water and tickle sea-anemones.

On the ferry ride back, we saw a pod of porpoises. I'm not sure whether they were harbor or Dahl's porpoises; they had dorsal fin color variation like a Dahl's, but I didn't see white flanks. Still, the more fin pictures I look at, the more I think it was Dahl's. At least five of them, too!

This morning, Erik, Kiyoko and I went kayaking for a few hours down where all the log rafts (and seals!) are. Seeing seals there is pretty much gaurunteed, which is why I thought it'd be a good place to take Kiyo-chan, but we were amazingly lucky. Not only did we get the usual Seal Escort, we saw lots of babies, including a nursing pup. (ZOMG, breastfeeding in public! Call the local busybody!). One mom-baby pair followed us a long way. Junior would come up very close to a boat -- literally six inches off my stern, once -- and then get shoo-d away by mom. He'd come up, and she'd pretty much shove him back under.

The babies aren't such sleek swimmers. An adult harbor seal can disappear without a noise, but the babies dive with a big ker-splash.

I'm feeling so amazingly right and content and wonderful after all my time by and on the water. The nasty work stuff just floated away. I need to spend quality time with my element more often.

EDIT: We heard the seals a lot more than usual this morning, too. I looked it up, and apparently the pups and moms vocalize much more than adults.

[identity profile] westrider.livejournal.com 2011-08-01 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
Water is good. One of the things I miss about where I'm living right now is the lack of a proper river. It's a slightly different vibe than the ocean, and I miss it.

[identity profile] westrider.livejournal.com 2011-08-01 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I was thinking about it some more today while I was at work. Part of the difference is in the smell, part is in the motion of the water. The ocean moves, but it's generally kind of aimless, while a river is clearly going somewhere.

And yeah, a walk down by the falls sounds good.