Its been a while since I attended Wednesday evening practice at St. Philips. Early in the year the turnout had been very thin and I honestly lost interest. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find two newcomers last evening. Wednesday evenings for me are all about a safe environment for newer paddlers to build on their skills. As such then, if there is even one new paddler showing up its an incentive to keep it going.
As it was flat calm we decided to go for a relaxed paddle.
I really like the colour scheme on Jenns kayak, after the orange of mine *lol*.
Paul, one of the newer paddlers. He spent a lot of time in the pool last winter which indicates to me he wants to learn.
I generally want to paddle with people with good kayak skills, especially when conditions dictate. But, I also want to give people who want to learn an avenue to paddle. I'm certain Paul will get invites when the conditions are right.
Also new to the Wednesday evening group is Mark. Another reason to keep these sessions going.
And then we got the surprise of the evening. Paddling slowly along the shore we spotted two humpbacks out in the bay. We paddled out to where they were feeding and waited or them to surface which ...
... they did with regular frequency. I hoped for a tail shot but they were too busy feeding near the surface so this is pretty much all we saw of them except the occasional spout.
After sending some time with the whales we paddled back to St. Philips as the sun was setting totally thrilled with the close, unexpected encounter with the two humpbacks.
So, I'm reinvigorated for Wednesday evening practices. They will continue into October.
Jenn sent me a couple of video clips she recorded of the whales surfacing:
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