Thursday, September 10, 2009

Kayaking the Nisqually Delta

Today Little Bear and I went to the Nisqually Delta. The delta is near Olympia Washington and abuts the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge which is about 3000 acres. It is used by some 275 species of birds which itself would be a treat for the nature lover.

We started off in the morning and launched in near glass still waters. The tide was coming in but while the current could be seen there were no waves, just a steady inpouring of water. We started of heading up river from the launch site at Luhr Beach and had not been in for even ten minutes when a bald eagle flew overhead. Unfortunately I wasn't able to pull out the camera but as it turns out that eagle is very active there and I was able to get pictures of him later on. After that we came across the first of two families of harbor seals. They all dropped in the water before we got close and despite staying still and quiet (quite the feat for a 3y/o) they wouldn't come out of the water. Worse, if you turned to look at them they would immediately dive so I wasn't able to get good pictures. But then I came across one that while wary was not so worried about us as to stop sunning.

We went in our sit on top kayak of course, a Malibu Two XL, which gives us great stability and lots of open area which I think is great for us, but I can't wait to get a more performance oriented kayak as the Malibu is somewhat of a lumbering beast. Its great for what I am using it for but I look with no small amount of envy at those with sleek kayaks that cut thru the water with little effort and make much better speed than I can.

All in all we were treated to blue heron, canadian geese, numerous species of ducks, a puffin and my first ever sighting of a bald eagle! And somewhere between 16-20 seals. Quite the sightings for a single trip. And with all the deciduous trees its on the list of places to go back to this fall. Well, thats for another day. Anyways, enjoy the pics.