St. Andrews Day Two -- The second day of vacation started with an overcast day. I made my way to Bocabec to meet Walter Emrich mid-morning at Holts Point where we planned to set out by sea kayak to visit Dick's Island Nature Preserve. Walter is a Nature Trust board member and he is also the land steward of Dick's Island. We readied the kayaks by the shore and were keen to set out when we heard a few claps of thunder. This led to a 45 minute wait for the thunder and a downpour to subside. Once we finally got to set out, Dick's Island was only a short paddle from Holts Point. It is a small island with literally a few trees and lots of interesting rock features. We reached the island from the east side, then paddled around to the south end where you can spot many bird nests along the rock face. However, the birds were off somewhere else at that time.
We decided to paddle a little further south out to Hardwood Island to try to determine if there were seals nearby and to stretch our arms a little. On our way back to Dick's Island we came around the west side to the north end. It was here that we found a herd of seals. In fact, there were at least a dozen of them that formed a semi-circle around our kayaks. They seemed very curious and not too shy. One surfaced just to the left side of Walter's kayak within a paddle's reach. After visiting with the seals, we came ashore of the island and walked around the northwest end.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable kayak expedition! The overcast weather was actually great for observing a lot of the bright colours on the island. I have many ideas for capturing this beautiful site in a painting. Again, the greatest challenge will be to choose just one scene to paint for this project. Thanks again Walter for bringing me out to visit this site!