Some Whales…some Eagles…a Seal… and Chef’s Special Dinner…

July 11,2024 Sonora Resort, British Columbia, Canada

I woke at 4:56 am, opened the drapes to take a peak and this is what I saw.

This is the view from the opposite side of our cabin. We are pretty high up…like living in a tree house.

Clouds in the mountains

Now we are looking at the same mountain, but from the breakfast patio in the main lodge.

I asked for a half portion 🥲

Looking for Dale in his perch…he’s there on the left.

It was a bit cooler than yesterday…but lovely in the warm sun.

After breakfast, I went out on the patio to try to finish my ebook before it expires and Libby reclaims it. Timmy took this photo from our bedroom…

…then he came downstairs and snuck these pics from the living room

After he took this photo, he used his magic editor app to remove my backpack from the table…

He’s very crafty 🩵

I took this pic from the deck…it’s nice being closer to the water

After a while I headed out on a walk…

…Staying close to the shore, I came upon the Resort owners house and took just one photo…apparently he has a beautiful pool and putting green in the back, overlooking the water.

I walked further north than I did yesterday and the bay began to open up a bit.

Then I came upon the Blue Trail and decided to see where it would take me, keeping in mind that I was meeting Timmy for lunch at 2:00 .

Nice wide path…no roots…

…pretty views…

When I came upon this short cut back to the Lodge, I took it.

…it was a short cut…but up and over and through the forest…whatever…

We hitched a ride with Ally down to lunch.

That’s Rob working on our pizza. Rob is a wonderful young man, he’s an avid birder and shared so much of his birding knowledge with us during our frequent talks. He loves cooking and loves working at Sonora.

Hanna serves breakfast and lunch…by the second day, she would start on our cappuccinos as soon as we entered the lodge…a true treasure 🩵

Warm crab dip and pizza…life is just about perfick.

New guests arriving by sea plane… evidently planning to arrive by helicopter is more reliable…sea planes are sometimes cancelled due to weather…according to Captain Dylan, the helicopter has never been cancelled. Plan accordingly.

That’s Timmy making his way to the dock for our Eco-tour

#selfie

Here we are in our enormous life jackets…at first, we were over heated, but once we started flying across the open water, we were glad for the protection from the chilly wind.

Josh our guide…we loved him

Leaving the lodge…I wish my phone could capture the true color of the water.

The orange tree is an Arbutus tree

Just chillin’…on our way to see two whales, a large seal and hundreds of eagles.

I have a good bit of video…and for some reason, it’s not loading…the whales were swimming together near the shoreline and we followed them for about 20 minutes…truly marvelous. Then on our way back, near the Gillard Islands we had the most amazing experience. Twice a day the upswell from tidal change, causes bottom feeding hake fish to rise, bursting their swim bladders. As a result they die, and are easy pickings for eagles. Hundreds of eagles flying over head, dive bombing and flying off with dinner. I’ll try to come back here and post my favorite clip of an eagle swooping in and out and a clip of the whales.

The Eco- tour lasted 2 hours, but flashed by in what seemed like 20 minutes. We rested back at the cabin, then set off for a beyond terrific culinary experience.
Last evening, as we were leaving the dining room, Killian caught up with us and said that Chef Jin would like to cook a “special” dinner for us…did we have any allergies? Any foods we didn’t particularly like? We replied no allergies and that we would place ourselves in Chef’s hands. Oh my freaking goodness…