Sand and driftwood, Longbeach
This will be our last full day at the ocean. We spent it walking along the sands of Longbeach (a total of almost 15 kilometers of walking), looking at the driftwood, the birds, the surf, and very much enjoyed being by the water. Even though it wasn’t a cool day with a moderate breeze and the sky was overcast all day, it wasn’t foggy either, so that we were able to see the offshore rocks much more clearly than yesterday.
In the morning we walked all the way north along the beach to Incinerator Rock which is near the north end of the beach. I got some very nice video of two Whimbrels as they searched for food in the sand. There were some very interesting sand formations where currents have shaped the sand into small hummocks. The sand along the beach has an interesting variation of textures: sometimes it is very hard packed which makes it easy to walk, at other times it is very soft so that you sink in a couple of inches on each step.
After lunch we walked the other way south on Combers Beach. It was now high tide. Someone has built a driftwood shelter on the beach by piling many driftwood logs into the shape of a tepee and we stopped for a while. Enid took her book with her to read this afternoon, while I tried to do some more photography, and then almost fell asleep sitting on the bench in the shelter. There wasn’t much to see unfortunately, as no birds were out on the beach. Oh yes, there were several hundred gulls congregated at one spot farther down, but that wasn’t very interesting.
You could barely make out the sea lions on Sea Lion Rocks off shore with the maximum zoom on the video camera lens. There were also some other rocks with cormorants. We saw about a dozen tour boats today. They would go by the rocks for a few minutes then headed back towards Tofino.
When we got back to Greenpoint Rocks I was going to try and video the little fish in the tide pools. However the tide was still in too deep, so Enid and I waited on the rocks. After about half an hour I walked up on top of the rocks where there was a surge of waves coming through. I was there for quite a while, and when I came back the light was not very good in the tide pool, so I thought I would try to video the surging waves. Enid decided to leave and returned to the campsite. I went back onto the rocks and was setting up the video camera. Bent over the viewfinder I didn’t see the massive wave coming, which broke violently against the back wall of the rocks and threw water completely over me. My hair was soaked and that probably saved the camera, as it only got a bit of splash on it. My raincoat was also soaked, and since it wasn’t zipped up all the way, so was my fleece underneath it. I came back to the camp site and dried off the camera as best I could. My raincoat and fleece didn’t really dry out though. Nothing really dried today, as it is very humid here. The washcloths that went on the clothesline this morning are still wet tonight.