Up the river from Weir Quay

[bunn]

It was a cloudy day when we set off, but not too windy, which is good, because the river is wide at Weir Quay, and it's down at the point where the river starts to feel like it's turning into sea.   We decided to go up-river, and found that the mud-bank on the far side of the bend at Weir Quay goes out a long way!  It didn't matter, since the canoe needs very little water, but we had to paddle cautiously.

Turn the corner, and  the sun was starting to show through the clouds as we came up to the Pentillie estate.   Someone had noticed the sunbeams and had climbed out of the river to sunbathe...



It was a great big grey seal!  He turned in annoyance to look at us as we passed and huffed loudly, causing us to wonder what we would do if he decided to get in the water and come and investigate the canoe.  He was a big, big seal.  If he had decided to get into the canoe, we would definitely have had to get out of it.  Fortunately, he was far too chilled for that sort of thing.  


Up the river to the Pentillie quay, I think it was.



On our way back, we saw a lot of very very loud Canada geese, and the sun got brighter and the sky bluer.



Back past the seal who seemed now to be doing some sort of Seal Yoga.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Maybe you were the equivalent to the seal of the telephone ringing when you're enjoying a lie-in.

Great photos!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

That's definitely the impression he gave. He was so peeved at us for floating past (we didn't go very close).

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

That seal looks like a monster! But it is hard to find anything in the photos to really compare him to in size. How long do you think he is?

So strange because I just read an article earlier today on one of those trashy internet news sites about a giant whale emerging next to a pretty small boat of tourists off the coast of Canada whale-watching. They had a video! And it was terrifying and the boat was filled with screaming kids. (Felt too close for comfort to me, since I spent a lot of time in serious water (the Great Lakes and the Long Island Sound on this side of this continent and the Monterrey Bay on the other side!) with little kids in life jackets on small to mid-sized vessels during my own childbearing years.

These are once again stunning photos. I think my favorite is "Up the river to the Pentillie quay." The color of the sky and the sloping landscape in contrast to the wooded area!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I would have guessed at least a couple of meters long, he would have been a very very big dog. I thought he was a beef calf lying down on the shore at first. SO glad he didn't decide to come and join us in the water!

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Wow!

[hhimring]

The seal does look really peeved, but maybe doing the yoga calmed him down again..

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I think seals are often a bit peeved with boats. They consider the water to be their own.

[timetiger.livejournal.com]

"Up the River to the Pentillie Quay" is beautiful, and I like the seal very much.

This past Saturday I missed seeing a coyote by one second. I love seeing animals but I'm not very good at it.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

.... OK, I have to ask. If you missed seeing it by one second,

*how did you know it was there???*

[timetiger.livejournal.com]

Yes, I see I was being a bit cryptic.

I was on a bus with my friends B and Clovis, and while I was admiring the Canada geese and the mallards swimming in the lagoon, they spotted the coyote. They said it was sitting there calmly, not very far from the road, watching us go by.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

LOL, that makes so much more sense than the complicated narrative I had constructed in my head!

[timetiger.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing there were Elves. . .