whales, sunburns, surfers, swimmers and steak

Sunday, July 13, 2008

What do whales, sunburns, surfers and steak have in common? Well, I'm sure there are plenty of things most of them have in common - but for this entry, the commonality is that we experienced them all on our trek yesterday.

Last Tuesday a few of my sisters and I went to First and Second Beaches in Neah Bay. Well, we had such a good time that plans were made to go to Third Beach on Saturday (yesterday). There is a trail one can use to hike there so we loaded up and headed out.

I figured that just because one was in the wilderness, it didn't mean you had to dine like a savage so I pulled a Martha Stewart out of my hat and brought the following: sirloin steak cubed and soaking in a jerk marinade; mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, onions, green peppers cut into pieces and zipped up in a gallon ziploc bag; fingerling red potatoes parboiled and put into another ziploc with 1/2 cube butter and salt/pepper; a bag of gluten-free brownies; marshmallows; and a snifty metal basket for cooking a large quantity of food over a fire. Joe became a sherpa and hauled down approx. 25 pounds of soda/water/ice tea in a collapsable cooler. What a great guy - he did it w/out complaint!

We arrived at the beach and I immediately built a fire. Since it was 11am, it was decided we would eat sooner rather than later so I pulled out the meat and dumped it into my wire basket. I then added the veggies and potatoes and we cooked it over the fire until the meat was cooked and the veggies were nice and soft. Everyone ate their fill, had plenty to drink, and decimated the brownies and marshmallows - it was fun and delicious!

The surfers weren't actually out on the water. They were there w/their families for a day trek so they could show the wives and kids where they surf. Nice guys and nice families.

And the swimmers? Just the nutjob husband of sister #3 and another gal there. They jumped in the water and swam over the massive kelp forests. Brrr and ick! The gal was definitely a different breed than my sisters and I. If one of us had jumped in, you'd have heard us screaming over in BC. She popped out of the water and not very loudly stated that it was cccccooold. No screaming at all. Wow!

About halfway through the day, we saw a whale off in the distance. The excitement grew as we realized it was coming up near the rocks where we were so everyone scrambled out to get a better view. How utterly awesome! It slowly swam back and forth next to the long shoal of rocks and kept surfacing and blowing water high into the air. A few times it went down with a tail flap and I was *finally* able to get a shot of that. Either it or another one came back later in the day and another rush for the rocks was made. I grew up out there but this was my first close encounter with one of these giants and it was just incredible. You could see others out in the strait and near the harbor entrance - water shooting into the air and their backs as they'd surface and slowly descend. It was amazing.

We called it a day around 6 when we realized that most of us were burnt to a crisp. I guess more sunscreen is needed next time. But the burns notwithstanding, this was one fun, beautiful, incredible day. I was just ecstatic to be able to share it with my son and husband, neither of them having been to this beach before.

Be sure to check out my smugmug gallery for all the photos from our day at Third Beach.



Ready to begin our trek down.


The trail down to the beach.


The chilly water and kelp forests.


Cruise ships heading back into Seattle from the mouth of the Strait.


Our "loose kabob" steak meal. Utterly delicious.


Joey's water bowl - because poodles need water too!


Driftwood sitters.


A warm tide pool on the beach. Unfortunately just swarming with little bugs that like to crawl up your legs and bite you. Ick!


Joe taking shots of the swimmers.


Crazy person, erm, I mean swimmer #1.


And swimmer #2.


One more jump from the exit side.


Swimming to the exit point.


BIL (brother in law) all done swimming.


"That was COLD!"


Rock walkers


BC in background, waiting for the whale to reappear.


Seal rock off in the distance.


Thar she blows!!


A bit of wave action - whale watching.


The whale surfaces.


Finally - the whale tail!


Whale watching with my son.


Walking back up the trail to leave.


The drive home...


continued...


And the result of not enough sunscreen and standing near reflective water on a sunny day...