Day 89: Marine migraine

A marine migraine is no fun. But kayaking in calm water with visits by inquisitive little seals is. One of the Black Sheep runs the kayaking place and he invited us to go out on the water for a couple of hours. Five of us paddled out from the pier in Snug Cove heading around the corner into Deep Bay. I lagged behind a little to grab a couple of photos and as I worked to catch up I saw something floating in the water ahead of me. At first I thought it was a piece of driftwood but then it turned to look at me with big soulful brown eyes. I stopped paddling and began to unroll the dry-bag as quickly as I could to get the camera. Just as I turned on the camera, the seal ducked under. I put it away again and caught up with the others.

Into the bay, we paddled in towards the shore, investigating a boat festooned in plants of various kinds (no, it wasn't a grow-op ;-). The seal joined us again, splashing in the water just in front of Maria. And of course, the moment I had the camera ready, it ducked back underwater. Just as we reached the far side of the way I did a double-take in front of me and sure enough I could sense a blind spot - the first indications of a migraine. A classic day for it too: bright, overcast. I called out to let people know, and set off back to the dock with Dawn (always good to have someone with you who can actually see...) so I could take something. I should have had it with me so I could the tablets immediately, but I wasn't really expecting a migraine. I would still have had to paddle home since sloshing around on the water feeling nauseous from the headache isn't the most pleasurable experience. The others followed in at their own pace.

We weren't out for that long in the end, but as always it was good practice to be out on the water again. And my legs couldn't have taken much more time in the kayak anyway ;-) Even the water taxi ride back to Granville Island was nice and smooth.

Calm kayaking