Not at all fazed by the signs..
So we woke the second day, on Clark Island, to a slight fog which got worse throughout the day - until about 4pm when it clearer as we stopped paddling.
I dragged myself out of the tent at about 7am for coffee (plenty of freshly plunged grounds on this trip - phew) and went to use the compost able toilet.
Previous readers of the blog will have heard about the Thunderbox (canoeing Algonquin, 2018). A contraption which barely dances on the edge of civilised society and plunges wholeheartedly into 'bushman'. Well, what a change here. No thunderboxes for us, just the sweet, sweet smell of a compostable toilet...with actual cedar chips for absorbtion and - wait for it - a whole bloody cubicle!
There is even a path with shells to reflect the torchlight. They actually work a treat. You can also see the fireplace of a lodge which was previously on the island.
When I came outside to drink my coffee, I saw deer swimming/wading from another island to ours.
A mother, fawn and young buck, photo courtesy of NN2.
On the beach we found mink tracks! I thought mink were black, but they aren't all apparently. We saw a slinky minky later that day jumping, all four feet simultaneously, with its back humped and quick little face glaring at us. The next morning we saw the tracks of the mink flanked by a drag mark of something it had caught in the sea and was obviously carrying home. They are apparently very good swimmers.
Paddling along on day two, we saw herons, like statues in the fog. We saw a lone loon, who was quickly joined by three others when Brent did his startlingly authentic loon call. Loons are the national bird of Canada and feature on the one dollar coin, loving called a 'loony'.
We saw crows, who followed us noisily cawing for scraps and we saw eagles.
We paddled around in what felt like circles, with a long fight against the wind at the end. I have no idea where we went, but if you check the map it's the line in blue, which looks like a whale and is between the Outer isles.
NN2 had a go in the back of the kayak, which is the role of 'captain', it being the person who does the steering. Following his comments about my steering efforts on day one, he decided he'd stay in the front for the rest of the trip and and declined to steer again. We actually made a great paddling team.
The end of the day found us exhaustedly back at camp. I put my wetsuit on and went for a dip, whilst Tiffany, Kevin and lil Catherine explored the shoreline.
We saw hermit crabs and brick-red crabs, held orange 'leather' starfish and purple starfish too. All the size of your hand.
Peggy read her book whilst NN2 went for a walk into the centre of the island with everyone else. Apparently it was pretty, but there wasn't an real path. It took them about an hour.
Meals were tuna and quinoa or veg, salmon, potatoes, salad and asparagus, Thai red curry with fish and veg. These were topped off daily with plenty, plenty of cake. Homemade, delicious, delicious cake. Breakfast was pancakes one day, 'French toast' (eggy bread with cinnamon) on another day, egg and potatoes on another. We really ate very well. Ben also had a little stash of morning 'motivators', trail mix with chocolate or homemade date, cocoa and nut power balls. They were great.
That evening, as the previous day, we watched a beautiful sunset.
At about 8.30pm we all toddled off to bed. Having eaten, washed up, played cards and uno and secured the kayaks it began to get dark. The tent was rather 'cosy' for two and NN2 was (understandably) less than impressed. But we managed a passable night's sleep, head to toe.
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