Another I prepared earlier

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I emerged from our cabin Sunday morning to find ourselves surrounded by mountains half covered in mist. Needless to say, it was beautifully quiet. I had the chance to participate in a stretch class. You know the type. Where the person up front always seems to be a cheerful, happy morning person dripping with.... "Oh it's so great to be here! I just love it, don't you? Best time of the day." Yah da, yah da, yah da. I could not let that one go through to the keeper. No. Wrong. The group were informed of my sentiments. I am not one of them. I am not a morning person. The stretching felt good though. We were told that we would be seeing Misty Fjords Monument this morning. What does that suggest to you? A monument is a commemorative structure, yes? The Washington Monument, for example? No. Wrong again. In American speak, a Monument is defined as a national park without infrastructure. We saw Rudyerd Bay and then headed to another place, the name of which eludes me, for lunch where we dropped the anchor and prepared for activity orientations. We saw bears! I have a photo to prove it. A wee family of four just on a small grassy patch, which they call a meadow, at the water's edge. Talk about lucky. I must work out how to post photos. Next challenge. (Yes. I know I will need an Internet for that.) The Wilderness Discoverer does different kinds of excursions. Guided kayaking, open kayaking, hiking, skiff tours (dinghy/Zodiac/rubber ducky), polar plunges and apparently snorkelling. (The jury is still out on the latter. Wet suits are provided. Hmm. We shall see.) Yesterday Kel and I did Kayak 101. They have two-person sea kayaks. We were both armed with a paddle. Kel was multi-tasking and was in the rear in charge of the steering as well. We must have done okay as we stayed upright and are still speaking to one another. When signing up for Monday's activities, we opted for open kayaking so we could consolidate our technique. A bit more wind today so another layer or two was added. It always takes a second go to get the finer details right, I find. We were drier today which translates to being warmer. By "open" they mean no guide but strict parameters where one can go, staying back from land due to a bear finding you and choosing to have you as an a la carte option. For our afternoon activity we did a hike to Orchard Lake. We used the company's mud boots and thank heavens we did. Talk about squelching, muddy terrain. I used a hiking pole for the first time ever but do not be concerned. I maintained my statistic of falling over at least once on these adventures so my record remains intact. Thankfully I was wearing my 'splash pants', as the Americans call water resistant trousers, so they scored the grey mud textures. The hike was very interesting and there were a couple of passionate botanists in the group. Our "Hey, Bear!" catch cries must have worked none appeared and we did not need the capsicum spray. Phew! Catch you soon. M

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