Under the wharf, it's spring.

The tide was low, the sun was shining, and there was no wind; the perfect time to visit the docks and peer underneath the floats again. The water was smooth and clear, exposing the communities clustered along pipes and logs.

This year, or maybe this time of year, the sea urchins were out in full force. I hadn't seen them here before.

Under a floating office. Green sea urchins, about a couple of inches across.

More urchins, several scallops encrusted with weeds and worms, barnacles and a feather-duster worm, on a plastic pipe under the ramp.

A rusty pipe and a rope underneath the ramp. Sea urchins again, purple and beige feather duster worms, a red sponge (on the whitish pipe on the left) and a larger, greyish sponge. On the far left, a mass of tubeworms. At the top right, a brilliant red feather duster.

There were several masses of jelly, probably egg masses. This one was on a piling partly exposed by the low tide. I touched it; it was soft, but firm, not sticky.

This was down on the bottom, underneath a float. It's about a hand's width across. An anemone, but not one I recognize.

I have visited the docks several times during the winter, peering down the gaps between pilings, squinting between logs. All I have seen in the water were fish, maybe because of the lack of light, or possibly some of the summer residents have retreated to more sheltered locations. I'm glad to see the crowds coming back.

Orange squiggles

The last warm rays of afternoon sun at the marina:

Reflections, with harbour seal, on his way down.

This seal was dawdling in the gaps between docks, drifting along, looking about, then slowly sinking. I saw him or his friends several times, always idling along. At the last, the sun had disappeared, and my teeth were chattering. I shivered back to the car and turned the heater on high.

Squiggles and boats, but the seal is gone.

Early supper

I checked the tide tables for Campbell River. Not promising. All the low tides this month and the next fall in the middle of the night. And therefore all those glorious, teeming creatures and seaweeds are out of reach and invisible for the time being.

So I went down to Discovery Harbour Marina. There, the critters rise with the tide; some of them are visible, if not reachable. And there I found anemones, herring, starfish, sponges, spiders (not sea critters, of course, but they're everywhere) and more. Even a hunting seal! (But a whale went by, and I was too low down to see it. Next time, maybe.)

Here's the seal.

Swimming in the shade between the first wharf and the rip rap.

I got just this short glimpse of him before he ducked back underwater. Ten minutes later, walking back to the ramp, I saw him again. This time, he had a mouthful:

Supper is served; fresh salmon steak, and the head, too!

He dove, came up again, gulping salmon in big bites, wolfing it down as a dog does. He went down again, and the ripples faded. I waited a while, but he had gone, taking his leftovers with him. A gull swooped low overhead, but there were no scraps to be found, and he left. So did I.

I'll be processing the rest of the photos for a few days. Herring tomorrow, I think.

More Discovery Harbour Marina reflections

Not boats this time.

Marina shed

Riprap along the shore

Yellow sponge, with building reflections

Not a reflection. Large spined kelp-like seaweed.

At Discovery Harbour Marina, Campbell River.

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Reminder: Rock Flipping Day is Sunday, September 9th. Instructions, history, etc.

Cleanup crew under the dock. And a few stars.

At the Discovery Harbour Marina* in Campbell River, we divided our time between looking at boats and reflections and peering into the depths of the murky water, looking for life. In spite of the bright sunlight, or maybe because of it, since it highlighted all the dust and floaters on the surface, it was almost impossible to see more than a few metres down, so most of what we saw was in the narrow gap between the first dock and the shore.

I cleaned most of the bright surface interference off these photos, and adjusted the contrast to make things more visible.

The largest sea cucumber I have ever seen. I estimated it at about a foot and a half long. An inoffensive scavenger, busy vaccuming the rocks.

In the corner between two docks at right angles, the chains were draped with huge seaweeds colonized by many different animals. I think those red sprays are feather duster tubeworms. The yellow mass is a sponge. I don't know what the white blobs are.

Leather star. This starfish eats sponges, anemones, and sea cucumbers. To the left, barely visible, is a good-sized kelp crab.

Two small sunflower stars.

A medium-sized sunflower star. We saw a much larger one, but it was too deep for a decent photo. I counted over 20 arms on the visible part of the star, about 3/4 of the whole. This one would have about 15.

The sunflower stars are major predators. A man who passed us as we were looking at the largest one, angrily called them oyster pirates. They eat any invertebrate they can find, including other starfish, although their favourite foods are sea urchins and bivalves (clams, etc.). We didn't see any sea urchins this trip, but plenty of sunflower stars.

*K Dock, just past Moxie's.

Wobblies

Reflections at Discovery Harbour Marina, Campbell River

Just for fun.

Heat wave, remembered

Such a short time ago ... It's raining now, has been at it all day. I'm wearing a sweater and have the heater on. But in that last week of July, every day was hotter than the one before. In Powell River, waiting for the ferry, I was dizzy and headachy from the heat; we were drinking salt water and draping damp cloths over the car windows.

We had over an hour to wait, lined up alongside monstrous trucks with heat waves floating above their engines. Ahead, though, beside the loading dock, was a wharf with boats and blue water. It looked cool, so we abandoned our makeshift shade and walked down the pier.

Shimmering waves.

It was cooler down there. Marginally. But the sun was glaring off the white boats and bouncing off the water. Our eyes rejected the light; so did the cameras. At least, we could wear sunglasses. And squint.

White-out.

Tank on the shore. One of a pair.

Red and black boat, detail.

Red is not the most comforting colour on a hot day.

Reflections work better; the light dims.

Light patterns reflected from the water to the hull of a boat. With rope.

The gas station, detail. Too hot at the moment for music.

Laurie challenged me to read this sign, using only the reflections.

Can you?

(Hint: look at the previous photo. No, the original is not there. It's overhead.)

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We are easily amused

By the marina in Captain's Cove, a two-story wood building houses a pub and offices. We were intrigued by the reflections in its warped windows, changing with each step we took:

The boats and a tangle of masts in the upper storey windows.


Everything jumbled together.


Along the side, the boat lift adds colour. We see two faces in this window. Do you?


Ground floor windows present a saner view. Laurie taking a photo of me taking a photo of him.

Click on these to see them full size for a better view. Or go to my Flickr set for another dozen..