Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Shoreline treasures...


I rather enjoy the occasional "salvage" operation. Paddling along the coast of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands often reveals interesting flotsam and jetsam - even some treasures! Well, OK, we've never actually found any "treasures" but the occasional float and buoy sometimes make it back home strapped to the deck. We did find a rather new PFD once, with identification on it. We were relieved to find that the owner was fine and and that the life jacket had simply been blown off his dock, a considerable distance away from where we had found it, lodged in the rocks above the high tide line. We returned it - circle complete.

Collected salvage can be a bit of a hassle, however, when a stiff cross-wind comes up: the above-water "aerodynamics" become just a little problematical! No worries, we've got a rudder and in a worst-case scenerio, the "cargo" can be returned to the shore or released to the tides, currents, and winds for the pleasure of another fortunate "kayakcomber".

Anybody else find any cool / interesting stuff out there?

8 comments:

  1. You brave souls. Are you actually in the water on the side of your craft? Hope you have on proper shoes. 'twas good you found the owner of the PFD, but be careful, next time it could be something rather scary.
    J.

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  2. No, I was actually quite secure on the shore just...let me see, um, taking a small break. J, you are starting to sound like my mother - I'm OK, really.

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  3. Last things I took home were a small whale vertabrae and a.n.other bone. I could not fit one of the bigger vertabrae in my hatch and I had no rope to tow it with!

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  4. Hi NK - a whale vertabrae, now THAT'S pretty impressive!

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  5. Nothin like exploring and finding treasures...something every "kid" enjoys!

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  6. Hey Anon, "exploring and finding treasures...something every "kid" enjoys" - yup, certainly agree with that!

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  7. We don't kayak but we do look around when we are on a trip. In Egypt we were waiting for the ferry to take us from the Valley of the Kings side of the Nile back to Luxor. We looked down at stones on the bank of the Nile and picked up an odd looking one. In Hurgada we found out that kind of stone is sold in Egyptian shops as the "Eye of the Desert" (probably petrified crocodile vertebrae) So our 'Eye of the Desert" is in the Cowichan Valley just because we 'pick up stuff."

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  8. Between whale vertabrae and petrified croc vertabrae, my floats and buoys are beginning to sound a little mundane! Thank you for your account, sounds like a wonderful adventure!

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