Before he left us the Zeller’s Cabin, Rob gave us fairly precise details about where to be by specific times on our return journey in order to keep the tidal current in our favour during the return paddle from Cha’atl Island.

The key piece was a need to reach Kayak Island by a certain time in order to be in position for the currents to reverse and carry us back toward Queen Charlotte. His intel was spot on. We arrived at Kayak Island with some time to spare and took a nap. I tried tanning my ass. My body has not seen much sun in the past few months – as evidenced by the glare in the photo.

We decided not to push too hard for our final days of paddling and camped the night on Sandilands Island. Our route on day 3 is here. No bears this night – just raccoons and river otters.

The next morning our leisurely paddle home involved frequent mingling with the pigeon guillemots. I am of the opinion that they are only barely better at flying than humans. They fight like hell to get airborne and land by folding their wings behind them and sticking their belly out. They hit the water with a large splash. This photo from wikipedia shows how goofy they look when trying to take off.

It was rather gnarly having them swooping all around us.

When I got home I sat in the sun and drank beer.