Wildlife

We had a couple of wildlife encounters today, and when I went to upload photos from the camera, this guy was still stuck in the camera!  He is a surf scoter that was taking a bath in the fairway at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes earlier this week. I think they sure look interesting with their funny shaped orange bills.

We are presently at Reid Harbor on Stuart Island.  This afternoon I saw a man drifting in his dinghy, holding out a camera, and I thought he was video-taping something.  After a moment, curiosity got the better of me and I took a closer look, and then I went for my own camera!  An otter was frolicking on the grass above the water.

Moments after he slipped in to the water, Al and I were relaxing inside Viking Star, when we heard/felt a thump!  Al was reading in the aft cabin and I was in the main cabin.  Al hollered 'Kristi, are you up there?'  We thought someone might have bumped us with a dinghy, or come aboard the boat!  Actually, we WERE boarded!  We had to shoo this guy off the dock yesterday afternoon, and today he came back for more.  He was ON the boat, checking out the containers on the back deck, the ones we put our overflow garbage into.  Al chased him around the boat, and literally scared the pee out of him.  He wasn't in any hurry to go up the ramp, though.  Al stomped his feet and clapped his hands at him most of the way to land.  Poor guy.

And here is another reason we do what we do:  Preview for tomorrow's full moon.  The water was so calm that these pictures turned out better than they do sometimes.  And since I don't know what tomorrow's sky conditions will be?  Here you go with tonight's shot.