Back to Denman Island

On Thursday March 31st the girls and I headed back across to Denman Island.  Our first stop was at Fillongley Provincial Park.  There was a nice little campsite here, and a small creek drained into the ocean nearby.  Lots of shorebirds around, particularly at the mouth of the creek.  

We wandered around for a while and eventually continued on to Morning Beach.  This was the beach that we had spent the afternoon at yesterday, and we were returning for more.  Unfortunately low tide was going to be a little later in the day, so we did not have quite as much beach to display.  After climbing down the steep staircase over the face of the sand bluffs we found ourselves down on the beach.  The girls began exploring amongst the rock and tide pools while I set off for a walk down the beach with my cameras.  Eventually I reached a bit of a point and was amazed to see that there were eagles all over the place; down on the rocks, up in the trees and circling in the air.  I soon discovered why... a sea lion carcass had been washed up on the shore.  There was also quite a bit of driftwood washed up on the point and I spent a little time here photographing.  From here I could see the spit that by low tide would permit access out to Tree Island.  I didn't hang around waiting for that but made my way back towards the girls.  We spent the better part of the afternoon here watching the herons and the eagles, checking out the maring life, and making photographs.  At one point Helena found what I think was a shipsworm... a centipede-like creature about half an inch in diameter and at least a foot long.  She wasn't the slightest bit squeamish and wandered around with it for quite some time before releasing it.  We also found crabs and star fish and lots of other marine life.  As the afternoon slipped away we soon had to make our way back to the truck so we could get back to the ferry terminal in time to catch the last one back to Vancouver Island.