Moods of the sea from those who live there

What can you say about the creatures who live in the ocean? They fascinate us and to see a whale spout far at sea excites our senses (no photos of that as it never seemed to cooperate with my camera being in focus). Watching a dark shape under the sea and you ask was that a seal, a diving bird, a whale and you wait wondering where it will surface and whether you will see when it does.

When at the coast in late May, one of the things we enjoyed most was watching birds. Cormorants on the rocks, the gulls, sea ducks, the flocks of pelicans and geese as they made their way north.


Are they migrating, we would ask. What is it about migrating animals that is so exciting? We would sit in front of the window, watching the waves and when seeing a line of birds, count how many each time-- and I mean each time. We would ask where do you think they are bound knowing we could only guess. Will they soon be in Canada or were they going farther? It's late for farther, isn't it? We would admire how their lines would sometimes undulate up the coast in response to the wind, to the waves, to something seen below.


Then the morning we left, we saw the seals sunbathing on the rocks. I didn't want to disturb them. Although my photos looked good, I knew I could get closer by wading through a shallow-- kind of-- tidal pool to a sand spit. Some watched me but didn't seem alarmed. I could have gotten closer, but this was their world and it would have seemed wrong to make them uneasy. I think they saw me as no threat.


The expressions on these faces just seemed so relaxed, so at peace.