[FIELDNOTE] West Side Beaches

As soon as the sun makes an appearance, our lives seem to rev up and the days are full to capacity. All the beach visits, walks and go go go has caught up to me however, and I now find myself fighting a chest infection (yuck and ouch). But perhaps it's a blessing in disguise as I have no choice but to rest and get caught up on this lovely space.

Where to begin....perhaps a little compilation of our beach visits, as we have been exploring our intertidal shores non stop the past couple weeks on the west side of our rock.

Bowen Bay Beach has been spoiling us with beautiful starfish, sea slugs, chiton, blennies, sea worms, shore crabs and tidepool sculpins. We are learning so much and having a ton of fun in the process.

We have also been exploring King Edward Bay and finding lots of Frilled Dogwinkle shells to take home and clean. I never tire of these beauties - I love the hidden colours that come through after having a good scrub, soak and oiling.

Cape Roger Curtis is another favourite spot. It seems that each little sheltered cove along the shores of the Cape, has it's own beachcombers delight. Last week, we visited a little beach mid way along the 'Sea Walk' and found quite a few dried sea stars, interesting seaweed and small, deep tide pools in the rocks, filled with limpets, barnacles, hermit crabs, shore crabs and sculpins. We used clear plastic cups that I had left over from one event or another, and caught crabs and sculpins to study a little closer.

Tunstall Bay Beach is a beautiful, long and pebbly beach on the west side of our island. It has lots of tidepools and big rocks to turn over and explore. On one evening visit, we found a very feisty crab hiding under a rock. Upon further investigation, we discovered she had a large cluster of eggs on the underside of her belly that she was protecting. No wonder she was in such a hurry to get away!

Now that's just a few of the beach visits...there has been other fun things happening here as well. Let me take another puff of my puffer, have a nap and write more later...