It never ceases to amaze me how life can keep throwing up new adventures. With our Canadian flying safari over, Rossy and I are spending our last couple of days in this wonderful country on Vancouver Island.
It's crazy rainy weather, low cloud down to tree-top height, and we're staying in this salty seadog town called Campbell River, half way up the island on the far eastern coast.
So today we had the most awesome adventure. We went rafting on the river, clad in full length wetsuits, jackets, life jackets, booties, hoods, gloves (water temp 12c, so not too icy but not exactly tropical either), then slid over the side and, for the next hour and a half we snorkelled with literally thousands of salmon that were all swimming upstream to their spawning nests.
The water was crystal clear, so the salmon were easy to see. Some of them were massive, up to around 14kgs, and all so close we could touch them if they had let us.
At a few places as we scooted down with the current, the river got so shallow our submerged faces were nearly hitting the rocks so we'd have to flip onto our backs, feet first, and pray our feet would meet any rocks before the rest of our body. It was out there, that's for sure, particularly when we started to get amongst some of the rapids!
I'm positive I'm too old for this kind of stuff, but it was such a random and exciting thing to be doing with our Thursday morning. The banks were lined with thick beautiful green forest, frequently habitated by black bears and their cubs, but we weren't lucky enough to see any today. . Quite a day - one to tell the great grand kids about!
If you ever find yourself with a few hours to spare whilst on Vancouver Island, give this mob a ring; they've nailed the best day you'll ever have with goggles on. www.destinyriver.com