Battle Scars On Octantis. They couldn't touch-up the port side on Toronto as it was away from the pier.
From here on out it’s more civilized than not. Point Pelee is a small Canadian National Park, home to over 300 species of birds. It was the first park designated to preserve natural resources as opposed to those who’s primary purpose was tourism. Point Pelee is the southernmost point in Canada, about even in latitude with Northern California. There is no landing dock. The only way to get to shore is by Zodiac landing. That means rubber boots and wading the last few feet. I opted for a kayak expedition. It’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever be in a kayak again, but who knows?
Heading out kayaks in tow
My partner
Me
While it wasn’t windy, the water had consistent swells. We used the pedals the powered flippers to move the kayak. I was paired with Larry from the Klimt tour in Toronto. Neither his wife nor Karla wished to participate. Karla did wash, so we’ll go home with mostly clean clothes. We Zodiac to the kayaks and than transfer from the zodiac to the smaller craft. Unfortunately, our expedition only sited a guy walking his dog. Right at the end of expedition, after our man/dog sighting, a couple capsized their kayak. With air temperatures in the 40s and water temperatures no more than that, the safety zodiac made hast to pick them up. That required them to be hauled into the Zodiac by the safety observer. The women was picked out first, her husband no more than a minute later. The dry suits, provided by Viking, kept them dry but you could still tell they were very cold. The rest of us got into position to re-board the Zodiac for the windy, splashy ride back to Octantis. One aboard, you could see the effects of the cold, especially on the husband. He had a kind of dazed look and had difficulty checking back in.
I rushed to get out of my dry suit and get dressed for our last Special Operations Boat (SOB) ride. This is one of Karla’s favorites!!! The SOBs are easy to board, have comfortable seats and are reasonably sheltered for wind and wave. Ours was also piloted by a young, handsome Norwegian man. That may have something to do with her fascination for the activity. We zoomed out to the very point, so we could say we’ve been there. The young Norwegian than demonstrated the SOB’s rapid turning and stopping capabilities to the delight of all. The SOBs have no prop or rudder, but pump water through a nozzle for propulsion. They are fast, relatively quiet and can turn and stop on a dime.
Karla made sick call today with a cold sore that wasn’t getting better. $48 worth of meds later and she is on the way to recovery.
After dinner we watched a 3-D movie about humpback whales. Lots of breaching whales and some excellent computer-generated graphics. We had several lectures from the on-board sea mammal specialist, so there wasn’t any new info. She also had lots of videos and stills she had taken.