Away from Black-and-White; Amazing Wildlife Sighting; Break in Scheduled Programming

"Forty-seven sea otters hauled out on the beach: who's ever seen that before?"

I had a post (almost) all ready to share about raw versus cooked and other food musings, as part of celebrating the anniversary of this blog and its expressed purpose of moving away from black and white thinking. However, our morning adventure provided a wildlife sighting that was so spectacular that it merited a break in scheduled programming.

Of course, this, itself, is part of a move away from 'black and white.' I don't just talk about food and nothing else. I don't just eat raw food and no other. I don't only write poetry, e-mails and translations/editing! I don't just eat plants (I eat fungi too!) (although I do fear that my vegan friends might not be my friends anymore if I ate an egg one day, even though I have no plans to do so)--and I don't always eat super-low-glycemic. There's so much more to love than just one face of the moon...

So, this morning we took advantage of the huge full-moon low tide and resulting huge expanse of land that is normally underwater to drive for twelve miles up our beach and back again. Some very special scenery gets unveiled at these times.

Here is our cabin as seen from far out on the beach (would usually be underwater)--now you can see how close to the edge we live!

We dropped off some crab pots to use as gabions (cages for rocks) to support the eroding bluff as part of our 'sea-bastion' on the beach below the cabin.

Sometimes, it was very treacherous driving: thank goodness for 'low-4-wheel gear:' it was like a trump card that we pulled out occasionally to get ourselves over some big boulders. Bumpity bumpity...

When we'd gone about five miles further than I've ever been on the beach except on foot or by boat, and were just thinking of turning back, we came upon all these sea otters hauled out on land, probably close to fifty...

...and making ungainly tracks for the beach as soon as we approached. I felt bad for having disturbed them in that way: it was as if we'd interrupted them at church or something!

Sea otters spend the vast majority of their time in the water and we've seen this many of them out in open water before. They are so playful out there, flipping and rolling and tumbling. On the very rare occasions that we've come across one on land, it usually seems to be old or sick. So finding a whole flock of them on land was extremely surprising. They were accompanied and escorted by ravens, who hovered attentively over them: I couldn't tell what that was about. Phil suggested that the ravens were eating the otters' poop (which, upon inspection, looked extremely unappetizing!) but they were following the otters that headed seaward, not guarding their deposits, so I'm not sure about that.

Sea otters have the most incredible pelts--a million hairs per square inch, quite the warm coat for spending most of your life in subarctic waters. They are so graceful in the water, but really ungainly on land--waddling splayfooted with their back humped, they look a bit like inchworms...

Despite the feeling of transgression, of having disturbed something intimate, private and even spiritual, I am grateful to have seen them. Of course we saw dozens of eagles busy on the beach too, and like the ravens, the eagles are starting to pair up and get ready to nest. The mating behavior of the ravens is another whole spectacular story.

We also saw some coyote tracks...

Part of why we came out was for Phil to go shopping. His favorite place to shop is the beach after big tides...

Our raised beds were built from timbers he salvaged from the beach after big storms.

Today, we rescued a bunch of junk and a buoy with a good line on it, but the only timber he brought home was a limb of this gorgeous fallen birch.

This photo scarcely does justice to the beauty of the wood.

Can you believe that the next full moon will be the equinox?