I am nervous when I wake up. We left Tofino 3 days ago and encountered a calm sea and a beautiful coast line for the first 2 days. 
But yesterday when we planned to leave, waves were breaking on the beach. And with no white water skills, we had timed our departure just after a set of waves rolling in. I paddled like crazy to get behind the breaking waves and away from the rocks surrounding our little beach. There I waited for N, with a very nervous mind. The big swell pushed me up and down and the wind had placed a nice chop on top of it. I waited and waited, but N never came into view. Troubled by a difficult fitting skirt, a wave had swamped his kayak and he went back to shore to empty his boat. I timed my turn around, and the big swell made me race down the slopes of the waves back to land. I was scared and very far out of my comfort zone when a wave picked up my kayak and pushed it towards the beach. Not wanting to ride the wave, I tried to back paddle to get off. It didn’t work. I tried to break and that I shouldn’t have done. My kayak turned and surfed straight towards the rocks and in a panic and swamped by the wave, I dumped my kayak. My head bounced on the sandy ground, and luckily my skirt came off automatically. I walked the rest of the way to shore. We put up the tent again and I went in for the rest of the day to get dry and stay warm. Today the waves look better and we are eager to move on. Still very nervous we better find out if the weather will hold today. So N walks over to a Brit, camping on the next beach, for the radio weather forecast. The Brit had given us some fishing gear and N caught 3 big rock fish out of his kayak for dinner that night.
Fishing from a kayak is an art in itself. The trouble is what to do when you catch a fish. A rock brings the solution and sorry fish, but you will be dinner tonight. One for the Brit, the other two I cooked on the fire with potatoes and some veggies. Life on the beach was good. 
Back to today. The forecast tells what we want to hear. A swell between 2-3 meters, the wind will stay the same for the rest of the day. It seems very reasonable to try to move on. We pack all our wet stuff back in the kayaks and look at the breaking waves again. About 7 waves, followed by a quite period of a minute before the next 7 waves roll in. Again I am the first behind the breaking waves, while N waits for the next set of waves to pass by. Again I am waiting alone in the swell. Without the wind chop its less scary then yesterday, but still very nerve racking. Down the wave, the world disappears, up the wave, the world appears. I keep my kayak perpendicular to the waves and start feeling a little bit more in control. I keep position and wait. A next wave appears in front of me, up I go. This time however the wave keeps steepening, I kayak with all I have to make it over, it steepens more. It feels that the kayak will be flipped over length wise and the only thing I can think: OH NO!!!! The wave breaks straight over me and my body is pushed backwards. Water is all around me and I can only hope. When I surface again, the next wave appears. I paddle paddle paddle, I am still upright but scared to death and hardly have myself in control. Paddle paddle paddle, that’s the only thing I can think off. Paddle paddle paddle, away from the breaks, out in the open ocean, paddle paddle paddle.
Non of the other waves breaks, and N appears suddenly at my side. His face is white and his eyes keep scanning the coming waves. Having seen the wave I went through he took a D-tour around the breaks. He calms me down and decides that we should go south instead of north. Back to shore is not an attractive option, going north along a rocky coastline neither. South we will at least have beaches to land on when things get worse, some islands will protect us for part of the way, and the next sound is only 2 hr away. I more then agree and south we go, deleting the hot springs north out of our mind. We stay very close together and keep talking to get our minds occupied. With every paddle stroke the sea seems to calm down and my nerves too. Soon we find ourselves in calmer waters. The first beach we see with no breaking waves is ours. We talk, walk, laugh, cook, relax.
We discuss our options for the rest of the trip. Although shaky, we like to continue for a couple more days. The trip has been so amazing so far. We have seen lots of wild life. Besides a bear this morning, we saw a wolf, birds have been swarming us, porpoises played under our kayaks, salmons jumped around us, seals have been popping up, sea lions have checked us out, sea stars and sea anemones have dotted the rocky shores. 
We have slept on an island, made campfires, cooked, enjoyed each others company, found shelves on the beach, wondered over a huge vertebrae of a whale and drunk coffee/tea in the morning.
We have thought the world was just us.
So why not continue kayaking this afternoon, but keep the route in the sounds instead of the open ocean. We choose an island on the map for the night and enjoy the afternoon. 
Its so nice an relaxing that we soon forget about the adventures of this morning. My heart rate only goes up, when I see a whale cruising by at the other side of the sound. This place is so beautiful. 
For 2 more days we wonder around. I read while N is trying to catch some salmon. We visit a salmon fish farm, we talk about the past, the present and the future.How can you not just be happy.
Iris (Tofino, 48422 miles)
