Whale of a time!

05 September 2010

Well we’re off the water and home safe and sound from our kayak adventure off the north tip of Vancouver Island.  Kayaking in this area of the world involves careful planning, calculated risk, and continual last minute adjustments based on weather.  You can plan but it's all about going with the flow as mother nature rules here big time. We set off from Port Hardy with a plan to be away for 5 days but had food and water rations for 7 days. As we launched there was a fog bank looming over the group of islands we were crossing towards. As noon approached we stopped at a beach on the tip of the bay and had to make our first decision about the crossing. Would we navigate by GPS through the fog, or would we play it safe and overnight here?

Just after lunch the wind picked up which was a blessing for blowing away the fog, but made for a tougher slog for the crossing through the side wind. We pushed on, and a couple of hours later arrived in the sheltered waters of God’s Pocket Marine Park. Our campsite for the next several days would be on top of a shell midden (an ancient shellfish harvesting site that the first peoples of this area used). The air smelled like rain was coming and our VHF radio predicted a gale force storm to arrive some time that evening. We worked quickly to erect our little tent and a tarp for cooking under. Just after we finished, the rain began.

True to the prediction, there was a good rain/wind storm through the night. In the morning we awoke to the soothing sound of rain on the tent fly, and stayed in bed as long as our bladders could tolerate. The rain eased a bit and we eventually made our way out of the tent. Over breakfast we listened to the marine weather forecast on the VHF radio. The rain was to continue, but the winds were calming. Bundle up and embrace the opportunity to explore the area we decided. As we ventured away from the campsite I heard a “pheeeewf” noise and looked up to see the spout of a humpback whale blowing air out of its blowhole in the distance. Wow! That was a whale! I want to get closer. Wait, maybe not too close. Oh, that was so worth getting out on the water and getting soaked for. Then the whale showed us his tail and we knew it was on the dive down for a while.

The break was so good. It feels like we got our normal lives back for a while. I still had thoughts about infertility now and again, but there was so much else to focus on that it was fleeting. It's hard to think about IVF when there is a whale swimming around your kayak. In all we had a grand total of 6 whale sightings in 4 days! An unexpected surprise to say the least. This is more than people sightings -we saw only 4 of those creatures.

The next couple of days involved listening to our favorite radio station -the Canadian Coast Guard marine weather channel. On the 4th day another gale force storm was in the day ahead’s forecast, so we decided to call it early and make the crossing back to our launch site while we had a window.

This trip was always about making a plan taking a calculated risk and being flexible about adjusting expectations as we went along. There were of course some surprises along the way, both good and not so good. I think this taught me a bit about how I am going to need to approach this upcoming IVF cycle. We have a plan, there will be ups and downs, and regular adjustments made. There will be surprises, good and bad news, stormy times and calm ones. In the end with all the technology in the world, mother nature is still the ultimate ruling factor. I think we’re ready now to embrace IVF and all it entails.

Obviously the universe thought we were ready too because when I came home, my IVF package was in the mailbox.  I haven't had a chance to read through it all yet, but I've still got two weeks until I start BCP's. Onward to a new adventure...