Wooaaaaaahhhhh......

Labor Day holiday.

J and I went kayaking with a couple of friends.
And maybe a hundred excitable sea lions. And four or five humpbacks.

It was truly one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments. Mainly because I'm not sure I'd want to be that close to such large creatures again.

It was completely overwhelming. I used up about a year's worth of adrenaline in that one episode...30 minutes..? an hour...? not sure how long it was...that's how scary/exciting it was.

We had maybe 12-15 close encounters, when the sea lions and whales would break the surface then dive again. There's two whales in this picture - one diving right in front of us and one to the left, coming at us like a giant game of chicken. There are three of us in kayaks - that's L's feet next to me and R is on the other side of him.

Maybe the photograph isn't great (iPhone with a shaky hand...) but I know that my heart is beating faster just trying to think of words to do justice here.