Prelude to hypothermia

The day was beautiful. We had a fab breakfast in the hotel. I made a waffle and there was gorgeous fresh fruit - I had two bowls!

We had a very pleasant walk to Fisherman's Wharf. We were really taken by the colourful houseboats and restaurants. What an amazing spot to live! I was so excited to be going whale watching. Gail and I got the best seats in the boat. Central, right at the front. Couldn't believe it! We set off in search of whales. First we saw a bald eagle on rocks, then sealions. They were sunning themselves then as us tourists appeared, they slipped off into the water and looked so elegant floating in the sea. The sea was sparkling and we were scanning for the spurts - that's when the whales exhale. The sea was quite choppy and it was difficult to see. In fact I think the whales were hiding! We went through some really choppy seas and got rather drenched! But that was ok. It was worth it if we were going to see whales. We searched and searched, but nothing. After about 3 hours the captain sped forward to where a whale had been spotted by another boat. It took at least 20 minutes to get there, but yes, the whale was there. In fact there were two! Teeth chattering, we suddenly jumped up to see them swimming briefly then they dived down into the sea The sea was so rough. We all had to hold on tight. It felt like a Disney ride. I was actually quite scared! We saw the whales three times but then we had to leave them. We had a long journey back to the wharf, but of course there was a chance we would see more. After a while we were the only ones on the front, except for a member of the crew. I was so cold. But if I went inside, I might miss a whale! Gail was in her element. Cold but no way was she going inside. The boat was rocking so much that I couldn't have gone in anyway! I'd never have managed to move along the narrow side the way the boat was being tossed around. So there we stayed for what felt like hours, shivering. No sign of any more whales although the scenery was stunning. I can't explain how glad I was to get off the boat though. We'd been at sea for nearly 5 hours.

I was FREEZING. We went straight to a tiny restaurant and ordered salmon chowder. The guy taking the money put the heating on for us. I started sneezing. My nose started streaming. It was a replay of the last time I did cold water swimming! I had hypothermia. Ok maybe not, but I couldn't warm up and my nose had a life of its own! A hot chocolate helped a bit, but I was not good. We walked back to the hotel and I was feeling rough. In the end I got into bed with all my clothes on. Sneeze after sneeze. Stream after stream. Gail kindly went out to get some food. I was not up to going anywhere. A salad and a ginger beer went down well but I just needed to snuggle down in bed.

I forgot to say that the previous night we were having such a laugh that we clearly got too loud for our neighbour because they banged on the wall. But what time was it that we were keeping them up? 8.26pm. Not even 9pm for Christ sake. It just made us laugh even more.

The night wasn't good. My nose was a running tap. Such a pain. And sneezing. No sign of it stopping. But I did finally warm up!