Paddle-boarding with a Gray Whale....

It's always magical catching sight of a whale but perhaps a little more so when he seems to be following you! 

Our Whale friend came to greet us two days in a row when we were paddle-boarding off the beach by our house. Neil and Seb were so close that they could see the barnacles on his back and even got a whiff of his stinky whale breath from one of his blows :) 

The next day he came close by again while Kate and Paul and the kids were having an evening dip. Super cool stuff! 

Neil's SUP Adventure.......

Neil, Seb and I had first tried Stand up paddle boarding in Whistler and all loved it and were keen to do more. The same day that we took the kids canoeing Neil decided to take a more exciting route home from Banff so he rented himself a SUP for the day. He's done the route before by canoe from below Bow Falls to Canmore. He pumped up his board while I snapped a few photos around the falls and then I watched him paddle off into the wild!  It takes us about 15 minutes by car to get home along the highway but it took him nearly 4 hours to SUP  along the river through Canmore to the bridge just below our house. He told me he ran aground once or twice after taking the the wrong fork in the river and got some good go pro footage of a nice backwards flop into the cold water :)  He didn't see any wildlife and passed just one lone fisherman along the entire route. He arrived home a little chaffed and sore from paddling but happy to have completed his mini river voyage.