Well Chantal and I certainly would not have gotten so close to a family of loons without the help of Dot from the Ottawa Canoe and camping club who has trained us to be sneaky canoeists. Well sneaky is the nontechnical term I use for under water recovery stokes such as the Pry, Forward, Reverse and Draw that helps eliminate noise, water splashing from the paddle and kicks our canoe into stealth mode. This new bag of tricks that we learnt has enabled us to sneak up and observe a family of Canadian Loons. The mother had two babies, one often slept on her back while the other baby was more energetic and swam in between his/her father and mother. We also were able to sneak upon a Heron and a colorful yet unknown to us bird. Porthos was also very sneaky and held his breath (barks) while we approached these majestic animals so as not to alarm them.

 

So again I have to thank Dot for helping to make us sneaky canoeists…