It was planned to be a two-destination trip; first to Ella Beach in Sooke for an hour and a half rockhounding and pebble picking, then moving on to the Sooke Potholes for gold panning…
Sean: “Due to the rather heavy amount of rain, we elected not to attempt to pan in what is now a raging river. So we went to the secondary site, Ella Beach.
There was a rather large storm a few nights prior that ripped up the seabed, dumping normally deep bedded sea life on the tides.”
Arlene: “It was a slightly damp morning (tongue in cheek) (“atmospheric river” – ed.), and due to the Sooke River swelling its banks Sean decided to call off the gold panning part of the trip
Ella Beach however, was a delight. Everyone was decked out in rain gear and other than an initial bit of a downpour when we first arrived, it cleared up and was quite an enjoyable morning. After a couple of hours it started showing signs of getting wet again and we packed it up
There were a few treasures found including a “very first flowerstone” find, an actual small clear agate, as well as some interesting washed up sea creatures and shells, a beautiful huge abalone shell, and assorted interesting rocks.
Sean: “We spent a few hours combing the beaches finding interesting rocks. One actual agate (surprised), a lithium purple rock yet to be ID’d; as well as sea urchins, scallops, one abalone shell and other stuff not normally washed up on beaches.”
Arlene: “Sean was amazing at his rock identification as usual and was kept busy answering questions as we sauntered slowly down the beach, eyes to the ground as only a true rock lover travels.
We had a fellow traveller with us for a good hour – a big seal lion who kept pace with us and talked to us all the way up, eventually, like an hour later, joining his crowd out in the water near the end of the beach. There was so much kelp, dead wood and crud at the tideline in the water that it was hard to differentiate his companions who were out there somewhere and also very vocal.”
