2012: Post 23a - Merasheen Island – Day 1

Clyde, Tony, Hazen, and I padded around Long Island last year.  While paddling down the inside channel someone mentioned that maybe next year we would paddle around Merasheen Island the next year.   That idea stuck in our minds.  So after some planning we made it happen.  Five of us – Clyde, Neville, Tony, Hazen, and I – met at the TCH Irving station at 6 am and headed for Arnold’s Cove…

Packing the gear in Arnold's Cove 

After about a 14 km paddle by way of Bordeaux Island and Long Island Point we arrived at the tip of Merasheen Island.  Tony later said that this trip had started for him when he touched the top of Merasheen…  But for me this trip would not really start for about another 19 kilometers...



Tony laying his hand on Merasheen... not sure if he was praying
for a good trip or if I snapped the pic in mid-blink...



We paddled down the Inside Channel, stopping in Great Brule Harbour for a look.  The original plan was to spend the night in Dog Harbour but we decided we would carry on another few kilometers to a camping spot just across from the top of Rose au Rue Island where once there was a whaling station.

Just past Merchant Cove we pulled up on a little beach for a rest... 

After an early morning rise, an hour and a half
drive, and about 32 kms of paddling, some of the
guys rested just a little more than others...

We got back into our kayaks and paddled the last few kilometres to where we would spend the first night.  I was paddling ahead of the other guys when I rounded Rose au Rou Point.  I looked down the shore at Rose au Rue Island to the left, a big green grassy spot to the right where the whaling station once was, and the little channel between the two, and all of a sudden I felt that this was where I was starting this trip...  Perhaps it had just taken all day for the routine of city life to leave my mind.  It was one of those ‘I feel in touch with nature’ type moments...   

Anyway, when I pulled up on the beach there was a half-dead fish flopping around, one I had not seen before.  When Neville came to the beach he told me it was a called a Billfish…

I had never seen one of these before.  I put it back in the
water but I am not sure if it survived or not..  it kind of
floated for a while and when I looked later I could not find it.

I had the beach to myself for a few minutes while waiting for the others to come along...

Looking back toward Rose au Rou Point

The paddle for Day 1 was complete.  Regular camp life ensued - supper, scrounge up some wood for a fire, have a couple drinks, and go to sleep...