2013: Post 39c – Club Camping Trip – Day 3

It rained sometime during the night or the early morning.  Not much, but enough to make things wet.  I put on my paddling pants and neoprene boots before getting out of my tent.  

People began stirring and the regular morning routines began. Breakfast, cleaning up, taking down the tent, and packing the gear back into the kayaks...

It was after 9 am before we got underway.  We did not have too far to go for the day but there was wind in the forecast and I would have preferred to be on the water by 8 am. But I tend to be a natural early riser (especially when camping) so breaking camp and packing up for me can be done a little quicker.

We made a straight crossing from Thoroughfare to Pope's Harbour and then into Little Harbour. 

Paddling out of Pope's Harbour we were facing into the wind.  As we came out of the harbour and turned our bows to follow the shore we now had the wind on our beam making our forward progress easier.   Just before British Harbour we turned around West Point and were well protected by the southerly wind.  We took out on a beach and had a little snack and a stretch.  

Tony and Hazen

Barb, Ron, and Julie

We decided we would pass on exploring British Harbour, which would have added another hour to the day's paddle.  Normally this would not be an issue but we were intent on getting to our campsite in Kerleys Harbour as soon as possible.

We rounded British Harbour Point and as we continued the strength of the wind intensified... we had lost the protection from the island of Ireland's Eye and the fetch was much greater across Trinity Bay.  With a smile on his face, Hazen later described the conditions as "the higher end of level two..."  which made the rest of us smile too. Anyway, with the occasional necessary bracing now and then in the beam sea, we kept an eye on each other as we progressed along without incident until we rounded Wolf Head and were pushed into Kerleys Harbour.

Julie heading  into Kerleys Harbour

We knew there would be rain coming along with higher winds later in the day and so we found a spot for our tents that offered protection from the wind and went about setting up camp and getting a late lunch/early supper.  

Ron decided to stay in camp but the rest of us decided to go for a little walk around the cove.  Then Tony asked if  anyone was interested in walking over to British Harbour.  "How long do you think it would take" I asked him.... "Oh, about fifteen minutes" was his response.   We started walking along the trial...

After the last three days of paddling and not sleeping well my brain was a little slow.  A few minutes into the walk I began to wonder how he figured it would only take fifteen minutes to walk to British Harbour when it took us about an hour to paddle from there to Kerleys Harbour!! I asked him about his estimation of time and with a smile he said he just kind of threw a number out there...

About a half hour or so later we come out on top of a hill and decided we had gone far enough.  We sat down and took in the view before heading back to camp, which can be seen in the distance in the following pics...

Back at camp Tony broke out his saw and removed some tree limbs to make what he dubbed The Club House for the night.  It provided a decent amount of protection from the wind and rain during the evening and made a wonderful place to have a few drinks and some good laughs...

Tony

Julie and Barb... we said girls weren't allowed in
The Club House but they just wouldn't listen!

Hazen and Ron

Julie making a hot toddy, her second one of the night!!!

You'll notice in the pictures that there was no fire this night.  It was the first time we had not had a fire when kayak camping!  It is also the only time I can remember not having a fire when camping in general...  We turned into our tents earlier than usual.  Good thing because the rain really started to fall shortly after...