2011: Post 24 – Witless Bay

Clyde missed the club paddle yesterday and so he put out a call for interest to get on the water today.  He e-mailed a few of us to see if there was any interest to go to Witless bay for a little paddle.  You'd think I would of had enough paddling from our camping trip/circumnavigation of Long Island last weekend (see previous posts 21a, b, and c), our Thurday practice at St. Philips, and the club paddle yesterday (see post 23)... but the weatherman said it would be another good day on the water and my kayak seems to really enjoy the paddles I take it on so....


Clyde picked me up shortly after 8 am and we headed to Tim's for a coffee on the way, met Eugene in Bay Bulls, and then took the short drive over to Witless Bay.


We put in at Witless Bay Brook and then paddled down the south side.  The seas were tame and the sun beamed down upon us.

Eugene and Clyde with Gull Island in the background

When we had paddled to the vacinity of Camel Head we paddled the 2 km open crossing to Gull Island.  I have not been there before and I expected to see a lot of Seagulls there...  Of course there were Seagulls there but there were other types of birds too. 

Birds perched on the cliffs at the southern end of Gull Island

There were lots and lots of Puffins.  These birds have fat, round bodies and their wings look disproportionatly too small for them to be able to fly, but they do just fine although it's funny to watch them try to take off from the surface of the water, especially when they have their bellies full of caplin....



Puffins on the cliff... 

Puffins on the water...

The Puffins and other birds were flying all around us.  I tried shot after shot to get a close up picture of a Puffin in flight but only managed to get this guy...

...but I do not know the name of it.

We paddled on the exposed east side of Gull Island where we were sheltered from the westerly wind.

Clyde and Eugene paddling along

More colonies of birds perched on the cliffs

There was a large cave on the east side of the island that we had to check out...

Clyde heading in with more birds on the cliff above...

Sometimes Clyde just feels he is alone in the dark...

Clyde and Eugene hanging out at the entrance to the cave

We paddled to the north end of Gull Island and then paddled the nearly 2 km open crossing to the north shore of Witless Bay.  We met the shore somewhere around Mutton Cove and then paddled into a headwind for a little bit.  We took out on a little beach before we got to Bear Cove so we could have our lunch before getting back to civilization.  It was a warm, sunny day and we hung around long after we had eaten.

Our lunch spot looking back toward Gull Island

I did not even realize I snapped off this picture
but I think the rounded beach rocks are sort
of interesting in it so thought I would share...

After lunch we handrailed the shore and before we got to Bear Cove Head we came across an Inukshuk.  This is the first one I have encountered while paddling...

Inukshuk keeping a watch out over Witless Bay

Just off of Bear Cove Head there are some rocks.  The tide was low and still dropping and it made a fun little place to play in the bit of swell that was coming into the bay.

Clyde's bow bouncing around...

Some breaking surf coming for my bow...

Clyde loves to side surf whenever he gets the chance....

Witless bay is only about a half hour drive from home and is a great little place to spend a few hours on the water to have some fun and enjoy the day.