2012: Post 38 - Holyrood to Harbour Main

Today we drove to Holyrood with the plan to paddle at least to Red Rock Cove.  But it was a little early when we got on the water, and so we continued on to Harbour Main where we had lunch before returning.

Some pics to share...

Put-in at Holyrood marina

Tony and Hazen

The view looking out Holyrood Bay

A bit of swell  created a wave large enough
to hid all but the end of Tony's paddle from me...

... here he is after the wave passed.

Hazen... today was the first time in over two
months that he has been on the water... work and a
good old cold has kept him away from the brine...

Spray in the area of Red Rock Cove

Lunch on the beach in Harbour Main
before returning to Holyrood

Back at Holyrood, we paddled into
the river to rinse off the salt water 

Da Boys....

Thanks for another fine paddle guys...

P.S. A few more pics from today on Tony's blog...

2012: Post 37 - St. Philips to Brock Falls

Cool temperature and a promise of low winds.  Neville, Tony and I met at St. Philips this morning.  No real plan was in place other than to see once we got there... Once we got on the water we decided we would head to Portugal Cove.  

At St. Philips the water was  flowing up the concrete
slipway.  At times it came to where Neville is standing,
where Tony had initially parked his car.

 There was lots of swell to keep us interested between St. Philips and Portugal Cove...

When we got to Portugal Cove we decided we would continue up to Brocks Pond Falls...

Neville... his bow pointing
approximately to where the falls are.

Tony

The falls were flowing nicely... it's always a treat to paddle here, especially when it gets colder and the falls are ice-covered... like when we paddled here in March...

We hung around the falls for a little while and then headed back to St. Philips...

Tony

Another fine paddle finished.

Thanks guys for another memorable day on the water.  Won't be too many more paddle days before this year is over...

2012: Post 36 - Bay Bulls

The last time I paddled was Nov 10 when Tony and I took the ferry over to Bell Island (see post 34).  The last time I was on the water was Nov 18 (see post 35) when we had a little bounce in St. Philips on a windy day.  I caught a bad cold just after that day.  It hung on to me like I was it's mother.  I had it long enough I decided to name it Philip.  Well, I had enough of Philip by this weekend, even though he has not quite left me.

The forecast for today was calling for light winds.  Time to pick  up the paddle again.  

The last time I was on the water with Tobias was Oct 14.  I do not think he had paddled since then.  Tony had not paddled for a while either... he nearly cut off his thumb a short while ago!!  So Tobias, Tony, and I met at Bay Bulls this morning for a little run out to South Head.

Some pictures to share...

Tobias

Tony with a sore thump up... He found it difficult to put on the neoprene mitt
so he opted to use a rubber glove over his hand with a wool glove on top of it.
One way or another he was getting on the water today...  it was funny
to watch him trying to pull up his skirt... wish I would of taken a picture.

Put-in at the slipway on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Before long we could feel the effects of some swell coming into the bay

Tobias, happy to be on the water.

The swell a little further out...

... crashed over the rocks.

Tobias

Usually we paddle inside these rocks.  But today we
had to be content to stay outside.  We also were not able
to safely enter the caves in the area today. 

Tobias and Tony at South Head

Although we were only a couple kilometers from the take-out,
we pulled up on a little beach to have a snack on the way back.

All hands, and one with a throbbing thumb,
made it back to the slipway.

 Thanks Tony and Tobias for another fun morning on the water...

Tony has some pics of the day on his blog entry as well...

2012: Post 35 – Back at St. Philips

More wind today, so off to St. Philips for a bounce in the cove... I did not take too many pics as I had my neoprene mitts on which makes it harder to use the camera.  But here are a few of the shots I did take...

Put-in at the slipway

Tony

Clyde and Gary

Gary

Tony

Tony and Clyde heading back in to the slipway

Be sure to check out Tony's entry on the day and for more pics....

2012: Post 34 – Reprieve from St. Philips

I checked my paddling log book.  The last five times on the water all started from St. Philips.... Tony was with me four of those five times.  

The forecast for today called for wind.  Normally it would be a great day to head to St. Philips and play in the waves... But I think Tony had enough  of St. Philips lately because he e-mailed and suggested taking the ferry over to Bell Island and paddling in the protection of the island from the anticipated westerly wind... Sounded like a good plan to me.  

We e-mailed the usual crowd, but only Tony and I showed up at the ferry terminal this morning.  We carried our kayaks and gear onto the ferry for the twenty minute crossing...

The ferry arriving with from Bell Island

Gangway

 

Arriving at Bell Island

It was just a short carry to the beach beside the ferry terminal

Just paddling along

Tony checking out one of the little beaches

Just around the Eastern Head we were
back into the effects of the wind

Tony having a look at the tunnel entrance
(too much action to make a safe attempt today) 

The wind had really picked up by the time we got back
to the terminal.  We decided we would cut our
paddle shorter than planned...

... and got out of our paddling gear...

...and then carried the kayaks back to the terminal.

Tony ran over to the nearby take-out and brought back
some fries for us to snack on while we waiting
for the ferry for the return trip

We had only paddled about half the distance we had set out to cover today.  But we did take our time in the paddling and had a bit of fun along the way... and the ferry rides over and back to Bell Island were certainly a change of pace.  It was a great way to spend a windy Saturday. 

Also check out Tony's blog entry on the day...