aug. 2007
managed late afternoon paddle in Trinity Bay from our cove. Calm waters encouraged me to solo paddle an otherwise forbidding coastline with no takeouts for several miles. Past Hants Head and headed south (well, actually west). Not a boat on the bay - that felt eery, given it'd take me a good 5 hours to paddle to the other side. Lots of long-tendrilled jellyfish. Stark cliffs, brutal headlands (given the right - or wrong - conditions) and then I found Green Cove - local name. It's barely a cove - not a boulder to take out in, but it has the most impressive arch, a solid mass scratched with quartz. Even then - in a quiet sea, the swell slapped up a good foot & a half on the cliff. I managed to edge around the arch to see whether I could pass through - but not unless my kayak came in around 5 feet - there was a tight right angle to pass through. Still, a magnificent sight. Still further, another section of the cliff I'd not explored before (I'd been paddling further out to avoid clapotis), sheer rock for a few hundred feet - heard the unmistakeable sound of water - fresh water - falling. A crevice, barely one foot wide and the entire length of the cliff face smudged in oozing lime green and tinkling loudly. Then paddled to yet another head... there are a few along this stretch - gulls, terns and guillomots crying desparately - of course it sounds that way when their voices echo off cliffs.
Just an hour or so - my underwater camera on the blink so no photos this time.
managed late afternoon paddle in Trinity Bay from our cove. Calm waters encouraged me to solo paddle an otherwise forbidding coastline with no takeouts for several miles. Past Hants Head and headed south (well, actually west). Not a boat on the bay - that felt eery, given it'd take me a good 5 hours to paddle to the other side. Lots of long-tendrilled jellyfish. Stark cliffs, brutal headlands (given the right - or wrong - conditions) and then I found Green Cove - local name. It's barely a cove - not a boulder to take out in, but it has the most impressive arch, a solid mass scratched with quartz. Even then - in a quiet sea, the swell slapped up a good foot & a half on the cliff. I managed to edge around the arch to see whether I could pass through - but not unless my kayak came in around 5 feet - there was a tight right angle to pass through. Still, a magnificent sight. Still further, another section of the cliff I'd not explored before (I'd been paddling further out to avoid clapotis), sheer rock for a few hundred feet - heard the unmistakeable sound of water - fresh water - falling. A crevice, barely one foot wide and the entire length of the cliff face smudged in oozing lime green and tinkling loudly. Then paddled to yet another head... there are a few along this stretch - gulls, terns and guillomots crying desparately - of course it sounds that way when their voices echo off cliffs.
Just an hour or so - my underwater camera on the blink so no photos this time.
7 comments:
Lucky you! This must have been the arch your neighbour described to us, the one we missed - or did we go far enough? You'll have to go again, you know. I'd love to see a picture of it!
michael - we paddled past it - easy not to see if a) paddling northward and b) out from cliff more than 30 feet which we were. a
I deleted that double posting. Odd, I haven't been drinking that much since leaving Newfoundland... Odd as well, we missed that arch. Too bad, but it's a shore I'd love to paddle again sometime. Cheers!
odd - why drinking that much? just balance, Michael, just balance. Yes, 'tis a shore I'm asking others to chance & dare.
Hi Alison sounds great! I do like solo paddling, I find it sharpens the senses ever so! Nice to get back to some company afterwards all the same!
Hi Douglas,
I used to hike and even camp solo and generally enjoyed the experience, the sharpening of the senses as you put it. Still, my preference is to paddle with one or two like-minded individuals - not large groups - to the share the ah and oohs or just quiet smiles. But maybe I need more solo time on the water. A
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