At wits end

Yahoo, on the water again

At wits end? Not really, just in Witless Bay for a paddle today. It was the first time I've paddled in Witless Bay; I'm at a loss to explain why. Right next door to Bay Bulls which I've paddled lots but so much more to enjoy. A lot of the south side is very shallow and with the swell and submerged rocks it was a great decision to try it today.

We put in on the upper side of the road and paddled under the bridge to get into the bay.

Stan with Green Island

Stan christened his hand carved Greenland paddle today. He's getting pretty comfortable with the stick because today he got into some gnarly spots and came out unscathed.

And, I have the largest collection of Stan paddling pictures! Another one to add to the collection.

In the shallows the swell was breaking

All along the south side of Witless Bay the swell was breaking over rocks and onto the beaches. At a couple of places we stopped to play in the breaking waves.

One of those rocks is actually Stan!

We carried on around Breaking Point and Witless Point keeping well offshore as the swell was breaking over the rocks 100 metres off the headland. The combination of swell, rebounding waves, wind waves made for a bumpy ride over into Mobile Bay. We didn't stay long and headed back into Witless Bay for lunch.

Birds

From our lunch beach, aptly named "Twelve O'clock Beach", we could see Green Island 3.5 kms away. We were just totally amazed at the number of birds in flight around the island. They actualy looked like a halo of flies from where we were. Unbelieveable, so we had to go have a look.

The cat in the hat!

The cat in the hat is Clyde.

Here I've rafted up with Clyde to try and capture the huge swarms of guillemots and puffins at Green Island in the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. I never know how successful I've been until I get home and download the pictures. This picture doesn't do justice to the scene but if the picture is enlarged, the little dots are birds.

Not impressed? Well, ya should have been there!

Time to pack up

After a good day of exciting paddling it was time to get out of the paddling gear, pack up, rack the kayak and head home. This is a time when we congratulate each other on a good paddle and a time to feel good about the "fraternity of the paddle".

A total of 19.3 kms paddled. Clyde was disappointed as he likes to get to 20. We would have made it if we hadn't spent so much time catching surf rides and goofing around.

Its also a time when I think about my next paddle and where it will be.