Getting underwayEvery year Alex caters the Father's Day paddle in Cape Broyle. This year he's signed up for a swiftwater rescue course on Fathers' Day so we did it a week early. Its a scheduled Kayak Newfoundland and Labrador club event and this year I counted 24 paddlers out to brave the unseasonably cool weather.
The club's paddles are for entry level paddlers. Its an opportunity for them to meet fellow paddlers and network to make connections for paddling partnerships.
The paddle follows a fairly strict agenda: falls, cross, caves, lunch and back. Not too exciting for me but I feel its a chance to support the club and newer paddlers just as I was once taken care of.
First stop The usual first stop for paddles in Cape Broyle is the falls in Shores Cove where the river from Horse Chops Pond flows out into the sea.
Getting ready to cross Next on the agenda after the visit to the falls is a crossing of Cape Broyle Harbour at "The Point of the Narrows" to get to the south side where numerous caves can be explored.
Caving Cape Broyle is a great paddling destination for caves. Here a group waits for just the right moment when the surge of water can carry them over the slightly submerged rocks.
Somber cliffs It was overcast all day and cool. The dark skies made the cliffs along here look dark and somber.
Lunch beach We stopped at the traditional Cape Broyle paddle lunch beach at Lance Cove. Its a long crescent shaped beach with fine sand so its a gentle land and launch.
Not quite Angel FallsOn our way back to the put-in Gerard, Joy and I checked out the falls where the Freshwater River runs out over the cliffs. The rest of the crew paddled on as if intent on reaching the end of the paddle by the shortest means. I felt obliged to catch up to shepherd the less experienced paddlers back to Cape Broyle. Off the water at 3:00. Oh well, I'd be home in time to catch the last World Cup game of the day. That's like dessert!
Thanks Alex for another enjoyable (albeit early) Father's Day.
I'm not sure what happened but as soon as we left the beach, everyone took off for the take-out like some huge homing device kicked in. I heard a few people questioning why why we were heading back via the quickest route but by then the herd was off and running with some guy I've never seen on the water before leading the way!! I had no intentions of being off that early but that's all you can do!!
ReplyDeleteYa Sean, I don't know what the hurry was either. Speaking to Gerard and maybe sometime later this summer we'll paddle there again and go round to Calvert.
ReplyDeleteTony :-)