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Friday, July 1, 2011

The foggy road home

Slipway

We awoke Monday to a typical Placentia Bay morning this time of year ... foggy. The chit chat at breakfast was navigating back over the 6+ kms open water from Long Island Point to Bordeaux Island at the entrance to Arnolds Cove.

Breakfast done and convinced we were OK, we loaded the boats ready to head back. I found three pieces of siding that meant I could just push the loaded kayak and not have to carry it to the water.

Leaving Haystack

The north side of the harbour was barely visible as we left.

Relection

Even in fog the land was reflected in soft shadows.

Adios beach

We stopped on the other side of what I've called "Welcome Beach" to finalize plans for the blind crossing. The beach here is no more than about 30 meters wide and two days previously we rested just on the other slope in brilliant sunshine. I'll name this "Adios Beach" as it was our last touch on Long Island.

Single file

We set a bearing of 60 degrees with Hazen in the lead. We went single file with each of us responsible for keeping visual contact with the person in front. I suggested Hazen lead with the hope of slowing Dean down because pouring it on he could paddle himself out of sight with his Greenland paddle.

Someone suggested we each take turns leading for the experience and it tuned out to be an excellent suggestion.

Land ho!

We trusted the compass and after about 50 minutes Bordeaux Island loomed to port.


End of the road

Four or five kms and we saw the houses of Arnolds Cove appear out of the fog. We were almost back.

Unloading

It was unbelievable seeing how much gear we had stuffed into our kayaks. Somehow its not that obvious in the loading but to see it unloaded in one place was impressive.

Lunch is served

We were starved and took advantage of Megans Restaurant on the highway to have a feed of fish and chips. Arnolds Cove is a fishing community so we expected the fish to be fresh, and it was. It also was a nice end to the trip as it gave us a chance to reflect together on a fine weekend. We had circumnavigated Long Island in 2 and a half days for a total of 90 kms, depending on whose GPS it was.

Excellent trip guys, thanks!

3 comments:

  1. It was an excellent trip that will stick in my mind for a long time. It will be a hard one to top, but I'm sure we will at least match it sometime in the future....

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  2. Nice photos Tony. Looks like a memory!

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  3. Ya Dean, not a bad trip and it sort of evolved as it went along didn't it?

    Thanks Stan, I'll have the photos to look back over when I'm sitting in my rocking chair. Next time hopefully you can make it.

    Tony :-)

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