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Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Looking at the sea from two sides

Hard to believe but I might be back to some kind of regular paddling; twice inside of two weeks!  Dean mailed the usual suspects and I was the only positive reply.  We met at Long Pond in Conception Bay for a paddle over to and around Kellys Island.

We left the confines of the harbour and began our 3 km crossing to Kellys Island in the distance.

Thirty minutes later we were across and under the imposing 50 meter high cliffs.

 The water was calm between Kelly Island and the mainland and we were taking our time getting a little push from the flood tide.

 As we approached the southwest end of the island we began to notice the waves were bashing pretty well against the cliffs caused by ...

 ... the swell running over a shallow underwater bench.  Given the calm state of the sea before reaching this point, it was a bit of a surprise.  As we rounded and began our paddle north could see waves crashing all up the coast.


We felt it prudent to stay well off the coast as rebounding waves, clapotis, was mixing with the incoming swell.  There was no wind to contend with so it made for a comfortable paddle allowing the boat to sway back and forth under me.  A few times we noticed the crashing waves reached the full 15 meter height of the cliffs on this side.

 As we were well off shore there wasn't much to photograph.  We returned to the point where me made landfall on the crossing over before returning across the bay to Long Pond.  Here, passing to the left of the red buoy; red, right, return!

After stowing our gear we went for a coffee and a catch-up chat.  We agreed we should at least try to get a paddle in every two weeks to mix them in with either our hiking or biking adventures.