Whale shopping list

Well, at long last I'm back for a day paddle.  There hasn't been anything wrong; just the no paddling bug seems to have inflicted most of us.

I found out late there was a paddle today in Witless Bay with the hope of catching sight of some whales.  I got on the water first as the rest of the gang of 11 got ready.

Eventually we all got on the water and got underway.  Everyone except Shane and I headed out into open water in the middle of the bay.  Shane and I ...

... decided a bit of rock hopping was more stimulating.

As we made our way east along the shore we hit upon schools of caplin that were as thick as flies.  So thick in fact ...

... Shane was scooping them up bare handed.

Shane and I paddled up to Witless Point, looked to see if we could see the others (we couldn't) and decided to make a short 2 km crossing to Gull Island.  It may be named Gull Island but there were ...

... thousands of Atlantic puffins nesting on the island.  As we approached they took flight.  I had no idea why they felt threatened as we kept well clear of the shore.

In White Horse Cove we checked out this ...

... cave.  Up to that point we didn't get one sniff of a whale or whales.  We emerged from the cave to paddle along the east side of the island and as we passed Long Point Shane spotted a whale breaching in the direction of South Head, Bay Bulls.  After about 10 minutes we heard whale exhalations and ...

... we were with two humpbacks.

They were not doing much just hovering in the water not 10 meters away.  I hoped for a flukes shot and missed a flipper shot, one flipper raised as they left us heading south.  I've had better encounters but this was what we came for so Shane and I were satisfied.  Before moving on I retrieved ...

... a container of three tea buns and we each had one trying to speak about the whales with mouths stuffed.  Finished and the lone tea bun left stashed in Shane's day hatch again we paddled north towards South Head and ...

... into this cove dominated by red hematite stained sandstones.  At the bottom of the cove we took turns ...

... looking out at the world from this massive cave.

Heading west again into Witless Bay harbour we handrailed and investigated another cave in Red Cove, aptly named and sharply contrasting with verdant green vegetation.  Left center in the picture there was one more ...

... cave to check out before heading back uneventfully to the take-out.

Its been too long getting out for a paddle but at least it was a red banner re-introductory day to paddling.  Shane and I got in a bit of rock hopping, saw thousands of seabirds, a coupe of humpbacks and a few caves.  It was just the two of us as we left the other 10 to their own devices.  I think we made the right choice.  Awesome day, thanks Shane.

Three hounds chasing a rock

After paddling out of Bay Bulls and paddling through the sea stacks at the headland we entered Witless Bay.  There we entered this indent in the red sandstone cliffs to investigate.

On the left a dark cavern opened under the gently sloping sedimentary beds.  We looked in and could see daylight through the smallest of openings at its end.

Inside I looked out at the crew taking in the awesomeness.

Onward we went until we ...

... came to this cave that we had to check out.

Another cave that attracted all of us with room for all.

Whereas we had a cold easterly breeze in our faces paddling out of Bay Bulls, we had it at our backs on our entry into Witless Bay.  Here Brian and Dean wait for Clyde to ride a bit of surge over a rock.

Eventually the land had less appeal and we paddled directly to the beach in Witless Bay for lunch.  Those of us who had coats or a cag donned them to keep warm in the cold.  Three dogs entertained us on the beach by constantly picking up this one rock for us to throw and play fetch.  Fog began to roll in from the open ocean while we ate our lunch so it wasn't long before we left the dogs to amuse themselves and we were back in our kayaks to retrace our route to Bay Bulls.

Back in Bay Bulls Derek had to rush home while Brian, Cathy, Clyde, Dean Hazen and I went for a coffee and warm-up.  Cathy picked up the tab so thanks for that and Hazen had Girl Guide cookies he was trying to push.  Overal, a most enjoyable trip punctuated by amazing seascapes.

Baboul Rocks rock

Baboul Rocks are a bunch of sea stacks between Bay Bulls and Witless Bay.  They are exposed to the open ocean and often are not accessible due to large swell.  Sunday we exited Bay Bulls harbour to paddle through the lot.

Cathy makes for an opening.

Finding little passages.

It wasn't that there was no swell, it was just very gentle washing over rocks near the surface.  Hazen waits for his turn to ride it over.

Brian among the rocks.

It seemed like Brian, Cathy and I spent more time exploring among the rocks than the others so we were last to continue around the headland and into Witless Bay.  On a day like we had Sunday I wanted to savour the area like letting good, dark chocolate melt in the mouth.

The rest of the gang waited for us around the corner and we carried on again as a group.

Bay Bulls - Prelude to the good stuff

Sunday we met in Bay Bulls, a 30 minute drive from my home.  It was something on the table the previous weekend but conditions were not favourable then.  Dean resurrected the plan, a paddle from Bay Bulls to Witless Bay, for this weekend.

The first part of the paddle as we made our way towards the south side of Bay Bulls is low lying land with not much to excite except the chance to get on the water again.  It was cool and it took some time to generate a bit of body heat.  The temperature hovered just above zero and an easterly wind blowing over the similarly cold water didn't help matters.

Further along towards the entrance to Bay Bulls the cliffs became more imposing.  The sun, shining from that direction, tried to wash out the pictures I took.

Several years ago Gerard led us into this cave.  There's almost only room to get a kayak through the entrance so its not obvious.  I backed in several kayak lengths until it opens up into a more cavernous feature.  Looking out from the darkness, the contrast in light overpowers the camera.  Cathy is barely visible outside but she ...

... joined me.  This was the best picture I got.

Back outside Cathy paddles away as she and I catch up with the other guys who were ...

 ... checking out this cave.

A sizeable water fall attracted our attention and despite the cold we grabbed a quick run through the falls.

Just over an hour later we were at the entrance to Bay Bulls harbour and into the open.  The splendors of Baboul Rocks were just around the corner.

Among the whales and birds

Saturday seven of us decided it was time to get out among the whales and birds.  The whales have been here for a couple of weeks already but other things got in the way.  After a tour of Witess Bay the community, Dean and I put in above the main road and met the rest for the crossing to ...

... Gull Island.

Suddenly we heard the woosh of whales as they breached for air.  There was no predicting where they would surface.

One here, a bit of a distance away.

One barely visible out where Dean waited patiently for whales to present themselves.

Then my patience paid off.  A whale a bit closer.  These were minke whales and they were oblivious to us as they seemed to be everywhere feeding.

The whales seemed to be heading out of the bay  As we followed them out we reached Gull Island where the fog had set in for the rest of the day.

At the north end of Gull Island Dean and I explored this large cave.  The air temperature was in the mid-20s but inside the cave it was cooler.  The difference in air temperature caused a localized mist on the waters in the cave ...

... that gave an unusual effect to the picture I took of Dean.

We caught up with the others as they paddled along the outside, on the open ocean side of Gull Island.  At the southern end we checked out this cove and cave with screaming birds lodged on every foothold in the rocks.

We tried not to disturb the puffins, cormorants and gulls but it made no difference how far away we stayed.  As we approached they took to the sky in droves.

We left Gull Island and paddled back inside Witless Bay where we stopped for lunch before paddling out across the bay again to Green Island in the fog.

Green Island is also part of the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve packed with sea birds as they dotted the sky.

Sadly, after we reached Gull Island we didn't spot anymore whales.  We saw lots of minkes but not one humpback.  That will have to wait for another day.

Check out Dean's post of our whale watching paddle on his blog.