The Spout, made it!

Put-in, Bay Bulls

Paddling twice in Bay Bulls in two weeks. But this time with a difference. This time the conditions were good to turn north outside of Bay Bulls and reach the Spout. Its wide open ocean paddling once Bay Bulls is left behind so picking the right day is imperative.

There's no possibility of an emergency take-out for almost 30 kms at Petty Harbour in conditions. With a 1 metre swell and light wind we did take out at Freshwater Cove and saw another option to take out just before Little Bald Head.

We made the Spout and had we set up a car shuttle we could easily have made the run into Petty Harbour.

Pete and Derrick

Pete and Derrick lead the way out of Bay Bulls.

Dan and Leslie

Dan and Leslie paddling out of Bay Bulls. This my my first time paddling with Dan's better half Leslie. I believe this was her 4th time out this year. Ya gotta work on that Leslie, I mean more time in the boat.

Rounding Bread and Cheese Point

Say "cheese"!!!

We paddled on into Useless Bay where Pete, Dan and Leslie decided to turn back while Derrick and I continued on to North Head and on to Freshwater Cove just around the corner on a totally exposed coast.

Into Freshwater Cove

Just north of North Head was Freshwater Cove where an abandoned community once stood. Get this - the people who once lived here came from Bay Bulls. Apparently the Catholic population had a falling out with the Protestants living in Bay Bulls and they forced them out of Bay Bulls and into this small, not very accessible cove.

Launching any kind of boat from here would be a daunting task with wind anywhere from SE to NE.

Derrick finds a takeout

Around a spit of rock Derrick spotted a shallow cave with a cobble "beach".

A 2 kayak take-out

This take-out is the smallest yet for me. It was nothing more than a hole in the wall and only enough room for our 2 boats.

Pleased with the roomy take-out

So, off the water we had a bite to eat.

After lunch Derrick suggested we paddle north towards the Spout for 30 minutes and then turn around. We had a push from the swell and a very light wind. We zoomed along without even trying at 8.5 kms per hour. At 30 minutes I knew we were close to the Spout so I suggested we carry on and 10 minutes later we were there.

Sadly, the natural blowhole wasn't putting on much of a display today and besides my not-water- proof camera was safely in my dry bag because the plastic zip lock bag had torn. My waterproof is in for warranty work so I'm playing Russian roulette with an older camera just to get pictures of my paddles.

We turned back covering the same distance in 60 minutes at 5.7 kms per hour. Not bad under the circumstances. A shake down paddle today for Derrick of 25 kms.