A dart across the Tickle

Bell Island in the distance

Dean took the day off. I wasn't sure if I could paddle but got home early enough to call him and suggest a dart across to Bell Island. Its not a long crossing, only 5 kms, but its always fun to do. There's something about being out in the middle of the bay.

Gotta do a looooong crossing this summer.

About half way

My sights were set and the Nordkapp ran true. Looks like an ocean liner *lol*

Almost there

We arrived at Dominion Pier after making the 5 km crossing in 40 minutes. We did stop a few times to take pictures. The ferry operating on the Tickle takes 20 minutes to cross so we didn't do so bad by comparison. I wonder what the record is?

A forest of piles

This is the old Dominion Pier on Bell Island. It hasn't been used since the late 60's when mining of iron ore stopped. The piles in the old wharf are still in fairly good shape though. It was low tide and the kelp hanging on the piles, high out of the water just looked amusing.

Checkin' out the ferry

We paddled up to the ferry terminal before re-crossing. Only one ferry was operating at the time of day we were out. The Nonia, tied up here at the ferry terminal on Bell Island, joins the Flanders for a two boat operation once rush hour starts.

Back at the mainland

We arrived at Portugal Cove just ahead of the ferry so we kept well wide of her until she passed in front of us. A paddle of 4 kms back the St. Philips and we had 16.5 kms under our hulls in just under 2.5 hours. That was a average of 7 kms/hr but we did goof around at Bell Island for a while so that's not a bad average.

The 16.5 put me over 250 kms for the year already and so-called paddling season proper is just starting!