We arrived at St. Philips this morning with the snow of two days ago on the slipway, ice pans in the harbour and -8C. The trick to paddling in cold like this is to come to the put-in with the drysuit already on and spend minimal time getting on the water so as not to cool off.
Usually getting out of the harbour is not an issue. Today the ice pans floating in the harbour made it more challenging where there was very little open water.
Our first stop and look-see were these impressive icicles draped over the entrance to this cave.
There was a bit of a breeze in our faces that made the wind chill feel like -12C. Water started to freeze onto everything, including my paddle shaft, which was a bit disconcerting, and ...
Dean, and ...
Sean.
The camera got coated in ice making it a handfull to handle with neoprene mittens on. All the while we paddled along side of the snow and ice encrusted cliffs oblivious the the cold.
We decided to go as far as Portugal Cove where we'd turn around but not before ...
... stopping in the cove for a chat. What northerly wind there was on the way up started to drop off making it a most pleasant day.
We returned to St. Philips. Sean decided against coffee but Dean and I had our java which capped off a fine winter day paddle with Jack Frost.
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