California dreamin'

Earlier this spring I put my first kayak, a Necky Looksha IV, up for sale.  One night, at 1:00 am, I got a call wondering if the kayak was still for sale.  I was asleep and a bit confused.  The guy on the other end got excited when he saw the posting and had to call.

It was Mark calling from California and he wanted the kayak for a month long paddle he was doing at different locations around Newfoundland.  He must have forgotten about time difference.  Anyway, long story short, he arrived and picked up the kayak.   Near the end of his trip he was again close and called to join him for a paddle.

He wanted to paddle from Flatrock to Pouch Cove (pronounced Pooch).  We met in Pouch Cove, transferred now his Necky to my car and we drove to Flatrock.  We put-in heading for Red Head.

The water was flat and there was no wind.  We took our time handrailing, here in Stiles Cove.  I paddled the same coast earlier this year but the conditions demanded we stay offshore a bit.

This time the water cooperated for us to get into some of the caves, this one being a cavern.

We exited and paddled to the next.  It was narrow.  Mark went in while I floated outside the entrance.  I waited for a while and out comes Mark having gone around a "U" shaped cave.  This was a discovery for me and followed Mark around for a second time.

The cliffs towered over us in Small Point Cove ...

... and were multi-coloured.

Spectacular scenery.

In the calm conditions we paddled between the cliffs and seastacks ...

... at every opportunity.

This arch was another discovery in Sandy Cove.

Almost into Pouch Cove we checked out this cave.  It was a respite from the 27C temperature.

Its not a long paddle but handrailing religiously made it almost 19 kms.

Part way through the paddle I became aware of a coincidence.  The last time I saw my old boat on the salt water was 1 May 2009.  It was a paddle I did along the exact same coast with Neil, Stan and Ysabelle.  The next day I picked up my Nordkapp and the Necky was never paddled again, until Mark from California came north to take possession.

This was my third time but the discovery of a couple of things missed on the previous two made it a most enjoyable paddle.  That and the company of a fun guy from Cali.