Day 3, the weather turns

The first two days of our circumnavigation of New World Island and Twillingate Islands were sunny.  On the third day, Tuesday, the weather went south.  We put ourselves in position to get around North Tillingate Island by compressing three days paddling into two.  The long range forecast called for the wind to be out of the northeast.

We left Sleepy Cove just before 8:00 and had only a kilometer to paddle before we were around Lower Head and out of the wind.  But the northeasterly winds blew of the cold North Atlantic waters and cooled everything down.

The easterly side of North Twillingate Island is dotted with communities.  I prefer isolated coastlines but the circumnavigation meant the communities were in the tour.  This is Crow Head.  The other communities look pretty much the same.

An hour and a half after leaving Sleepy Cove we arrived at the fishing community of Twillingate.  The bridge spans the gap between North and south Twillingate Islands.

We decided to have a look around the harbour.

I went to have a look at the big boys.  While I did, the four other guys got out and bought coffees.  A nice warm coffee did wonders for the cold but the waitresses had a polite way of suggesting we drink them outside - the coffee was served in take out cups.

Passing under the bridge again we headed southerly.  Dean decided to don his cag.  It made it easy to spot him in the bright reddish garment.

Minutes later with the tail wind and small following waves we were cruising past Ragged Point.

At Gillards Cove these old fishing stages looked like they've had better days.  These stages are used to land, split and salt codfish for drying.  In addition, these stages were used to store various fishing gear.

Five hours and 19 easy kilometers after leaving in the morning we arrived at Black Island where we set up camp ...

... in this sheltered little cove.

We arrived at Black Island just after 1:00 so we had an easy afternoon.  We took turns collecting firewood for the evening's camp fire or sat under the tarp and chatted.  I went looking for interesting ...

... rocks.  Tectonic forces were hard at work.  Here a granite crystalized and was later intruded by related magma.  The difference is colour is caused by different rates of cooling.  The lighter granite cooled slowly at depth forming crystals giving the rocks a lighter appearance.  The darker dike cooled quickly against the cold granite walls with no discernible crystals, giving the rock a darker appearance.

Here's my effort at a technique used by Captain Kuk.  Hope its not copyrighted Jim!

Rain was in the forecast so we got the fire going early.  Besides, it was pretty cool and the fire would give us some comfort.  Just after dark it started to rain and we all ducked into out tents.  I drifted off to sleep as the rain pummeled the tent, wondering what day four would hold.  Either way, it was so far, so good.

Here are the day's breadcrumbs.