On the road to Port aux Basques

Yesterday, Friday, it was blowing a gale and it was wet, wet, wet.  Brian and I considered going for some surf rides and a general bounce in the waves.  We didn't in the end.  Not that wet is an issue but today the winds were forecast to continue at a slightly reduced speed but it would be sunny.  We lost the wind but there was impressive swell still running thanks to the departing wind.

So, surfing was off and instead Brian, Clyde, Sean, Tobias and I paddled the familiar coast to Portugal Cove.

All along the shore the incoming swell reared up and crashed on the rocks.  We stayed off shore for fear of being caught inside the break zone and getting washed up onto the rocks.  Still the clapotis reached us.

We arrived at Wester Point at the entrance to Portugal Cove.  The swell was really pounding in at the point, though the camera doesn't do it justice.

When the breaking waves generate haze there's a violent collision between water and land.

At the entrance to Portugal Cove we stopped and bobbed on the incoming swell.  We decided to return to St. Philips.

It wasn't a long paddle today but it all adds up.  The distance from St. John's, the capital city on the east coast, along the Trans Canada Highway to Port aux Basques on the west coast, where we catch the ferry to the mainland of Canada, is 905 kilometers.  If I was paddling it, after today's paddle the cumulative total would put me just past Tompkins, only 35 kilometers away.

1,000 kilometers is within reach.