There's always the decision where to paddle? After a while places start to become familiar. This weekend we decided on Avondale. The last time I paddled in the area was on April 13th this year so that decided it. We drove the 40 odd kilometers from the city and got ready to put-in on the side of the river in Avondale.
We paddled out under the bridge into Masons Cove. The air temperature was 4C, as was the water temp.
Neville paddles along the low lying shoreline where trees grew down near the water's edge.
Brian paddles across Broad Cove on still waters. That would change dramatically. The ocean wave model showed 2 - 2.5 meter waves offshore rolling in from the north. Avondale sits at the bottom of Gasters Bay, though protected, is open to the north. I anticipated more once we paddled further north.
After handrailing our way into Conception Harbour we made our usual visit to this derelict, sunken whaling vessel before heading north ...
... where at Mugfords Head the cliffs became a bit more imposing.
We began to feel a bit more swell which created foam on the water.
Near 12:00 and lunch time we reached Bacon Cove. While the guys set about extracting lunch from their hatches, I went exploring along the rocky shoreline.
The swell was really crashing in over the rocks I wanted to check out. Under my feel lay ...
... an unconformity between rocks of the Ediacaran Period and the Cambrian at 542 million years ago. An unconformity forms when rocks are exposed, eroded and after a gap in time new sedimentary deposits are laid on top of the exposed surface. Here, though its difficult to see due to the light and wet rocks, a basal layer of Cambrian conglomerate lays on top of Conception Group siltstones. Its hard to see so ...
... here's a sun-drenched shot I took on a solo trip February 26th, 2009.
Lunch consumed, we headed further north to Colliers Point where we expected to see some significant wave action. After bobbing on the water marveling at the power of the waves we crossed Gasters Bay to Salmon Cove Point.
I paddled as close to shore as was prudent, paddling just on the edge of where the 2 meter waves broke as they rushed to the rocky shore. Take a short detour to Dean's Blog where he has some good shots of the wave action.
The slot at Salmon Cove Point was not passable today so ...
... we turned south into the early setting sun and into Avondale. When we took out the temperature had dropped to 0C. Our hands lost their dexterity as we loaded the kayaks but it was soon restored by gripping a cup of steaming hot coffee. Altogether an excellent bit of adventure on December 7th with another 27 kms paddled.
Here are the breadcrumbs.
Nice photos, looks alot like Norway in some of the photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rolf, I my impression of Norway is that we have a lot in common as far as scenery goes and also climate. And, you will know that the Vikings were here more than 1,000 years ago.
ReplyDeleteTony :-)