Too cold for pirates

Today Clyde, Dean, Terry and I went in search of pirates.  A story coming down through the ages has a certain Captain Kelly, on time Lieutenant of the pirate Peter Easton, hid a huge fortune in gold coins on what is now Kelly's Island in Conception Bay.

We met in Long Pond to paddle the three kilometers to Kelly's Island and from there circumnavigate the island.

It was bitterly cold at the put-in.  We had to paddle through some frozen ice pans and slob to reach open water where we ...

... paddled out of the harbour under the industrial complex, so to speak and ...

... strike out over the three kilometers to Kelly's Island in the distance.  The wind stung on the face and thumbs went numb from the cold before some exertion warmed everything up.

We arrived under the talus slopes and cliffs of Kelly's Island an paddled south into a little bit of a breeze.

At a small, protected cove we caught our breath and to get out of the cold breeze which ...

... froze the salty brine to spray skirts and deck.  Even protected from the wind it was chilly so we didn't linger long to make our way back ...

... down the other side.

Far off in the distance "The Bell" of Bell Island floated on the horizon just above Terry's bow.

Last weekend it rained.  Then it turned cold.  Water found its way through the ground cover and fissures in the cliffs to form some fine looking icicles.  As it seeped through it picked up dirt turning the icicles brownish.

Further along the water flowed over the surface before freezing into white and tints of blue.

Almost back around we stopped at Easter Beach for the call of nature and a stretch of our legs.  The large tanker "Kometik" was anchored in the bay so we detoured a little to paddle by it.  There Clyde realized he ha left his glasses at Easter Beach so we back tracked almost two kilometers where ...

... Clyde got out to look for his glasses.  I hoped his eyesight was good enough to spot them so I didn't have to get out.  It was.  Retrieving them we crossed again to Long Pond which added four kilometers to our day's paddle.  It made it a respectable length o that was a bit of good fortune.

We didn't spot any pirates nor did we expect to really.  Its too cold for pirates.  They're probably back in the Caribbean where its much warmer.

See Dean's pics from today here.