Bird has flown

Wednesday 10 of us arrived at Tors Cove for a paddle out to the islands of the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.  During the spring, summer and early fall the reserve is home to hundreds of thousands of birds.  This time of year and winter they spend their time on the open ocean.  In season though they are a sight to behold; take a short detour to see 2 minutes of video I recorded in July of 2013.

It was a sunny but cool day with temperatures near 0C.

Leaving Tors Cove we paddled outside of Fox Island, onto Ship Island before ...

... crossing to Great Island.

We went to explore this cave in a small cove at Great Island.  Yes, this was a true colour of the water caused by aeration of the water as it bounced around in the constricted cove.

Leaving the cove the water returned to its natural colour punctuated by the white surf breaking over the point.

I thought it was too rough to paddle through the slot which unfortunately the angle didn't capture.  That didn't stop Terry though.  There are two slots formed by erosion of the sedimentary rocks which at Great Island form one limb of a gigantic syncline.

Andrew, visiting the province from Massachusetts, plows through foam created by waves crashing on the island.  From here at the end of Great Island we crossed back to the mainland

We paddled into LaManche Bay handrailing until ...

... we reached the site of the former community of LaManche dominated now by a modern suspension bridge of the East Coast Trail Association.  The trail runs north - south along the coast of the Avalon Peninsula.

The foundation of an abandoned house looks out over the cove.

While the temperature hovered around 0C and the sun seemed to do a disappearing act, it wasn't uncomfortable where we had lunch tucked in a sheltered hollow.  Some boiled a kettle for hot tea.

I felt chilled as did a few others but it didn't take long to warm up as we left LaManche.

Brian, Dean, Shane and I handrailed the shore coming out of LaManche Bay reaching Long Point with the high land of Bauline Head in the distance.

On the outbound paddle we went outside of the islands on the horizon.  On the return we hugged the shore passing Bauline East, Seal Cove, St. Michaels and Burnt Cove returning to Tors Cove.

A fun day on the water for the ten of us ended with a stop at a coffee shop in Witless Bay before driving home in the dusk.

Here's the track, in hot pink on a cool day.