My fourth favourite paddle for the year was a three day, two night kayak camp trip. So, a four day, 3 night trip must be even more memorable. It was. Between August 6th and 9th a group of us spent four days in Bonavista Bay.
We drove the three hours to Burnside where we put in and paddled across Fair and False Bay stopping at Bloody Point to check out an ancient Beothuk stone quarry before stopping at The Beaches for the night.
Our campsite at The Beaches. This is the location of a former Beothuk summer camp site. The Beothuk were native Americans that English settlers of Newfoundland encountered at the time of colonization. Through fighting, loss of hunting grounds and disease the Beothuks were decimated and eventually passed into history.
On day two we left The Beaches, paddled around the top of Cottel Island and crossed over the the Flat Islands.
The Flat Islands were once the site of a thriving community that was resettled to the mainland in the 1960's. There are only cabins there now to look out over a protected harbour where we were camped.
Even though we had paddled two days away from the put-in were were only a day away from returning due to the circuitous route we had taken. So on day three we elected to leave our tents up and spend the day paddling around the archipelago of the Flat Islands.
The fourth day was a return to civilization. A northeast wind that was forecast arrived during our return but as it was behind us it didn't cause any issues.
Back at Burnside and the trip was over. We packed up and some of us stopped at a restaurant in Charlottetown for a meal of fish & chips.
A more detailed description of the trip can be found here. Its a summary with links to each pat of the trip.
I had paddled part of the area some years ago but I hadn't gotten to The Beaches. It was on my wish list. Now I can cross it off as done but maybe not for the last time.
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