Top 10 paddles of 2016 - #7

On Christmas morning the countdown continues with a short post on a paddle Cathy, Gary and I did on November 11th from Tors Cove to LaManche return.  Normally we get 19 - 20 kms by handrailing the shoreline but on that day it was rough and we had to stay off shore due to the conditions making only 14 kms.  There are days when I enjoy a calm water paddle and there are days I like to get my hands dirty so-to-speak.  This was one of those days.

We put in in Tors Cove.  The swell was from the SE and paddling out of Tors Cove we had protection from the islands of the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.

Nearing Pee Pee Island we began to lose that protection and things got bigger.

It looks like I'm lying about that but I only got one decent shot of the conditions and that's on the original post.  I'm using some shots I didn't use previously.

Paddling into LaManche Bay we had the swell on the port beam.  It was exciting paddling until we got close to the entrance to LaManche with its new suspension bridge, part of the East Coast Trail.

Checking out the falls where the LaManche River spills into the sea.

There's no "beach" in LaManche, only a minefield of rocks at low tide  We climbed up to the bridge looking down on the kayaks opting to move to the foundation of one of the abandoned houses that used to stand here before the community was moved up the coast.

Cathy brought a few sticks to have a fire but there was no other wood to feed it so we made light of the cold damp weather.

I didn't take any further pictures on the way back paying attention to boat handling.  I felt Cathy was close to the upper limit of her comfort zone so I stuck close by hovering just behind and off to the side.  She was fine and I hope comfortable with the security blanket.  Its what open ocean paddling is all about and one of the more memorable rough water paddles I had this past year.