Glacial ghosts at Harbour Main

Saturday the weather cooperated for a paddle though is was cool and there was a chance of drizzle.  We decided to do a paddle from Holyrood to Harbour Main.  Cathy, Gary, Shane, Terry and I left from the Holyrood Marina and ...

... explored the Holyrood Marine Base of the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfundland while we waited for Jenn and Max to join us.

When Jenn and Max joined up with us we began or paddle out the bay.

We arrived at the 75 meter high Blow Me Down Bluff.

At Mackays Point we took turns beating the bit of swell there was to scoot through the rocks at the point.

Inside the cove at Chapel Cove Point we stopped to check out the bit of swell breaking over some rocks.

At Red Rock cove the colour of the rocks change from dark grey to reddish brown.  Here these sedimentary rocks of Cambrian age are juxtaposed against the darker volcanic rocks of the Harbour Main Group, brought here by faulting.

Terry gets a closer look.

Rounding Harbour Main Point we paddled south and not far from Faheys Cove we crossed over to a beach at Moores Head.  Before taking out for lunch I checked out ...

... these sediments deposited during the Gaskiers Glaciation that occurred some 579 million years go during the Ediacaran Period.  These deposits are sometimes referred to as diamictites (though there is disagreement on the use of the term) that are formed when rocks embedded in the bottom of a glacier melt out and fall onto the sea floor.  The red oval contains one such cobble and one which has weathered out and left only a hole in the finer matrix.

I find it just humbling thinking about the huge time gap between the period of Snowball Earth and me floating in my kayak.  I felt very small in the grand scheme of things.

I came back to reality and joined the rest of the gang for a lunch stop before retracing our steps back to Holyrood to end another fine day in the kayak.