Cape Broyle

Hazen organized the trip to Cape Broyle.  There were two groups to comply with health directives: one group of five and one group of one, me *lol*.  Cape Broyle is a scenic paddle destination.  It is also one of ten favourite places of our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.  If I remember correctly he had his stag party there.

Not long after getting underway I came upon this loon swimming along the shore.  It felt is was an apt representation of the loony times we currently live in.

The usual first destination in Cape Broyle is Horsechops River Falls.  Surprisingly very much subdued at this time of year given spring runoff should be underway.

We started off along the north side of the harbour and at The Narrows we crossed over to the south side.  There are a number of sea stacks on that side as well as caves and massive cliffs like ...

 ... here!

Showertime!  We each took turns under this stream of cascading water that fell from some 20 meters.  Bone chilling but exhilarating.  No chickening out was tolerated *lol*

One of a number of caves.

The destination of Cape Broyle was predicated on the tide being at maximum when we arrived.  That allowed us to get over a rocky entrance and into and thru a tunnel.  There was a little bit of wave action guarding the entrance that Clyde and I got over no problem.  The others opted to go around which was unfortunate to miss the opportunity.

This is not said tunnel but one of the caves yet, it gives a pretty good idea of what the tunnel exit looks like.

Ashleigh and Hazen are dwarfed by the sea stack as you enter Lance Cove.  Lance Cove is the usual destination and turn around point for club paddles.  We debated having lunch here but decided we'd carry on further east and have lunch at ...

... Church Cove.  We turned into the cove into a head wind and found a bit of swell made for a tricky surf landing on the dumping beach.  All hands made an uneventful landing and after lunch, an uneventful launch.

18.5 kms after leaving the put-in we were back, got out of our padding gear, loaded the kayaks aboard the vehicles and congratulated ourselves on an outstanding day, all at a safe distance apart.

Physical distancing = 1 paddle length

One of the issues for people who are adhering to the health measures to flatten the Covid-19 curve is not being able to see friends.  The five of us that paddled have been good.  Today was also the 11th straight day of no new cases and about 18 days with zero or 1 new case.

We decided the weather beckoned and given the above we decided to get out for a paddle using physical distancing.  That was easy to do on the water.

We agreed to meet at St. Philips where we were careful to maintain physical distancing while putting in and we were on our way north into a gentle breeze.

While we had the gentlest of breezes there was a slight swell running that heaved up when it hit the rocks.  There is a passage behind these waves but the first paddle in some time meant exercising good judgement until skills were sharpened after the layoff.

I thought some rocks were safe enough to get around so I went and caught Brian and Hazen who opted not to.

Derrick claimed the day was his eighth paddle of the year.  That's about eight more than he did all of last year *lol*.  We might see more of him if they don't put sailboats in the water at the Holyrood Yacht Club this year.

Brian and Dean emerge from the channel at Sailing Point.

In due course we neared our destination of Portugal Cove with the coast stretching far off into the distance to Cape St. Francis.

At Portugal Cove we bobbed around for a while before heading back to St. Philips.  This is what physical distancing looks like and may continue to look like for some time to come.  Its the new normal.  Its a shame we won't be stopping for post paddle coffee anytime soon but at least it was great to get out for a paddle with these guys.