Getting the boot ... out of Shoe Cove

After our lunch stop we got back on our horses to retrace our tracks back to Flatrock.  Heading east just out of Shoe Cove, Shoe Cove Island was our target.  The swell was too large and the tide too low to chance the opening between the island and the land ...

... so we paddled around the outside of the island.  The swell crashed everywhere the land got in its way.

Rounding Blackhead North we could see all the way down the coast.

The swell running from the east created swaths of foamy water.

Ferry Point at Dogs Hole looked interesting which we could see ...

... as we got closer.

Dean and I swung into Red Head Cove whereas Brian, Neville and Sean paddled across the mouth of the cove.

We were all together again after we passed Red Head paddling south alongside deeply etched rocks and before long ...

... we had the takeout at Flatrock in front of our bows.

It was a perfect day for a paddle.  Little wind but good open ocean conditions created by swell and clapotis.  We had to stay offshore a bit because getting caught inside the break zone would have resulted in serious consequences.

As Sean and I neared home on the drive back we drove along Conception Bay.  It was completely mirror calm.  A big difference on Sunday from the exposed east coast of the Avalon Peninsula.

Flat rocks and bumpy seas

Brian, Dean, Neville, Sean and I met at Flatrock for a paddle along the exposed coast up to Shoe Cove.  There was negligible wind and the temperature would be an unseasonably 15 C.  As Sean and I descended into the community of Flatrock we were surprised by the amount of white water crashing on the cliffs.  It would be a bumpy ride paddling in the open ocean domain.

In the inner harbour we started out on calm waters ...

... but foam on the water and the the sounds of crashing water had us exercising our stabilizer muscles.

Dean paddles by a thrust fault in the cliffs northeast of the harbour.  The fault has pushed younger, grey Conception Group rocks over reddish Cabot Group sandstones and conglomerates ...

... that also form the massive rocks of Red Head.

On the east side of Red Head Cove and north towards Stiles Cove and Shoe Cove, reddish rocks give way to the greenish grey siltstones of the Conception Group.

After rounding Blackhead North we headed east by Chimney Gulch on our way to Shoe Cove and a lunch break ...

... but we had a bit of wind out of the west to contend with enroute.  It wasn't much and I welcomed it for its cooling effect.

Usually every little nook and cranny along the coast already has a name.  This little cove surrounded by imposing cliffs is, as yet, un-named.

We paddled into this protected little cove that I held out to be Shoe Cove.  This is where it gets a little complicated.  This little cove can be accessed by Shoe Cove Road and the Shoe Cove Brook runs into it but the map shows Shoe Cove to be the next cove over towards Pouch Cove.

That naming anomaly didn't take away from the fact it was a perfect place to stop for lunch ... Shoe Cove or not.

I took off my PFD, skirt and unzipped the drysuit to let in some air.  The five of us sat in the glorious sun to eat our lunches.  It was the first comfortably warm day this calendar year and we were in no hurry to get back to Flatrock.

Dean has some shots of the day's paddle on his blog.