Eddie's Cove West
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
I'm not sure why I check the weather reports!
I slept soundly in my tent on Marina Plowman's lawn. Rain poured and when I get to Port Au Choix, there will be seam seal waiting for me at the post office among other things. A seam has started to leak on my old but favourite tent and I put my rain coat over me when it pours during the night.
I had a leisurely morning, sleeping in as the wind tugged at the tent. I wrote in my journal and waterproofed my Keen hiking boots, sitting on the front porch in the sun. I noticed that the wind had died down. I listened to my VHF radio. Winds would be 15 knots from the southwest veering to 15 knots from the northwest at noon. That would push me southwards. I packed up and departed late in the morning.
The waves were small. The wind was fairly light and refreshing. I was enjoying the spectacular scenery, flat mountains inland with dramatic shadows from the horizontal layers streaking across the length of the mountains. Dreamy cumulus clouds hovered over the summits with clear blue skies.
The wind picked up. I dug in. I'd headed directly across St. John Bay towards Eddie's Cove West. It would be a 25 km paddle and another 15 km I hoped to paddle to Port Au Choix.
By about 2:30, the wind really kicked in. It hadn't swivelled, it had only intensified. I dug in. Waves built in size up to a meter and more. The kayak often climbed vertically up steep waves and plummeted into the troughs with sharp jolts and huge splashes of sea spray whacking me. I put my head down and let the cap take the watery assault.
By now, I was straining to keep up my strength and progress. I didn't want to relent and lose the kilometers gained, but these last 10 kilometers were hard earned distance! I gave every ounce of myself in my strokes. I paddled with all my might. But I was fatiguing. It was arduous. I cried and then instantly stopped. I needed to focus on paddling with strength. Ever so slowly, the details of the mountains crept by and the hamlet of Eddie's Cove approached.
With great relief, I landed the kayak after 5.5 hours of the most strenuous paddling I have done on this circumnavigation. I landed in a sheltered harbour on a small gravel beach. My tent is set up in a small meadow next to a dock filled with stacked lobster traps. Lobster season is over, and this shoreline did well this season compared to other areas of Newfoundland.
After cooking noodles on the beach, I visited Dorothy and Floyd Lawless where I was able to shower, make phone calls and update my blog. Thank you to Dorothy and Floyd.
Without a doubt, I'll sleep well tonight. The day was more strenuous than I'd imagined it would be.
I slept soundly in my tent on Marina Plowman's lawn. Rain poured and when I get to Port Au Choix, there will be seam seal waiting for me at the post office among other things. A seam has started to leak on my old but favourite tent and I put my rain coat over me when it pours during the night.
I had a leisurely morning, sleeping in as the wind tugged at the tent. I wrote in my journal and waterproofed my Keen hiking boots, sitting on the front porch in the sun. I noticed that the wind had died down. I listened to my VHF radio. Winds would be 15 knots from the southwest veering to 15 knots from the northwest at noon. That would push me southwards. I packed up and departed late in the morning.
The waves were small. The wind was fairly light and refreshing. I was enjoying the spectacular scenery, flat mountains inland with dramatic shadows from the horizontal layers streaking across the length of the mountains. Dreamy cumulus clouds hovered over the summits with clear blue skies.
The wind picked up. I dug in. I'd headed directly across St. John Bay towards Eddie's Cove West. It would be a 25 km paddle and another 15 km I hoped to paddle to Port Au Choix.
By about 2:30, the wind really kicked in. It hadn't swivelled, it had only intensified. I dug in. Waves built in size up to a meter and more. The kayak often climbed vertically up steep waves and plummeted into the troughs with sharp jolts and huge splashes of sea spray whacking me. I put my head down and let the cap take the watery assault.
By now, I was straining to keep up my strength and progress. I didn't want to relent and lose the kilometers gained, but these last 10 kilometers were hard earned distance! I gave every ounce of myself in my strokes. I paddled with all my might. But I was fatiguing. It was arduous. I cried and then instantly stopped. I needed to focus on paddling with strength. Ever so slowly, the details of the mountains crept by and the hamlet of Eddie's Cove approached.
With great relief, I landed the kayak after 5.5 hours of the most strenuous paddling I have done on this circumnavigation. I landed in a sheltered harbour on a small gravel beach. My tent is set up in a small meadow next to a dock filled with stacked lobster traps. Lobster season is over, and this shoreline did well this season compared to other areas of Newfoundland.
After cooking noodles on the beach, I visited Dorothy and Floyd Lawless where I was able to shower, make phone calls and update my blog. Thank you to Dorothy and Floyd.
Without a doubt, I'll sleep well tonight. The day was more strenuous than I'd imagined it would be.
5 Comments:
Wendy, every kilometre counts. You're doing great!
I'm just home form my PEI jaunt. Folks down there remember you well, you'll be happy to hear, especially in the Rustico Harbour area, where I was paddling last Saturday. North Cape was wild and windy, very bouncy!
I hope Canada Post has beaten you to Port au Choix and all you packages are there waiting for you. Keep on paddling! It's all downhill on the map! ;-)
Wendy- You're beating this paddle around Newfoundland! It's not beating you girl! Keep it going!
Oh, those afternoon breezes!!!
That sort of wind pattern - building sharply in the early afternoon - is common along the east coast and in central Newfoundland during the summer. Lilly-dippers like myself and Chris prefer to take a long, long lunch break ashore, perhaps followed by a short nap, when confronted with it.
Real paddlers, of course, being made of much sterner stuff, chug right along, piling up the miles...and the blisters ;->))
Regards, and take care out there.
Rick and Chris
Wendy, in case you don't call before we leave, I'm heading to Murphy's Cove for the weekend on Friday afternoon.
As my luck would have it, Tropical Storm Beryl is due to make landfall around midnight Friday at...wait for it... Murphy's cove.
:(
Oh well, the surfing should be decent!
Stay safe, you have my cell number if there's anything you need.
Glenn
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