First paddle of 2023!  Pack ice drifted into Conception Bay for the first time in years so it was a have to paddle. The ice was close to shore but further up along the coast.  I passed the first piece of floating ice on my way to the ice front. A more substantial piece had floated into this small indent in the cliffs where water froze into a wall of icicles. I carried on and met the main field and paddled northerly along its edge.  It was pretty well all packed closely together with no way through.  I had to accept that my paddle would have to be along its outside edge ..read more

  Here's the track to our camp site on Saturday, July16.  We had a look out at the top of Woody Island and opted the route on the outside and had a peek again when we reached Little Woody Island.  We turned back and found ... ... this lovely protected campsite.  We woke up early in the morning and the water was ... ... dead calm.  Crazy the day before wind waves washed over the fore deck and spray skirt.  A few hours later it was ... ... fair weather paddling. We had a relaxed paddle along forested hills that came down to the water level.  Paddling north ..read more

No kayak camp trip last so when Clyde mailed about a one night trip to Carroll Point on Bar Haven Island Brian, Hazen and I accepted the invitation from him and Dean.  We met at 8:00 for the two hour plus ride to Garden Cove in Placentia Bay where we loaded up the kayaks to paddle the top of Sound Island on choppy waters. Dean and I were first to reach Bloody Point at the top of Sound Island where ...  ... we were joined by Brian, Clyde and Hazen and entered the channel between the island and the mainland and headed south. Sticking close to shore we paddled through numerous kelp ..read more

I haven't paddled much of late.  So, when Shane proposed a paddle I jumped at the chance.  It looked a good day for it; it was sunny and very little wind.  When we left the harbour we got a bit of a surprise.  A significant ... ... wind event was to the east of us and sending significant swell our way that, rebounding off the cliffs made things chaotic with clapotis on top of the swell. Both Dean and I hadn't done much paddling and both of us were a little uncomfortable requiring close attention to what we were doing. There were times distant hills disappeared behind th ..read more

Hard to believe but I might be back to some kind of regular paddling; twice inside of two weeks!  Dean mailed the usual suspects and I was the only positive reply.  We met at Long Pond in Conception Bay for a paddle over to and around Kellys Island. We left the confines of the harbour and began our 3 km crossing to Kellys Island in the distance. Thirty minutes later we were across and under the imposing 50 meter high cliffs.  The water was calm between Kelly Island and the mainland and we were taking our time getting a little push from the flood tide.  As we approached ..read more

This has the feel of a confession. The last time I paddled was May 30th!  I can't explain it but I've lost my mojo.  I lost my enthusiasm for paddling.  Maybe yesterday's paddle is the start of the way back?  Dean mailed the usual suspects for a paddle out of Conception Harbour.  I considered a bike ride but I hadn't seen Dean in a while so I appreciated the nudge. There was a breeze blowing from the north barely evident in the harbour but I could see whitecaps in the distance.  It felt good to be back in the kayak.  Before long Dean and Brian and I ..read more

Sunday was a perfect day for a paddle over to Kellys Island.  Its a 3 km crossing from Long Pond were we assembled for the put-in. Once we were all on the water we paddled out through the pond and made for the exit into Conception Bay. Thirty minutes later we were along the shore of Kellys Island and making our way in a southerly direction. As we pulled into one of the few places to take out I noticed someone on the cliffs above with a metal detector.  I don't think the person was going to find Peter Easton's pirate treasure rumoured to be burried on the island. We got out for a ..read more

  In August 2009 Graham O posted a message on the then kayak message board inviting paddlers to practice skills in St. Philips.  He opened it to Paddle Canada level II certified paddlers.  I had no certification, and still don't today, but that wasn't going to stop me.  I went demonstrated a roll and I was in.  There were four of us the first night. Graham moved and in 2010 I thought the 2009 sessions were so beneficial I thought to continue the practices which did so until 2017.  By then they started to fizzle out as attendance dropped to a few every evening. In ..read more

Spring is here and after a winter of fatbiking in the snow it was time to get some paddling in.  At home is was pea soup thick fog but at water level the fog wasn't an issue.  Higher up on Bell Island five kilometers away the fog also hung high on the land. Sailing Point, my favorite channel to paddle through.  The water was pretty calm. At Beachy Cove I stopped to check out the exposed sheeted dikes.  I was paddling along the fault line of the Topsail fault.  The friction of the rocks moving past each other melted them and injected the molten material into the fiss ..read more

The first Christmas Eve paddle happened in 2009.  There were five of us: Dean, Derrick, Sean, Stan and myself.  As is evident in the picture, it was also a green Christmas year.  Since then they haven't all been green.  Some were of the more ... ... of the wild and wooly kind as in 2012 when Brian's son caught Brian, Sean and myself out for a bounce.  Brian (left) and Sean (right) in the closest and myself barely visible in the distant waves.  We've put these Christmas Eve paddles of in seven of the last 12 years.  A few years weather intervened; obviously ..read more