Avondale in the Evening

Last week me, Chislett and Travis Marshall, went out for a few hours in Avondale. Always a great location for a short paddle. 10kms in about 2 hrs. A few photos below:

Shipwreck in Conception Harbour

Travis's S&G Pygmy Osprey. Nice craft

Me having fun

Nice Evening

Checking out some lobster pots

Chapel Arm

My wife is in the Dominican Republic with her friends, my daughter is with her grandparents, so that for me means: paddle as much as possible. After dropping Heidi off in Chance Cove me and Chislett hit the water in Chapel Arm for a few hours in the afternoon. There was a bit of a breeze and some dandy wind waves to play in. We paddled on the eastern side of the arm as far as Little Ridge, where we stopped for a short lunch, then surfed our way back to the slipway. As a bonus, on our way back a minke whale surfaced right behind us! Scared the crap out of me, but was awesome all the same :-)

Altogether about 8kms and just under 2 hrs. Here are a few pics.

Getting ready to leave the slipway

Short stop in Spread Eagle beach





Lovely waterfall



Hanging out under a cliff





Looking back at Chapel Arm from Little Ridge

Ocean Pond to Markland Canoe Trip

Over the long weekend, me and my buddy Chad Chislett got out for an overnight canoe trip. I have been sizing up this potential trip on Google Earth for the past few years, thinking "I bet you could do that in a canoe". We had planned on leaving Saturday and returning Sunday, but the winds had other ideas, so we put it off for a day. Sunday morning we hit the water. The weather was perfect, although a little bit chillier than I thought it was going to be.

Packing up the gear

The plan was to take our time, and fish our way down to the foot of Ocean Pond and camp for the night, get up early, and fish/paddle our way through the series of ponds and rivers that eventually come out in Markland, where we had left Chads car. The total distance of about 21kms.

Map of our trip

The only concern I had was about the water levels for about 2kms. We may have a bit of a slog through shallow water, dragging the canoe behind us. Turned out the water levels weren't bad, and we only had to drag the canoe through shallow water a few times. Also had to lower the canoe over 3 small waterfalls.

Happy to be on the water

Lots of boaters on the go in Ocean Pond, there are so many huge cabins on the pond, and almost every one has a boat house. Trouting season just opened, so lots of people were out trying their luck. So were we.

Trying to put food on the table

We were hoping to get a meal of trout to cook that evening, but all we caught were ouananiche (land-locked salmon). They are lots of fun on the rod, but not very good to eat. It only took a couple of hours to fish/paddle our way the 7 or so kms to the camp site. The flies were out in full force, so we had to get a nice smokey fire on the go right away.

Our campsite

The is a small dam at the end of the pond, and there was lots of boat traffic going there to try for a few trout, but from what we heard, no one else was having any luck either. So no trout for supper for us, ribs and chicken instead! With our bellies full, we had a few drinks and shot the shit around the fire before going to sleep. We were awake around 7am to another glorious day.

Nothing beats breakfast on a camp fire. Bacon and Eggs, mmmm!

Similar luck with the trout this day as well. The rivers didn't turn out to be too bad, and the unknown of what was around the next bend made it that much more fun. Awesome trip overall. It could easily be done as a day trip, or in a sea kayak if the water levels are high enough. But I wouldn't take a fibreglass boat, or a carbon fibre paddle thats for sure :-)

Hello Kayak My Old Friend

Got back in the saddle yesterday evening. First time on the water since November! Oh how having a child changes things. Anyhow the stars aligned yesterday I was able to go to Spread Eagle and paddle to Southern Point, take a peek into Chapel Arm than paddle back. A leisurely paddle of about 8kms. Saw 2 eagles hanging around the nest in that area, but didn't see or hear any eaglets. Lots of people trying for sea trout also, now that the season has started. The sounds of the water, the salty air, it was great to be back on the water again. I'm hoping a planned overnight paddling trip for this weekend will work out, been a while since I've been in a tent also. Have a good weekend everybody.

Lucky

While taking our daughter for her first swim, I discovered that my waterproof camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TSC1, had leaked water into the battery compartment and had died. Just Great. A $400 camera thats supposedly "waterproof" is ruined from being in the water. Just F'n great!

Anger stewing in my brain, we left to drive back home. Not 5 minutes from our house, all I can see is the ass and hind legs of a large animal. MOOSE!!!! I slam on the brakes and cut the wheel to the left to hopefully avoid the huge animal. The sound of smashing glass and my wife screaming. I can't believe what just happened, we hit a moose. I manage to pull the car off to the side and we scramble out the check on Heidi. Angie is covered in glass, but otherwise is ok. Heidi is awake in her rear-facing carseat. She is fine. We got lucky.

The car, nor the moose wasn't so lucky. The moose was dead on the road and cars were swerving to avoid it, and some people stopped to see if we were ok. Me and a few guys managed to drag the large animal off the road so one else would hit it.

The police show up, write up the report, determine the car is ok to drive back to our house, as its just up the road, but Angie had to sit in the back due to all the glass in the front. We covered Heidi with a blanket to make sure no glass got on her from the wind blowing on what was left of the windsheild.

We get home and make some phone calls. We are a little shaken, our appetite for supper was gone, but we are ok.

Our camera is busted, our car is most likley a write-off...........but who gives a shit, its just material stuff, it can all be replaced. Before long Heidi was asleep in her crib, and Angie and I were relaxing on the couch watching Sopranos and snacking on chips. We are lucky.

Ocean Pond

On September 17 my wife and I dropped Heidi off with the grandparents so we could get out for an afternoon paddle. Hurricane Maria had come through the day before, and they were warning of a storm surge, so we decided to stay off the ocean and go to the next best thing, a pond named after the ocean. Its only a 10 minute drive or so from our house, so the location was perfect as well.

The biggest issue I've found with these ponds and lakes in cottage country is finding a place to launch, as most of the land around the ponds are privately owned, with little or no public access. We found a short path down to the pond at the entrance to Ocean Pond so we pulled over. The gentlemen who owned the cabin across the road from the path came down to check us out, so I asked if it was ok for us to launch our boats there and if our car would be in the way parked where it was. He said it should be fine, and for us to be careful around his wharf. I told him not to worry, that we wouldn't be using his wharf, just launching from the bank. We didn't drive anywhere else, so I don't know if there are any other public accesses but from what we saw from the water, weren't any.

Launch spot marked X

It was a great paddle, nice warm September day. We paddled to the far end of the pond, where there is a cabin and small beach area, where we stopped to have our lunch. The return trip was 15kms. This could have been made much longer if we followed the perimeter of the pond and poked around the islands and inlets. We were a bit limited with time, so we did pretty much a straight route.

One of the few launch spots

There is a lot of boat traffic here, seadoos, speed boats, paddleboats, canoes, etc.. Its a very popular cottage area, so it can be pretty busy. Even for a September day it there was a lot of activity. If you are planning on doing this paddle, I'd recommend you take a map. Not that you'll get lost on a pond, but it can be confusing with the low lying land and all the islands and inlets. A map makes it much easier to navigate.

Looking down the pond

Angie making her way

Our lunch spot, not bad

A happy couple on a happy day

Summer's Gone

Summer, or what there was of it, is pretty much gone now. The temperatures are starting to get pretty low in the evenings. There was even a frost warning last week! Ouch!

For the past 2 weeks, my sister and family were home from Winnipeg for a visit, so I took my brother-in-law, Rob, out for a short paddle in Spread Eagle. It was his first time in a sea kayak, and the first time I'd been on the ocean in 3 weeks, so I was more than happy to take him out.

The stretch of coast from Spread Eagle to Marley's Cove is pretty nice, with lots of little nooks and crannies to poke into. I even got to practice a few rolls and self rescues...but just to show off mostly :-)

Squeezing between the rocks

Rob posing at Wigwam Rock

I've been getting in a bit of pond practice behind my house lately, which is great. Trying to nail down my offside roll, sculling brace, etc.. But daylight is getting less and less every day, so my time for this is getting short. Summer's gone :-(