Bay Bulls - Iceberg

Today I had the itch to get out for a paddle and knew there was an iceberg spotted in Bay Bulls last week so I though I'd go out there to see if I could get close.

Heading out from the Outfitters launch.

When I Paddled out so far, out came a drilling rig I couldn't see from shore.

I don't usually take pictures of this kind of stuff but mixed with the Iceberg it made for a pretty good shot.

As I was paddling up the shore I got a few shots of some small caves.

The whole way up the shore out of Bay Bulls looks like this with some decent size caves in the mix.

Thought this was a nice picture.  I'm using an IPhone to take these so not bad.

Getting more excited the closer I got to the Iceberg.

So I'm close enough now to have my heart pick up a few beats per minute making my way around.

This one is probably my favorite pictures, or one of them anyways. 

Worked my way a little closer for this one.

Hearing the swell crash into the Berg coupled with the cracking and splitting sound of the Iceberg was pretty intimidating when you out there alone in a kayak!

I just couldn't help myself... I had to paddle between these two Icebergs.  Between the sound of the Icebergs cracking and the noise made from the large rolling swell smashing into them... yep what a rush! :)

As I was paddling between the Icebergs I stayed a little closer to the smaller one and as I was passing by you could see that it was much larger under the water.

I got a few picture of the end of the big Iceberg as I was passing through.  I thought the color was awesome!

As I finished taking this picture and turned to put my camera away a hear a splash and being on high alert anyway my head quickly snaps to the left and all I see is the tail end of a seal disappear under the water about 6 feet from the side of my kayak.  I guess while I was watching the Bergs he was watching me...what a fright the little bugger gave me! lol

(I actually laughed out loud when this happened)

This is my Favorite!  Love this shot.

And no trip to explore an Iceberg would be complete without some Iceberg Ice in a glass of Rum.

** Please Enjoy Responsibly **

;-)

Well I can't think of any better way to spend a Monday evening...or any evening for that matter.

Adding them up this is my 3rd solo paddle.  Although it would have been great to share this experience with friends it was still an amazing day and a great step towards becoming a more confident paddler.  As I said earlier there were times when I realized how small I actually was out there compared to the Iceberg and the huge rolling swell.  There were also times when my BPM went through the roof lol but that's a big part of what makes this sport so much fun and so exciting. 

3 Island Weekend (Placentia Bay)

A few weeks ago myself and Terry decided to go on a three day trip for May 24th to Placentia Bay hitting Sound Island, Woody Island, and Bar Haven Island.  We checked with a few others to see if they were up for the trip but most were busy with the retreat weekend so it was just the two of us for this trip.

Saturday morning I loaded up all the gear I had packed the night before went to pick up Terry then took off to Garden Cove.

Just under two hours and here we are excited to get the trip underway.

Here is the view of Sound Island from the slipway.

It didn't take us too long to load up our boats and set off to explore.

The wind was up a little when we headed out so instead of taking a chance on the east side of Sound Island we went through the channel.

These three Islands have nice beaches all over the place.  No trouble at all to find a place to camp for the night.

We took our time taking in all the scenery and looking down at the ocean floor through the crystal clear water but before we knew it we were crossing over to Woody Island.

I can see why people still have cabins and summer homes out here.  What an awesome place with amazing view.

The resort

A few of the locals were around and a few people up on the resort deck giving us a shout so we decided to show off a little with a few rolls.

After playing and touring around the cove we headed back down the channel to hunt for our camp site for the weekend.

We decided Creve Islet would be home for the weekend.  Perfect spot we found on this tiny little Island.

By the time we got unpacked and camp set up it was after five so we decided to paddle over to Woody Island in our jeans and hiking boots to go explore.

We weren't sure how long we would be and the tide was coming in so to parked our kayaks up on these logs.

This is what I mean by amazing views.  Who wouldn't want to wake up here every morning???

I thought this made for a really nice picture.  Named Main Rd. Woody Island by me.

 We came across this old sign I thought was just a random thing...

But about 50 yards down the road we came across the old school grounds.

This is where church used to be.

Just by great luck when myself and Terry were reading the plaque these two little girls showed up and one says "that's my great grandfather".

I thought it was pretty awesome to run into these girls just as we were reading about their Grandfather.

Here is what the old grounds used to look like.

 Here is the view from shore of the same place in one of my earlier pictures.

We came across a little museum on our hike across Woody Island.  The doors were locked but I managed a picture through the glass.

At the end of our hike was Back Cove.  What a huge beautiful beach with a front row view of Placentia Bay.

 I took some really nice picture on the way back.  With the sun setting it made it hard to beat this kind of scenery.

We finished up what was almost a 10KM hike of Woody Island and headed back to camp for some supper.

The menu was Tenderloin Steak and Marinated Chicken Thighs with baked potato.

We finished the night off with a nice fire and Jiffy Pop!

The second day our plan was to paddle to Bar Haven and depending on time and weather either continue around the Island or come back the way we came.

We ate a good breakfast and packed enough food and water to last the day then took off to Bar Haven Island.

That's Little Woody Island in the distance and Bar Haven Island to the right.

We paddled over to Little Woody and cut across to Bar Haven then.

From the way the day was shaping up I prepared myself for at least a 30 KM day.

Making our way around the island into Bar Haven you can see how clear the water is here.

A few shots of sea life...

We got to Bar Haven took off our dry suits, laced up our boots, and went for another 5KM hike.

Caution: If you camp with Terry bring comfortable boots...and lots of water lol ;)

Old TV the had in the Town Hall

The bell set up where the old Church used to be.

After we finished our hike through the woods and got back to the "Bar" we had some lunch before continuing on with the second half of our trip.

This is the South view from our lunch break

And the North view.

We made our way around the South end of Bar Haven Island and crossed over to Gultch where we played in the little current there and picked a few mussels for supper.

Heading back up to Woody Island we saw two Bald Eagles.

This guy was a monster!  Wicked animals!

Our feed of Mussels.

Our last fire for the trip.

We packed up early the next morning after we had breakfast and headed back up to Sound Island only this time we took the East side route.

When we got over to Sound Island and got half way up we came across a mini Paradise.

I paddled right past the beach not realizing it was an L shaped channel...Good thing Terry was paying attention.

This was the highlight of the trip for me. 

I wasted ZERO time climbing out of my kayak and jumping in by the falls.

Myself and Terry both enjoyed this place and weren't in any hurry to leave.

We stuck around playing in the water here and had a snack for close on an hour before deciding to carry on.

The bad news of the trip is my camera broke part way through the second day.  I thought it was just the screen and I was still getting pictures but the pictures are not usable.

A few key picture I really wish would have came through are:

-An Eagle swooping down from a sea stack as we made our way around the South end of Sound Island.

-Pictures I took around and on Bar Haven Island including Sea Stacks, Islands, and Caves

-A video of myself and Terry running down the current at Gultch.

-And the one I REALLY wanted pictures of which was our mini Paradise.

Other than the camera and me missing a few million dollar shots this was an incredible trip!

One of the most beautiful places I've ever been for sure.

This was mine and Terry's first time kayaking in this area and we both agreed it was an unforgettable place.  We had warm calm warm weather all three days which made for perfect camping and great conditions to be able to explore every bit of coastline.

We saw some amazing things and met some great people who were more than willing to offer up some history on the places they were living.

We ended up kayaking 56.4 KMs

And hiking 14.6 KMs 

I will 100% be doing another trip here in the future!

Great weekend Terry!