I have been taking lots of pictures but I haven't been able to write about our adventures. Rather than killing myself finding time to try and describe each place we've been, I thought I'd do a little photo-journal entry...
We have only been out twice this year so far- the first time it was sheer stubborn will that got us on the water and kept us out for as long as we could since the temperature was around five degrees celsius and there was still ice on the water.
We found a wonderful beach that we will definitely return to in the Summer... It is completely hidden away from view in a little cove off of Terence Bay. I took a picture because with the sun shining and the water so calm it looked like a tropical paradise, but the truth was we only stayed a short while since as soon as we got out of our kayaks the wind took all the warmth from our bodies.
As we climbed back in and sealed up our skirts around the openings, we started generating and capturing heat again. It made me realize once again how dang smart the Inuit were. Kayaks are built for stability, speed and warmth!
It was absolutely gorgeous the whole day, but I managed to freeze my hands rather thoroughly, and the clean up at the end of the day (rinsing off the kayaks and gear outside in the cold air) was brutal.
Last weekend we were so desperate to get back out that we loaded everything up and drove to a bird sanctuary by Martinique beach about an hour from our house even though the temperature was only about eleven degrees and the wind was at seventeen kilometres an hour with gusts to twenty five. The whole way there we kept looking at the trees blowing in the wind and willing them to suddenly stop and stand still.
When we got to the bird sanctuary it reminded us of the Magdellen Islands... incredible stretches of beach on either side of the road forever. Unfortunately the wind reached almost gale force and we had the good sense to know when to cut our losses.
Luckily the next day turned out to be calm and as soon as we got up (having left the kayaks on the car) we headed out to Prospect. After the day before, we didn't want to trust ourselves that it would be good weather for long...
We needn't have worried. It turned out to be the most amazing trip we've had yet. But I'll save those pictures for another entry...
There is nothing that can compare to the feeling you get when you are flying over calm water in a kayak. Looking down you experience vertigo... Cliffs of rock wheel up at you covered in seaweed, anenomes, shells and sand dollars. Luminous green patches promise sandy ocean floors thirty or forty feet below. It feels as if you could fall into the depths and be whisked away into another world. I now know why sailors used to go crazy and jump overboard.
It is hard to capture in pictures, but I've included a few that I thought showed how clear it was. We spent over fours hours on the water, starting out very early in the morning. It was completely calm the entire time and so warm in the sun that we almost fell asleep suntanning on our picnic blanket after lunch.
It's amazing looking down at your own shadow on the ocean floor... Can you believe that this was April fifteenth?
