Calling on fellow paddlers to tell us about their kayak experiences beyond the familiar shores of False Bay. I’ll tell you about ours if you tell us about yours.!!
Chris and I usually drive east to spend Christmas with family, and no matter how large the load of Christmas consumerables or building materials for holiday cottage repairs, he always manages to pack the seakayaks.
If the sea is rough at Nature’s Valley, we have to console ourselves with practicing eskimo rolling in the lagoon - there is no sheltered Bertha’s Beach style launch site. But if the sea is accommodating, an enervating paddle through the surf is a gateway to either a seaward version of the Otter Trail or westward toward Plett. East or west, the coast is dramatic and the sea full of surprises. This time we were visited by a humpback whale with calf. Anyone who has been close to a whale at sea will know about the lingering magic of the experience. There was a bit of wind chop and the whale surfaced within boat lengths of us before we realized we were not alone. Perfectly huge, with her calf a small replica shadowing her, she simply swam past. Surface, blow, huge finned back humping the ocean aside, confused wavelets marking their passing, surface, blow and that glossy black back again, and again and again. So big! but the only sound her blowing and my heart pounding.
Going through the surf at Nature’s Valley also gets my heart pounding and Double Barrel would chuckle if he could see me doing the `calming breathing’ I like to recommended to others. Fortunately the shore break at NV was smaller than usual and a strong rip current created a relatively wave free channel between beach and backbreak. – and the rest is good timing and for me lots of breathing…..
The Webb ed one joined us for a paddle in Plett. His beautiful wife who is actually a Selkie (which explains why she would rather swim than paddle - and how she manages to swim faster than most of us can paddle) had swam in the Robberg to Plett Charity race the day before Taking a similar route, we launched off the beach in the cnr of Robberg and paddled to the Point and then back via Beacon Isle Beach where we stopped for a leg stretch. When you next see the Webb ed ones ask them why Mark was seconding a seal and not Liz - something fishy there for sure! For us paddlers, the waves breaking off Robberg Point discouraged any thoughts of rounding the Point especially for Mark who was using one of our `foreign boats’ and heaven forbid – no photos please - a FlatPaddle.
I could not help comparing the magnificent roosts of the seals on Robberg with the rows of Plett beach mansions shouldering each other as they competed for seaviews and being thankful that Robberg is a conservation area. The bay is a haven for whales and possibly even for Selkies.
May 2010 be a year of great kayaking experiences for you.
KimK
No comments:
Post a Comment