A few more aerial shots

It has been a while since I posted some images taken from the aircraft window, the last few months has seen some pretty turbulent flights so I haven't managed to get too many pictures.  Below are a selection of some of those I have taken over the last few years, generally illustrating some superb sea kayaking waters.  Remember the best entertainment on a flight is the view out of the window so keep your camera handy.

 The Cherbourg Peninsula, seen whilst flying north.  The infamous Alderney Races separates this tip of France from the most northerly of the Channel Islands.  Very challenging waters best visited for the first time on neap tides.

 Approaching Athens, landing in Athens is always exciting because it has inevitably resulted in some superb sea kayaking.

 Looking back towards Bonne Nuit, on the north coast of Jersey.  This was a particularly memorable flight as I had been running a course for the local Air Training Cadets, which resulted in a flight around Jersey in a Hercules.  Very memorable

 These are the Casquets, a wild group of rocks  with an unusual lighthouse about 8 miles west of Alderney.  As we were flying at about 18,000 feet it gives an idea of the size of the waves.  August 1989 was the only time that conditions came together to allow me to paddle out to this remote outpost of the Channel Islands.

 Cap Vani, the north west corner of Milos, in the Greek Islands.  Always great sea kayaking.  Contact Rod at Sea Kayak Milos for a superb trip.

 The Ecrehous, the shingle bank of this memorable reef is clearly visible.  Any sea kayaker visiting Jersey should aim to visit this delightful offshore reef.

 The north western corner of the Nuussuaq Peninsula on the northern side of Disko Bay.  A small piece of land can just be seen jutting into the ice.  This is the village of Niaqornat.  The 2013 film "Village at the end of World" was made here and is well worth watching.  I visited the village in 2012.

 The entrance to the harbour at Portsmouth.  From this height it is not obvious just how busy the waterways are in this area.

 Last Thursday morning as we passed over the Isle of Wight the Dorset coast was just about visible.  I have spent some great weekends kayaking along this coast with Portsmouth Canoe Club in the last few years.  Although not great views it seemed to be the first time for months that anything at all had been visible from the aircraft window.

Milos Again

In October 2010 Chester and myself from Absolute Adventures organized a circumnavigation of Milos, that well known sea kayaking island in Greece, to raise money for Jersey Hospice and Centre Point Trust.

A total of 30 kayakers, from Jersey, headed towards southern Greece for the last week of October and we were blessed with some excellent weather at the beginning of the week, followed by some more entertaining conditions.

 Sulphur Mine on the east coast of Milos.  A great spot for a break and a swim, even in October.

 Cooking porridge on the west coast of the island, after a night of violent storms.  Tents were flattened, sea kayaks blown along the beach and the night sky lit by lightening storms.

 Kleftico.  The south west corner of the island with a superb range of arches and stacks.

 The final day along the south coast.  Clouds of this size produce entertaining squalls!

 Sarah proving that even after a night on the beach it is possible to look reasonably glamorous.

On the north coast of the island.  Ideal conditions for exploring the geological features.

In October 2011 we are returning to Milos again with the aim of raising more money for these two charities so if you are interested in helping to raise funds whilst paddling in one of Europe's great sea kayaking destinations why not get in touch.  Contact myself for further information and consider heading south this autumn.

Positive Thoughts

On Sunday morning I updated the site before noticing that all of the posts of the last 6 years had disappeared.  After a little help from Peter in Australia I managed to locate a number of the posts and managed to re-instate a number of the pages.  This was extremely frustrating to say the least but things took a slightly more frustrating turn when with a bit of investigative analysis I discovered that the site had been accessed from France and somebody had maliciously deleted all my work of the the last few years.
What is interesting that it was possible to find out how they had discovered the site, where they live (within a radius of a couple of kilometres) and the unique identification of their computer, plus some other bits and pieces.
It is sad to think that some people have nothing better to on Saturday nights than spend time trying to destroy other peoples work and what a waste of talent.
This is a site about sea kayaking though and so here are a few pictures to remind us why we go paddling rather than spending our time trying to destroy other peoples work.  Family, friends and the environment.

 Chester at Tour de Rozel

 The family having circumnavigated Milos

 Katie in a storm bound Uags bothy

 The Ecrehous in June, where is better?

 Disko Bay, Greenland

Jersey Canoe Club trip around Herm.

Ios or Santorini

After a windy night we woke to a much calmer morning. The kayaks were quickly packed and we were ready for an early start to Ios. The plan was to cross the channel and head down the west coast before camping at the southern tip, prior to crossing to Santorini the following day. We thought that it was going to be a relatively short day.

Half way to Ios, in what was much better weather conditions, than we could have imagined the night before, we checked the distance of the direct crossing to Santorini, which was clearly visible to the south. 18 nautical miles was the direct distance, a quick discussion, a few stronger left hand sweep strokes and the bows of the kayaks were pointing south.

We settled into a rhythm and within a few hours we were coming ashore on the beaches just on the outside of the caldera for a late and much needed lunch.

We are all familiar with the images of Santorini but no amount of photographs can do justice to scale of the caldera. It is a truly astonishing natural feature. As we entered from the north it was difficult to imagine the impact that the volcanic eruption must have had on civilizations in the eastern Mediterranean. It really is one of the wonders of the natural world.

Through some rapid calculations using data from the GPS and an opportune weather window we had arrived on Santorini a day early and we were looking forward to exploring this world famous destination.

We headed towards Ios with a light northerly wind on our beam. The crossing should have taken just over an hour.

I have always enjoyed using a GPS and it really came into its own today. Ios, our destination, was 4 miles away but Santorini was clearly visible on the horizon. A quick change of Waypoint indicated that it was only 18 miles to Santorini, with the light northerly breeze helping it would be 5 hours at the most.

Visibility was excellent on the crossing, the snow covered mountains of Crete were visible to the south west but our main focus was on the cliffs of Santorini, which were becoming much clearer as we approached.

Pete and John having a well earned lunch break at the first opportunity on Santorini. We had been in the kayaks for over 5 hours when we landed.

Paddling into the remains of the caldera, the full scale of Santorini can be appreciated. The classic view is of white houses perched on top of volcanic cliffs.

The inside of the caldera is huge. Its quite easy to lose sight of cruise ships!

There can be few places in the world which are so instantly awe inspiring.

We made the effort to walk up to the rim of the caldera, in search of food and stunning views. We were not disappointed with either but it was strange to see so many other people after effectively being on our own for over 3 days.

The classic Santorini sunset. The distant islands were on our route of the previous few days.

Camp sites were not easy to come by. Having pitched the tent for some peace and quiet I ended up sharing my terrace with a snoring dog. Not ideal preparation for the following days planned kayaking around the inside of the caldera.

Greek Sea Kayaking Again

As temperatures in the Mediterranean start to rise (hopefully) it is time to head south again. This evening we had a useful meeting planning for our trip next week when we aim to kayak from Milos to Santorini and back. If all goes to plan and the weather is on our side then we should spend at least one night on each of the islands marked below.

Packing at Pollonia on a previous visit. Hopefully our departure point next weekend.

The lighthouse bay. This should be our first camp site and the start point for our crossing the following morning.

If you haven't experienced sea kayaking in Greece before then consider it for this year, you won't regret it. We have our fingers crossed for the end of next week.

Milos West Coast

After two relatively easy days along the east and north coasts it was clear that the weather was on the turn. Early morning rain and strong winds hinted at more challenging kayaking conditions, particularly was we were heading out towards the more exposed west coast.
By 09.30 though conditions were more settled and we were able to take advantage of a lull in the wind to head across the entrance to Milos harbour towards Cape Vani.
Although the weather did deteriorate later in the day by then we were safely ashore but more importantly we were in a position that one more good day would mean that we should be able to complete the circumnavigation of Milos one day earlier than planned.

Approaching Cape Vani, the north west tip of the island. The cliffs are in this area are spectacular.

A brief stop was made at the old manganese mine just before Cape Vani. There were plenty of ruins to explore.

Manganese Mine. The first ore was extracted in 1898 and it is peak there were 250 people employed at the mine. In total 220,000 tones were extracted with the mine finally closing in 1928.

The beach at the mine was a rich source of driftwood which was going to come in really useful later in the day.

Chris and Shirley loaded with wood off the west coast of the island. The island behind is Antimilos, which is high on my list of places to paddle to.
The complex geology of Milos creates a fascinating backdrop to the kayaking. Alternate bands of rock produce a colourful coastline. This is heading south along the west coast of Milos.

We had planned to reach the south west corner of the islands but a rapidly increasing wind forced an early finish at Agios Ioannis. This was fortunate as the wind increased in strength very quickly creating challenging kayaking conditions. We were ashore by this time.

Happiness is a small tent on a Greek beach.

Strong gusts of winds blasting off the surrounding high land created problems for the tents despite to use of extra pegs and heavy stones. This is one tent being recovered from the sea.

When on a kayaking trip always try to take a chef with you. Gary was able to produce delicious meals for 30 people in no time at all. The driftwood from the manganese mine was particularly useful.

During a drop in the wind we were able to admire the sunset and monitor the build up of clouds to the west which hinted at the outbreak of thunderstorms.

Some of the locals! Fortunately the small building was open and we were able to find shelter during the worst of the thunderstorms.

Milos North Coast

Our second day dawned calm and warm with light winds enabling us to carry on kayaking from where we finished the day before. The distance today was quite short, only 10 nautical miles so there was plenty of time for playing and exploring the finer points of this intricate island.
We initially headed straight out to the Glaronisia Islands which were fantastic for jumping. From there it was a straightforward back to Milos before following the coast. The nature of kayaking here is directly linked to the geology of the area. The white volcanic ash, between Sarakiniko and Mandrakia is relatively easily eroded creating some stunning caves which were easily explored.
Our destination for the day was Plathiena beach which is close to the entrance to Milos harbour. On landing it was back to the hotel to pack because if we were to paddle along the west coast it was going to be necessary to spend at least one night out camping.

Jumping on the small offshore islets of Glaronisia. The name means seagull islands, as numerous pairs breed here during the spring. On this autumunal visit there were very birds in evidence. What there was though was some excellent jumping from above the arch. Basalt columns create a stunning backdrop to cliff jumping.

This ship ran aground off the north coast of the island on 7th December 2003, fortunately without the loss of life. It is interesting to note how it has deteriorated since I first visited the island several years ago.

Approaching Sarakiniko for more jumping. The stunning white rocks are probably the most photographed and well known location on the island.

The small natural harbour at Mandrakia. This is probably the Greece of tourist brochures, white washed buildings and blue seas. Our lunch was taken at the next small harbour at Firopotamos.

Trachilas Stacks are a fascinating place to explore by kayak. This was the only time that the group split during the whole circumnavigation of the island. Some people were eager to visit Arkradia Islands just offshore whereas others were happy to take the more direct route to Platiena where we were to finish for the day.