Isla Carmen

The wind of the previous day had dropped off quite quickly overnight so we launched into a calm, morning sea.  Almost immediately we were accompanied by a group of dolphins, there is always something to distract the sea kayaker in Baja.

There were several other groups of kayakers as we headed along the north coast of Isla Carmen in the morning sunshine.  Strangely we hadn't seen any other paddlers on the water, they were always on land.

The kayaking books warn of potentially hazardous conditions along the coast but whilst we were there it was pretty benign.  Punta Lobos was straightforward, although a couple of the large sea lions did become a bit more inquisitive than we were comfortable with.

The east coast of Isla Carmen was interesting with the only disappointment being the campsite at the end of the day.  We had heard that it was in a perfect location but we had seen much better ones.  After 23 nautical miles for the day though we were reluctant to head back out to sea in search of something better.  We were pleased with the days progress though so celebrated with a small tequila as we prepared the evening meal and planned the following days route.

 

 After the strong winds of the previous afternoon, the light winds and calm seas of dawn were a welcome sight

 Nicky heading east along the north coast in the early morning calm.

 Brief stop just the west of Punta Lobos, we knew that once around the point it could be a couple of hours before we could find somewhere else to land.

 Punta Lobos has a difficult reputation but it was a wonderfully calm day, with just a light swell breaking against the rocks on which the sea lions were sleeping.

 The 6 or 7 miles south from Punta Lobos was a series of impressive headlands with a few play spots.

 John paddling through one of the many arches along this stretch of coast

 It's just great to see Pelicans, either in flight or resting on the rocks.

West Park Pool

West Park Pool is the colloquial name for the Victoria Marine Lake, located on the sands at West Park.  Constructed in 1897, it was officially opened on the 9th June that year, with the most of the great and the good of Jersey on the beach that day.  At the time it was probably the largest such pool in the British Isles.

Over the next 100 years the lake was used by thousands of visitors and residents for a variety of watersports.  In the late 1980's I had a personal interest in the pool as I had the concession from Jersey Tourism to operate in the pool and rented out what were probably the first sit on top kayaks to be seen in Jersey.

From the 1990's onwards the condition of the pool started to deteriorate, very little, if any, maintenance was undertaken and eventually the gates were left open so that instead of water being retained within the walls the water drained out in sync with the falling tide.

What we were left with was a crumbling Victorian wall on the beach.  Fortunately a group of locals, less that two years ago, had the vision to restore the Jubilee Marine Lake.  Finance was secured and restoration undertaken.

Today, quietly and without any public announcement it opened for activities to begin.  There is an official opening at the end of next week but it is good to see it up and running and will hopefully provide a valuable resource for the residents of St Helier and those who live further afield.

 The pool with Elizabeth Castle behind

 Looking west across the pool towards Noirmont.

 Sit on tops, stand up paddleboards and pedalos all for rental

The plan is to have sailing on the pool in the not too distant future.

Baja revisited

Easter 2013 provided an opportunity to achieve an ambition of 30 years standing, a sea kayaking trip to Baja, Mexico.  This year 7 of us from Jersey Canoe Club, headed towards Baja and so after a wait of 30 years I ended up visiting Baja twice in 12 months.

We wanted to spend more time exploring some of the offshore islands as opposed to heading straight down the coast to La Paz, 150 nautical miles away.  We were not disappointed with the weather, the scenery, the wildlife etc.  It is just too easy to run out of superlatives when talking about Baja. 

The marina at Puerto Escondido.  Located at the back of a superb natural harbour the marina was a convenient place to launch, although there was a charge.

Passing to the north of Isla Danzante.  Some great scenery and interesting geology for such a small island.

Crossing the channel to Isla Carmen.  Our campsite was on the low land to the right of the mountains, it was barely visible from on the water.

 Renewing an old friendship. We had camped here 12 months earlier and had great memories of a very special location.  That's why we selected it for our first night this year

Breakfast at dawn with the moon still clearly visible over the mountains of Baja

The Sea of Cortez just seems with wildlife, below, on and above the surface of the water.  Pelicans are a constant companion.

Nicky heading north along the west coast of Isla Carmen.  We saw several other groups of sea kayakers in this area, clearly a popular destination.

The end of another memorable day in Baja.  We came ashore at Playa la Cholla because of an increasing headwind, which we were reluctant to battle against.  An early finish allowed us time to relax in this stunning environment.

A Calm Hanois

I first paddled out to the Hanois in May 1981, located off the south west corner of Guernsey it seemed like a great adventure at the time.  A few years later I was running an Advanced Sea (5 Star nowadays) in the area and we were lucky enough to be invited into the lighthouse.  In fact we were given the opportunity to stand on the helicopter landing pad.  That was an interesting experience!

Sadly those days have gone as the lighthouse was automated in 1996.  It is still a fascinating place to paddle and well worth the effort if you are visiting Guernsey.  Most years though the sea has been far too rough to approach the reef, let alone land, so it felt quite special as we wandered over and through the reef. 

Although granite from Guernsey has been exported for hundreds of years, for example Blackfriars Bridge in London was repaved with Guernsey granite in 1840, with London Bridge and the Strand following a few years later, the Hanois Lighthouse was built with granite imported from Cornwall.  The stone was dressed on the harbour in St Peter Port before being transported around to the south west corner of the island.  The work took nearly 2 years and the light was first lit on the 8th December 1862.

Since that date it has warned shipping of the dangerous reefs to be found off the west coast of Guernsey.

Hanois Lighthouse viewed from the south east.  The helicopter landing pad is clearly visible.  The last few years we haven't been able to get this close whilst on our annual Lihou visit.

There were several places to land but we selected this sheltered location on the western side of the reef where it was possible to moor the kayaks.

Lying on my back with my feet against the lighthouse gave an unusual perspective.

Paul, who had landed here a couple of days earlier decided to spend his time exploring the reef as opposed to the lighthouse.

Looking back through the reef towards Lihou, clearly visible through the gap in the rocks.

Paul was kind enough to bring some Tiderace kayaks over for people to try.  The paddle out to the Hanois was an ideal opportunity to see how they handled.

Some more aerial photographs

It has been said that the best in-flight entertainment system is the window seat. I can never understand the person who selects the aisle seat when there is the option of observing the world passing by.
Below is a further selection of some interesting sea kayaking destinations seen out of the aircraft window.  Whenever I get in an aircraft it always stimulates ideas of where else to go paddling.  The to do list continues to grow.

 Final approach in Barcelona.  Didn't manage to get any sea kayaking in although some of the coast looked pretty interesting from a paddling perspective.

 Climbing out from Malta.  Gozo on the left and Comino in the middle are clearly visible.  There is some great kayaking to be had in the Maltese archipelago.

 Newhaven, Sussex.  A few minutes after take off from Gatwick.  It has been a few years since I paddled this stretch of the English coast.

 Superb meanders on the River Seine. 

 Flying into clouds like these, over Dijon in France means that you are in for a bumpy ride.  We were at 32,000 feet and some of the clouds were towering above us.

 Final approach into Malta.  A great sunset and you know that the kayaking is likely to be superb in the morning.

 Poole Harbour in Dorset.  Heading home after a weekend paddling in Swanage, which is just off the picture to the left.  Always good to see where you have been

Around Guernsey

Over the last 7 or 8 years we have visited Lihou, off the west coast of Guernsey on a regular basis, normally at least twice a year.  Amazingly every time I appear to have visited this delightful corner of the Baliwick of Guernsey the wind has being blowing particularly hard.  It has not been uncommon to have force 6-8 with a big swell.

It was somewhat surprising then when looking at the forecast about 7 days in advance, there appeared to be a weather window developing over the western English Channel.  As high pressure settled in the swell and wind died off and it looked like we were in for a perfect weekend.

My plan of paddling around Guernsey from Lihou seemed to be working and the tidal flows were such that lunch on Herm also seemed like a distinct possibility.  Plans were hatched, departure times agreed and expectations raised.

In the morning we launched from Lihou and headed south towards Pleinmont headland and then the south coast of Guernsey.  It had been a few years since I had paddled the south coast in its entirety and what a great stretch of coast it is.  Beautiful cliffs, intriguing passages through the rocks, limited landings and very little other boat traffic.
It was also possible to paddle across to Herm, one of the most peaceful of the Channel Islands, for lunch and liquid refreshment at the Mermaid Tavern before returning to Guernsey to complete the circumnavigation of the island.
A memorable day out.

As elsewhere in the Channel Islands there is plenty of evidence of the German Occupation during the Second World War.  L'Angle Tower is an iconic feature overlooking the south coast was built as a direction-finding tower.

Further shots of the south coast.

The Pea Stacks are always an interesting place to explore.  The last time I was here we were swimming in slightly rougher conditions.  Renoir visited Guernsey and painted these rocks.

St Martin's Point, the most south easterly point of Guernsey.  It marked the start of the 4 mile crossing to Jethou.

Approaching Jethou, with Herm behind.  We could almost smell the food at the Mermaid Tavern.  Crossing between the two islands there were 20 plus puffins bobbing around on the water.

On a day as sunny as this it was inevitable that the harbour at Herm would be a hive of activity.  Numerous ferries and private boats completing the short crossing between here and Guernsey.

Fed and watered we started the crossing to Guernsey.  It was only a neap tide but the current was flowing north, reaching 4 knots in places.  Sea kayaking in the Little Russel is always entertaining.

Ice cream stop on the north coast of Guernsey.

Heading down the west coast of Guernsey.  A flag is hoisted on this rock, off Cobo, every year and left in place until the following May

We arrived back at Lihou, 25 nautical miles completed, satisfied with one of the more memorable paddles for a few years.  It was Pimm's on the terrace followed by a stunning sunset.

A Minquiers Evening

It seems to have been some time since I last posted but a memorable trip to the Minquiers, on Thursday evening, has encouraged me to hit the keyboard.

The Minquiers are the most southerly rocks of the British Isles, about 12 miles south of St Helier, they are not visited as frequently as the other main reef off the Jersey coastline, the Ecrehous to the north east.

As this was a quick visit after work we used the rib from Jersey Seafaris to transport us to the reef in the shortest time possible.  We were dropped off towards the western end of the reef and spent a very pleasant couple of hours drifting through the rocks on the first of the flooding tide.  Fortunately it was a neap tide, a spring tide would have meant that it was all over to soon.

 A photograph taken in 1982, one of the first times I paddled there, note the red cross on the roof

As the tide ran through the rocks we were able to appreciate what a truly special place the Minquiers are.  Ownership of the reef had been disputed for some time but in November 1953 the International Court of Justice stated that the islands belong to Jersey.  A consequence of that judgement is that the most southerly building in the British Isles is now on the Minquiers, the toilet.

 

The toilet has been refurbished in recent years.

The main island is Maitresse Ile and when we landed our evening meal had already been prepared (it would be easy to start to enjoy this type of paddling).  To the north the coast of Jersey was clearly visible whilst to the south east we could see the French island of Chausey, a great sea kayaking destination in its own right, whilst further round we could see the north Brittany coast.

 Arriving at Maitresse Ile.

 Kayaks on the east facing slip

 Looking towards the buildings.  Note the roof is no longer red, also the second hut along has been built within the last 10 years.

 In 2004 there were lots of small carvings, such as this one, dotted around the rocks.  Last week it was difficult to find any.

Exploring the main island it was clear that this area is not visited as frequently as the Ecrehous, a number of the buildings were showing signs of neglect and there was some significant growths of vegetation, which made walking around some of the island a challenge.

Some of the paths between the huts were quite overgrown.

All too soon it was time to head north, what a perfect way to spend an evening after a day at work.