Finally! Internet Access
Posted by Greg on July 21, 2008I’m in a public library in La Scie, a small fishing village at the tip of the Baie Verte Peninsula. It’s good to finally be off the long Northern Peninsula and moving East! Yesterday I crossed from the Southern tip of Bell Island, to Bai Verte, 90K of open water. The forecast was not great, calm seas until the afternoon and then headwinds. I got up at 4:30am and was on the water at 6:40. The sea was completely glass and I sprinted at 4.5 knots trying to get as many miles behind me while I could. Once the headwinds come up and your speed drops to 2.5 knots or less it takes forever to cover ground and it really wears you down. I was hoping that the forecast would be wrong but the headwinds started around 2:00pm and were howling by 5:00pm, with steep, choppy waves. After 16 hours I reached the tip of the peninsula just as the sun was setting. Unfortunately the two coves that looked so nice on my topo maps and GPS were completely unsuitable for landing - - steep rocky cliffs. It’s hard to describe the emotions you feel at this point. You are completely spent from a long crossing, it is getting dark and cold, you just want to get out of your kayak and stretch your legs, and now you have no idea how long it will take to find a landing. I took the safe route and backtracked a few miles to La Scie, since as a harbour I knew that I would at least find a place to haul out, and aids to navigation to guide me in.