Brian's Kayak Adventures

[FundyBrian]

Alma to Waterside continued...

Red Head used to have a large block sitting on top giving it a distinctive profile. A few years ago it collapsed and nothing remains of the pieces - all eroded away by the tide. It looks to me that this part will be gone soon.
Beyond Red Head the cliffs taper off to Waterside Beach, my destination, since there is fairly close access from the road to get my kayak back to the car.

Arrived safely at Waterside Beach. Hardly a ripple at the shoreline. You can see the tide has already started going down. I'm packing up my gear in preparation for carrying it to the car. A very successful and enjoyable paddle. I took a little more than 3 hours to make the trip because I stopped so often to make photos. I had my iPhone 6, Olympus TG-4 underwater camera, 2 GoPros - on bow & stern, plus my compact Canon SL1 DSLR, so I was kept busy.

 

[FundyBrian]

Yesterday I was back at Waterside Beach kayaking, but this time I started and finished there. My main objective was to paddle around the nearby Red Head cliffs area at high tide, about 1.5 km along the shore.
There was surf and rolling waves to contend with and I wasn't sure if it would be safe to take out my iPhone out of the waterproof box for some shots.

This is my favourite section of the cliffs. This red Triassic sandstone formation, about 1km long, is unique along the Fundy shore. The colour is so vibrant that people have a hard time believing it is really like that when you show them pictures.

This particular cliff rises the most abruptly from the water. The rolling waves made it difficult to keep the camera level.

This is Red Head itself, now much smaller than it once was due to erosion. In the last few years several new holes have developed. The long time hole is underwater in this shot.

The other side of Red Head in the afternoon sun (4pm). This is the angle I wanted to photograph but could not get as close as I wanted to the rocks at the left due to substantial swells. 5 or 6 feet was as close as I dared get for fear of the back suction pulling my boat into the rocks.

The tide was extra high that day and when I returned to my starting point I had to wait for 20 minutes for the tide to go down enough for some smooth shore to be exposed for my landing.

 

[lisamjw]

Awesome images, Brian!

 

[FundyBrian]

Saturday morning I took a friend kayaking on the Shepody River. I still have my old kayak for just such eventualities. We attempted to pick a calm day but no sooner had we started out but the wind came up. The wind is a major issue in that open marshland country so we made sure to go with-the-wind.

Here's Adrian in my old Perception Expression.
My hands always get wet while kayaking and using my iPhone with wet hands isn't a good recipe. After my hands have been wet for a while, even when wiped off, the fingerprint recognition no longer works. Just another nuisance. I make the bulk of my kayaking pictures with my underwater Olympus TG-4 and a couple of GoPros but I always try to squeeze in some iPhone shots for this forum.
The river meanders dramatically meaning our trip is at least twice as long as going by car.

The river banks are mostly 3 metres high so we don't see the surrounding countryside at all. That's not to say there's nothing to see. The river is interesting in itself and we occasionally see cows on the banks, ducks, geese, the occasional eagle. Occasionally we encounter a landmark such as this bridge to inform us where we are, although, I rely more on my GPS for that info.

We thought the old bridge abutments were more attractive than the new metal ones.
We finished at "the Landing" near the school in Riverside-Albert. Altogether about 7.5km. We had planned on going as far as the tidal dam but that area has much more open water, more of a problem in strong winds, so we opted to stop short of that.

 

[FundyBrian]

We just arrived late in the evening to visit my brother. Next day the first thing we planned was a canoe/kayak outing.

We went out about an hour before sunset.

An interesting feature of this paddle is that we started out from my brother's back yard in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue on the island of Montreal. During most of our paddle we couldn't see any signs of civilization.
Along the way we saw several Great Blue Herons and Egrets fishing along the shoreline of the small islands.

 

[ImageArt]

We just arrived late in the evening to visit my brother. Next day the first thing we planned was a canoe/kayak outing.
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We went out about an hour before sunset.
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An interesting feature of this paddle is that we started out from my brother's back yard in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue on the island of Montreal. During most of our paddle we couldn't see any signs of civilization.
Along the way we saw several Great Blue Herons and Egrets fishing along the shoreline of the small islands.

Wow, looks idyllic.

 

[RoseCat]

....I want that backyard.

 

[FundyBrian]

....I want that backyard.

Not bad for a Montreal back yard. 6 unit apartment building, no less. And a park next door.

 

[FundyBrian]

While I was on holiday in Montreal & Quebec City I kept scanning kijiji & Craig's list for a used tandem kayak. I went to see one in Montreal but didn't go for it. A good tandem fibreglass kayak is pretty hard to find. I figured the end of the season was a good time for deals. I ended up buying one near Quebec City on our way home. It came with a trailer (!), since the kayak is 22 feet long it is longer than my car and too much of a load for the roof.
It was quite a lot of fiddling, mostly with the trailer, licence bureau, my insurance company, and all that.

Here's the kayak & trailer when I finally had possession in a Quebec parking lot. It towed home beautifully, not very heavy and no amount of wind drag.
The last few days I have been doing a few odd jobs on the kayak & trailer, getting the trailer safety inspected prior to registering it in New Brunswick.
Today I had my first outing in it accompanied by a friend visiting from Ontario.

Bay of Fundy, Matthews Head area, paddling out of Alma, NB.
A link to a180 panorama with DMD Panorama.
http://pnr.ma/bUJshx

I had to get the kayak quite close to the rocks to get a good position for Mike to get a shot of the cliff profile.
Pictures with my iPhone 6, Fusion.

The lion head profile on the left. More of a lion king profile with a poof on the nose.
More to come, no doubt.
I finally ordered a waterproof HitCase for my iPhone 6 and you know what that means.

 

[FundyBrian]

I may have to rename this thread Fabi & Brian's kayak adventures. Today Fabi had her first ride in our recently acquired tandem kayak. I bought this boat with the specific goal of enticing her into the enjoyment of kayaking with me. No more complaining about being left home while I go off paddling.

I would have loved to show you one of the front-mounted GoPro photos that show her with a big smile on her face. That means a successful venture.

Today was too windy to go out paddling on the Bay of Fundy so we stayed in the Upper Salmon River between Alma and Fundy National Park. At this time of year one can count the number of remaining kayaking days on one hand and I'm going to grab every possible opportunity before it is time to get out my skis.
This is a Boreal Designs Mingani kayak made of fibreglass, made in Quebec, Canada, and is 22'5" long, weighs about 110 pounds, and it came with a trailer. Much easier than trying to get it up onto the roof of my car [emoji6].

 

[FundyBrian]

Fabi's first kayaking on the Bay of Fundy!
Today we had some extraordinary nice weather while the forecast for the coming week looks rainy. What to do? Get out the kayak! It could be the last outing of the season.

We're on our way to Owl's Head (seen in the distance). It's farther than it looks, about 4 km from Alma. This was Fabi's first time feeling the ocean swells beneath the surface waves. The ocean swells are much longer than the waves and you feel yourself gradually rising and falling independent of the smaller waves passing by. The rhythm takes some getting used to. Your eyes are seeing something different compared to what you feel with your stomach. You see seagulls floating on the water disappear from view longer than the passing of waves would explain, and then reappear, and rise higher.

On our way back to Alma.
Afterward we felt a significant sense of accomplishment.

 

[FundyBrian]

I found a place to store the tandem kayak & trailer for the winter in a storage barn. I don't know why storing the kayak for the winter wasn't on my mind when I bought it but once it was in my yard I realized I had nowhere to put it indoors out of the elements. I have seen other boats get crushed under the weight of accumulated snow.
Yesterday I put the kayak in the storage bag (a 22 foot long drawstring bag that appears to be made of waterproof material) and towed it to the storage building about 15 minutes from home.
That's the official end of the season for that kayak. However, I still have 2 others so another outing is still possible if the conditions present themselves.