It was another day of headwinds forecasted, and I forced myself to an even earlier start to make the best out of the quiet hours in the morning.

I paddled out of Thistle Cove in a freezing chilly early morning at 5.15 am, joined by some dolphins and a playful seal at the next corner.

But today the headwinds freshened up already at 8am to about 15kn, and I felt it was not much fun paddling into the increasingly steep chop. But I wanted to cross at least Rossiter Bay, and to reach the next headland. So again, hard work today for 3-4 km/ hr headway only…not worth the effort!

It became worse at lunchtime, and the southern Wharton Beach was my place to stop for that day. Until the last paddle stroke into the sheltered corner it was blowing almost 20 kn by now, and I was happy to reach the magnificent white beach. I was passing other beautiful, remote beaches already, and if I wouldn’t want to meet Greg on a beach with car access, I would have loved to camp on one of those by myself. This way of doing the trip was very different, but definitively not worse!

He spoke to me on the VHF soon – “Where are you?” “Just down at the beach below you…”, and I walked uphill to jump in the van to search for a remote campsite. We found one around the next small headland on Little Wharton Beach, with no other car, a private toilet and a bench.

This time we didn’t feel like leaving the boat on the other big beach, too many people around that weekend, and Greg volunteered to paddle my kayak around the small headland! First time he did it, and first time someone else was paddling my baby…I was not too worried, as he was a “waterman” himself, though having never paddled a kayak like this. I just instructed him how to open the spray deck best, just in case, and off he was!

Now it was my time to drive the van over the hill to the other car park, and to quickly run out on the rocks to catch at least some pictures of my loved partner in my boat! He even demanded a hot shower afterwards…but sorry, this effort was too short! 10 min of paddling doesn’t make you eligible for such attentive luxury already…  :-))

33.56 122 34 Wharton Beach 35km 5.5to14.5 headwind nasty since 8am and not worth the spent energy. Beautiful beaches!