Thu 08/03-2012 Day 192

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A massive guy!

Pos: here
Loc: Puerto San Salvador
Acc: tent
Dist: 41,9 km
Start: 8:15 End: 17:15

What a perfect sea kayaking day! I woke to a dead calm morning, just some humidity on my tent made stuffing it into the bag ugly again. But watching the six dolphins playing while doing the pack job made it light!

It was to be basically an almost blue sky, with a very low hanging veil of a thick heavy white cloud hanging in Boca de Canales leading inland.

I paddled out on calm water, avoiding the corner turning north being decorated with heaps of rocks and smaller islands, where the today about 2-2,5 m swell was breaking heavily. The water on top of the swell was quite calm, so paddling in very low to no wind was quite a pleasure again. I just had to stay out enough to avoid the sometimes unexpected breakers over just flooded rocks!

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Cliffs with the mountains in the hinterland

The coast was flat, but with highest mountains in the hinterland, which slowly appeared out of the thick white clouds. Once fully there, the scenery was stunning! Behind the low band of mountains, looking accessible and inviting for a hike, maybe 5-7 km wide, big mountains rose into the now blue sky. No snow caps yet, but as I’m nearing the glacier range, it probably will change soon.

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A single cliffy island

The low land in the front slowly changed to a low band of lime stone cliffs, with more or less beach in the front. Before the long jutting out Punta Barrientes, there was just another smaller point, which had a lime stone cliff island cut off the mainland, connected with a band of more or less big rocks. I approached slowly, to see if I could paddle inside. Taking a wide berth would have been the more reasonable decision, but the berth would have to be *very* wide, as I saw it breaking and crashing far out in the line of the point. The lime stone cliff line was loking “active” accordingly, as if the water would take a bit every day.

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Waterfalls allover!

I came closer and closer inside, already thinking I could see a clean unbroken line close to the beach, just to the left of the first bigger rock. To my left offshore it was breaking here and there quite uncontrolled and actually eventually being so close in quite scary! I just decided to turn around, as the gap seemed to be not open enough, paddled a few meters back, had now the breakers to my left, and thought there may be another chance…usually close to the coast are few to no rocks, as the beach before and after the point had some sand upfront displayed even now on highest lunch tide.

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A huge arch in the rocks

The maybe 30 meters between the first visible big rock and the beach was a very strange line of clapotis waves, which I have seen and experienced already a few times before on other points. The waves are coming from both sides at the point line to offshore, crashing against each other, and run zipper-like down to the coast in a quite uncontrolled splashing spray. Paddling through that kind of wave line is possible, but wet, and depending on the size and wave power it may be a bit uncontrollable and still a risk to hit a hidden smaller rock.

I thought I could dare to go through (Yes, if in doubt, stay out!), donned my dry suit hood, and was prepared to get wet…and I did…got lifted into a surf with the danger of pitch poling my kayak, and had to lean far back on my aft deck. The kayak got thrown around some how, I had to brace high and jumped sideways over into the other side of the breakers. A few strong paddle strokes, and I was out of the danger zone and in calm water. Wet, and a bit lucky…

I thought now on this calmer side I could as well land for a second, and to check on my bow to make sure I really didn’t hit anything. It was a low surf onto a low sandy fore beach with a rocky steeper beach. As it was just high water, the breakers just rolled to the edge of the round rocks. I landed in a tiny side surf just before the rocks all right. An about one meter wide high water fall came down from the cliffs. a perfect shower, if I’d be in need of one!

My bow had no visible damage, I did a quick stand up pee with my “Freshette”, and off I was again! Well, I must have forgotten how to launch in a low surf…right timing and closing the spray deck in time is essential, or you have a wet face and a cockpit full of sandy water…well…I’m out of surf training after those long weeks of Fjordland paddling! 🙂

Really, being thrown back since my launch from the Navy station into the rough open sea again with a big swell felt like I had been paddling with trainer wheels and now had to paddle without them again…or like the time when I first went inline skating by myself again after I had been skating for a few years behind my baby stroller with my son Helge as a front pilot…

But what is a cockpit full of water when you have a great electrical pump…thanks to Mark from Blue Water Kayak Works! I smiled at myself about my wet interlude, and kept on paddling around the real long jutting out Punta Barrientos. That one was no problem, the point swell was not breaking any where, just still big.

Slowly heading in again after the long point, the line of lime stone cliffs continued, but it didn’t look “active” any more like at the first smaller point, as it was all overgrown with green.

Another smaller point marked a finish line of the lime stone cliffs. I already saw from the distance quite a while some “smoke” coming high up from the cliff line…there can’t be a camp fire…then I noticed the smoke must be the spray of a big water fall!

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The huge beautiful waterfall!

And it was a water fall! About 12-15 meters wide, strong, high, mighty! Impressive!

This water fall was marking a complete change of the coast line for the next about 10 km until I could turn into the shelter of the calm Seno Jesuitas to look for a camp site.

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The cliffs were full of waterfalls, arches, caves, sea stakes...

Those last kilometers were one of the most impressive cliff coast line I’ve seen in my kayaking life! And it was all sunshine from the left, correct side! Rugged cliffs with a lot of arches with even more caves, smaller and bigger water falls, and a swell breaking on the cliffs which was today still 2-3 meters high, but some how with a long period, as it didn’t really create much choppy back wash. It was just washing up the cliffs with a very impressive might! You can paddle pretty close to watch, about 20-30 meters, no problem. It doesn’t “suck” you into the swell, if you keep a certain line. It is just so powerful! The cliffs are all having an about 2-3 meters long “skirt” of kelp attached in the swell line, which accordingly gets washed up and down like spaghetti or long female hair…

It was almost too much rugged wild beauty to watch those kilometers of coast line…the cliffs themselves in all their formations, the water falls, caves, arches, with the powerful swell…today there was one accessible looking wild, but a bit sheltered beach behind the first main area with the huge water fall, and I was seriously thinking of making camp there…a magnificent place! But it was still too early in the day, and turning into the fully sheltered bay it was still 7 km left.

I eventually see around the corner, leaving one already ok looking beach at the side. I knew there may be a few more better ones to chose from, being more sheltered inside the bay.

But I still had to turn around the last batch of rocks, as the connecting line was too rocky on half tide to paddle over it. Soon I was in fully calm water, and could see already two white beaches down south. usually I hate paddling back wards, but those beaches where shining so invitingly, and it was so calm and sunny that I really needed a “chill down” paddle from the outer breaking coast.

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Approaching my small beautiful white gravel beach for the night

I thought the first beach was not beautiful, clean or white enough, and was rather heading, being picky to have eventually a choice, to one about 2 km into the bay.

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Camping on white clean cobbles is my favorite

This was the right choice! It was a small, fully sheltered beach, with white, clean cobble stones, with a bit of sand displayed upfront on low tide. I really thought last night was already a perfect beach, but this one was almost a tropical paradise! It was sunny and quite nice and warm, that I decided to to have a bold dip into the sea, barefoot up to the neck! It were two full dips, and not more…no swimming yet…the water may be about 15 degrees C. But I had enough fresh water to rinse myself, and my hair had been wet any way from my wet point paddle and surf launch.

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My water tap for the night

In addition, a tiny stream coming off the wall was refilling my fresh water resources again. Not many sand flies…it was still warm and sunny…I really enjoyed a bit more barefoot to the neck life while spreading out all my wet gear! Well, I actually had my shoes on… The soaking tent I had put up already first to dry, and life was good tonight!

10 comments on “Thu 08/03-2012 Day 192

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Chuck H.

Wonderful description of your day’s paddle! Congratulations on being selected as one of the “Top Ten Trailblazing Women”. You deserve it!

Edda

Thanks Joe
Freya’s niece just went off to school full of the fact that her Auntie was ranked two places above Angelina Jolie! She was well impressed!

Thomas

Hi Freya,
wir wünschen dir viel Glück am Samstag für die “Überfahrt” zur Laguna San Rafael. Hoffentlich ist die Strömung auf den 20 km flussaufwärts nicht so stark. Auf Fotos sieht der Fluss total still aus, aber das kann ja täuschen. Am Nordufer der Laguna muss es mal ein Hotel gegeben haben; “San Rafael Lagoone Lodge”. Bei Google gibt es Fotos davon von 1985. Es muss ungefähr bei
-46.606134° -73.893154°
liegen. Ist aber wohl schon lange aufgegeben. Jedenfalls gibt es keine aktuellen Berichte und Hoteleinträge darüber.

Die Harz-Wanderer

Karen

Wow the landscape sounds breath taking. Great paddle on International Women’s Day. May all women today feel inspired to experience our connection to such a wonderful world. Thanks Freya.

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