Pos: here
Loc: Cabo Raso
Acc: tent
Dist: 49.2 km
Start: 7:15 End: 18:30

When I was about to pack up my campsite in the early morning, I saw a bunch of black and white little guys waiting for me to clear the beach – they were hungry for their breakfast and wanted to go fishing!

I was launching easy sitting in my kayak, catching a wave getting me straight afloat over the flooded reef, and then caught just a small wave on the reef break giving me some drops in my face. No problem…

Later it was the first time I saw penguins on the water hunting for fish not only in groups of 15-20 animals, all swimming in full synchrony, but I saw them first time as well moving along like dolphins! Jumping in full formation, with the mouth open, elegantly in a curve out and in the water again! Amazing! Really beautiful! Never saw that with penguins, only single or two animal at once, and never jumping like dolphins…

Then came Punta Tombo… a very long protruding rocky headland. I was heading in a direct line from my “penguin” beach across the small bay this time,maybe 7 km or so, being “fresh” for the day and not bored paddling off sight the coast.

Coming closer, there was no sign of a tidal race, the sea was as calm as it could be. It was mid-tide, and the race was clearly announced on my chart, and very obvious likely considering the long jutting shape of the point. But I was thinking maybe on raising tide there is nothing happening here??? How stupid…

I was nearing a few offshore rocks at the very tip of the point, but then it started, out of the usual choppy backwash from the rocky cliffs – for sure on the south side of the point this time! It was raising tide, and yesterday I had falling tide on the northern side tidal race of Punta Clara.

It was quite strong, and I had to paddle my ass off to make progress. Luckily it was not really high and breaking, so I felt quite allright, just made only 2-3 km/ h…but no worries.. I had my GPS, saw the rock slowly moving past me, and eventually reached a small bay with an eddy where I could relax for a while. It had a beautiful sandy beach, very inviting to land and to explore the wildlife on the headland, but it had some rocks and surf as well. So I rather played it safe, and resisted the temptation to land here!

I had to round another few rocks, once more into the race, some tough paddling, and I was free in the dead calm bay south of the head land!

A very small rocky harbor came up soon, just wide enough to be able to turn my kayak around, but dead calm. Not even much swell was going on here! This was the chance to admire the thousands of sea gulls around me on the cliffs! In the race around the headland, I had my video camera on, but no way of thinking of taking pictures! But now…

I was calling my boyfriend in Denmark to share the moment, and had my well deserved breakfast,all calmly afloat.
But I was thinking I need to get out of the boat, at least for a few moments to have a closer look on the headland…for sure without damaging my boat on a rock landing!
But the water was really calm, and the rocks were mostly covered with barnacles. I got out on a shallow rock, dragging carefully my kayak high enough to be safe for half an hour or so on the rising tide.

The sea gulls didn’t really appreciated my visit, and were flying up in hundreds or even batches of thousands! The whole rocks, originally solid rose granite, were all covered with white sea gull shit…quite a stinging smell! A few bare nests on the rocks, but basically those guys were just sitting on the solid rocks when resting…strange, disturbing these animals in their natural resting habitat didn’t really feel as bad as disturbing the penguins who were happy to hide in their holes under the bushes! But the sea gulls were just sitting out there in the open!

It was quite a spectacle! Thousands of birds allover, on the rocks, in the sky and in between! Birds, as far as I could see towards the headland I had just rounded!

I was climbing as far as the little sandy beach I was tempted to land on, but was happy I did not…from the top I could see the surf and rocks clearly. A few penguins were there as well. But this was sea gull’s land! I had seen thousands of birds nesting in the steep cliffs in Newfoundland’s Cape St. Mary, but these were different, living simply horizontally in the vertical cliffs!

Eventually it was time to look after my kayak, and it already started to move it’s stern hanging in the water dangerously on the rising tide…back in, and I was leaving the headland behind me with a happy smile to be able to explore so much wild life!

I was happy to cross another 7 km to the next point – Punta Atlas! No tidal races on the chart – we’ll see! I would be arriving just on slack high tide, and this may be the reason there was really *nothing* happening – regarding a tidal race.

I was already disappointed there was no wildlife either on the red rocks, but after I decided I would be able to “rock hopp” through a gap of a small island and the mainland on this high tide, I was surfing on the small swell wave directly into wildlife’s paradise again!

This time it was a big sea lion’s colony! The guys were probably as surprised as I was, being suddenly among hundreds of animals, enjoying their day “on the rocks” or in the water! Especially a group of about 15 youngsters were sticking their heads simultaneously out of the water to watch me – it was so cute! The occasionally big fat male joined the water watching group, the rest of the guys, probably all females with their puppies, stayed on the rocks, with the strongest males watching over them on the spot. It was a spectacle and a noise! Hard to describe…I could have been floating there forever…the small island offshore was occupied by sea birds and another sea lion colony. It was another wildlife’s paradise!

Rounding the headland, I was not ready after that beautiful alive coastline for a 20 km open water crossing to Punta Raso, so I stayed very close to shore and could watch as a reward a dozen deer (or guanacos, alpacas? I don’t know their names, but they are looking yummy to eat…) having a good time on the beach! Not sure actually which wildlife I was still missing out…yes, sharks…but they are there! Just wait for warmer waters, and they will bump my kayak again daily as they did in Australia…

A shallow rocky reef – Arrecife Somoza – was waiting on the north end of Bahia Vera to be explored, which I for sure did! Inside the reef bay it was crystal clear, and with a mask and snorkel I would have jumped in my dry suit into the chilly water to have a look…the day was not sunny, but pretty warm…

The coastline of Bahia Vera became eventually, apart from the reef and the deer, quite boring to look at – just steep sandy beaches with a dew dunes behind.
So I kept on paddling, thinking about what a privileged life I was able to lead…in my mind I was always forming already the words I’ll be writing at night in my updates! It is always a job to start after dinner with full tummy, but when I’m doing it, I can’t really stop narrating the events of the day! It’s probably like talking through the day’s events to a non-existing paddling partner…

I was passing the headland of Punta Loberia, rocks, and not much happening, and thought “one more headland, and then you are going in right behind it!” and headed for Punta Pescadero. But the beach behind the point was steep, and the dumper strong, though I was expecting a bit of shelter! No shelter in this corner, but in Caleta Raso it looked like the dumper was not creating such a wide white belt of water being washed up the steep beach…so another 4-5 km, and eventually, in the very last corner, already over a low flooded reef part before the next big reef started, I found my sheltered landing site!

It was just past the only inhabited house between a few ruins, and I was happy to be able to land a bit off the house, where two dogs were chasing me along.

No dogs on this end, but I saw the green car of the house owner starting, and coming up to my spot to greet me! Eduardo was offering help if I’d need anything, and came just in time to help me dragging my empty kayak up the very very steep, and very long on low tide, gravel beach. Thanks, Eduardo!

Quite a strong wind came up when I was making camp on my high gravel beach ledge, and somehow I was hoping to have a day off paddling to be able to walk around a bit… 🙂 – see how the weather tomorrow is like!