North West Solitary Island

How to convey this beautiful day at sea?

After just a handful of paddle strokes from the shore at Arawarra, a big green turtle broke the surface with its pleasantly speckled face. It then dived directly towards me and with a few gentle arcs of its large Rayban-like fins it was momentarily beneath my hull and then gone. Beautiful thing! If that had been the end of my day I would have been very pleased.

Soon afterwards an incredible experience ... twelve Humpback whales emerged within just a few kilometres of one another - adults and calves playing at the sea's surface. Their deep groans and higher frequency singing clearly audible to me in my kayak. A couple of spectacular full-body leaps into the sky escaped my camera's shutter but I managed to record a gluttony of images at close range.

And as if that was not enough for one day, I threw a lure over the stern while under sail back to the coast from North West Solitary Island and picked up dinner - a Bonito tuna (ok not so amazing) and a sweet Kingfish - the prize of the sea, in my little fishing book. 

In the photo below you can just see South Solitary Island (at left) and South West Solitary Island (at right).

A few years ago I paddled out to South Solitary and I was in two minds earlier this morning about going there again today. I was fortunate that I chose to paddle to North West Solitary and in doing so intersected with this stream of whales.

Below is North West Solitary Island ... no where near as spectacular as South Solitary Island with its elegant lighthouse but still, NWSI is a nice sea peak to aim for when paddling off the east coast.

Dinner was caught on a lure while sailing back to the coast ...

Kingfish and Bonito ... eaten as sashimi with Wasabi and soy (left) and slivers of Jalapeno (right).

Little video from this morning ...

Wandering north

Wandering along the coast, 500 Kms north of Sydney. 

Short paddle to Long Reef

This morning we paddled up to Long Reef and back before most of Sydney had woken up.

Highlights ...

> paddling down the harbour under starlight

> seeing a brilliant orange ball of firey sun climb over the horizon while out at sea

> knocking off 35kms and feeling like we could turn around do it all again.

 Long Reef

The brilliant cliffs of North Head ...

South to Wedding Cake and back

This was a very enjoyable paddle in crystal clear conditions, starting from various points well inside Sydney Harbour and then south along the cliff line to Wedding Cake Island and back.

Highlights ...

> a massive swarm of very large Australian Salmon streaming under our hulls in full hunt mode, demolishing bait fish with flocks of gulls plunging into the surface maelstrom. We caught two very large bull-headed Salmon - which were returned to the sea.

> a delightful tailwind which propelled us home.

> being on a sunny sea ...

Travelling south

Stunning cliffs.

Wedding Cake

The swell rises between Wedding Cake and South Coogee.



Varg

Bruce Stannard's recent article on the replica construction of Varg.

This city of 5 million ...

... fortunately retains significant endemic bushland and peaceful places to enjoy it.

Near Bantry Bay.

Reflected light from the water's surface was dancing like a seasprite upon the surface interior of this cave.

End of winter ...

OK - yet another day on the water that seems worth sharing ...

Today the tribe was up early, paddling through ribbons of phosphorescence from as early as 4.50am and from various launching points before picking out each other's blinking night-lights and then travelling as a pod of four on a course for Barrenjoey and Pittwater.

It was a great feeling being offshore in such calm sea conditions and under a starry pre-dawn sky. A light westerly filled the bellies of our sails and made for easy paddling along a wide curving arc from North Head up to Avalon.

Somewhere east of Narrabeen.

Reverse paddling into a sea cave at Avalon Headland.

Tony jumps in to find dinner.

Rounding Barrenjoey a sun-baking seal barely raises a long eyelash at our arrival.

 

Well, a half-hearted yawn at least.

Another great day on the water with our kayaks ...

... as Tony's wife would agree.

Abalone, crays and Humpback whales ...

OK ... so I wasn't intending on sharing the trivial details of our trip preparations but today's paddle along Sydney's northern coastline qualifies for special mention ...

A pair of Humpback whales travelling south.

 

And then, after a beautiful and productive dive into the clear winter water along Sydney's coastline, Tony conjures up this amazing abalone and crayfish risotto.

Quite a memorable day.

Over the horizon

The tribe is now focussing on 6 months of intensive kayaking in preparation for a return to the beautiful land and seascapes of Tasmania.

During this period of preparation there will not be further posting to this blog.

There are already enough scoundrels on the internet without our additional contributions.

See ya.

Kayak sail

A photographic summary of the process of making a sail for the kayak can be found HERE.

Winter ~ Pittwater

 A winter's sojourn to West Head, Pittwater.

Angophoras and xanthorrhoea.

Some other locals.

Perched on the eastern side of Pittwater is the Memory House designed by Walter Barda. 
Of the many buildings observed around Pittwater this morning this one alone generated a sophisticated dialogue with its use of local materials - Hawkesbury sandstone and finely worked native hardwoods - and with a humourous wink it incorporates local rock oyster shells into the stucco of an exterior wall ... see bottom left.