Young Eagles

Last week me and a friend paddled out of Spread Eagle, Trinity Bay and came across an eagles nest, with two eaglets in it. When we got closer we saw that there was another eaglet on the beach below. Poor little fellow, he must have fallen out, or failed at its first attempt to fly. We were able to get pretty close for a few pictures. I called the wild life department about it the next day, and they said they'd check it out to make sure it wasn't injured, and they also told me it was pretty common, and not to worry about it.

We paddled over to Chapel Arm and saw a few pothead (pilot) whales, but weren't able to get close enough for a sensible picture, but I did manage to get a shot of a dorsal fin off in the distance.

Here a few pics from along the way.

Rock over London, Rock on Chicago

Back Again from our Honeymoon

34 days, 3 continents, 8 countries. Our trip was fantastic. Here are some of the highlights:

Kolocep Island, Croatia

Ephesus, Turkey

Cairo, Egypt

Rhodes Island, Greece

Mykonos Island, Greece

Pisa, Italy

Corfu Island, Greece

Athens, Greece

Rome, Italy

Vatican City

Sipan Island, Croatia

Venice, Italy (photo: Rene Seindal)

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Pula, Croatia

Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany

Portage to Big Goose Pond

Last Sunday, I had the day off, with no paddling partner, and no car to drive to any put-ins. So it was time to paddle in my own backyard, Little Goose Pond, but this time I decided to make the 400m portage to Big Goose Pond, and paddled its entire perimeter. All together it was about 11kms and took me about 3 hrs. There wasn't a breath of wind and the water was perfectly still. It was great way to pass the afternoon. I also learned an important lesson in physics. If you put the trolley on the stern of the kayak, you have to carry all the weight of the kayak in the front, however, if you move the trolley to the middle of the kayak, it will be balanced and it will be lighter and much easier to pull. Go figure.

This will be my last post for a month or so. Angie and I are taking a 4 week trip to Europe and the eastern Mediterranean on friday. Only 4 more sleeps!

Rock Over London, Rock on Chicago
Brian

Kayak Modifications

Over the winter I made a few minor changes to my kayak. I installed an under deck bag (http://www.northwater.com/html/products/sea_kayak/SKsubdirectory/Under-Deck-Bag.html) underneath the foredeck. It was a pretty easy installation, took about 30 minutes.

After installing it, I noticed that there was a space that would be perfect for storing my bilge pump, all I needed was a few d-rings glued to the deck for the bungee's to be tied on to. In the end, this is what it looked like.




I also installed a deck netting that Angie gave me for Christmas. It should make for a more secure place to store my GPS and other items. Here's what it looked like.


There are a few other mods I'd like to do with my boat, but for now, its not time to have my boat laid up in my garage, its time to paddle. Maybe next winter :-)

Rock Over London, Rock On Chicago
Brian

Iceberg near Cavendish

Yesterday evening me and Trent went to Cavendish, Trinity Bay to have a look at a huge iceberg grounded about 2 kms offshore. It was a beautiful evening, but a bit windy once we got outside the cove. We saw 2 seals, and 2 whales and had a bit of fun in the surf outside the cove. We didn't get up real close but here are some pics that I took.

Rock Over London, Rock on Chicago
Brian

Torbay

Yesterday evening me and Trent headed out of Torbay for a few hours. It was a cold evening, about -4C and the winds were forecast for 30 gusting to 50km/hr, however, the winds had been from the west for the past few days, so we knew this area would be sheltered and there would be little swell from the east. It was my first time paddling in this area and I was very impressed with the coastline, with its caves, cliffs and waterfalls. The only problem was the snow was causing my camera lens to blur so a lot of my pictures didn't come out right. But anyways here are a few.

Rock Over London, Rock On Chicago
Brian

To Pedal or To Paddle

This was the choice I was faced with Friday morning. Alas, my paddling partner (my lovely wife, Angie) had to work, so rather than risk a solo paddle (something I'm building up to, when I feel comfortable enough with my skill level), I decided to pull out my $100 Canadian Tire "Supercycle" mountain bike, pump up the tires and grease the chain and head out on the T'railway for a few hours. The T'railway is the railway bed that runs across the island, from Port Aux Basques to St. John's. The railway was decomissioned in 1988, and later made a part of the Trans Canada Trail. Its 883 kms long and runs right through my community. I left my house at 12pm and rode to Ocean Pond and back on the T'railway, a distance of 16.2kms, which took me about 1hr45min. Not much snow left on the trail, although I did wipeout on some ice at one point :-)

It rained the entire time, and I got soaking wet, but I did get good workout.

The one thing I'd like to note when comparing pedaling vs paddling, pedaling sure is a lot harder on the butt!


Rock over London, Rock on Chicago
Brian