Another Perfect Paddle 11/04/2010

With Martyn arriving for a weeks holiday yesterday conditions seemed perfect for a paddle around Ramsey Island before I drive back home later today.

Paddling on a course for Gwahan we let the southerly flowing ebb tide bring us down onto the north end of Ramsey Island.
At Twyn-Sion Owen the northern most point of Ramsey we feel the effect of the ebbing tide and before we know it we are resting in the calm water of Abermawr with North Bishop and Carreg Rhoson in the background.
Paddling across Abermawr we meet up with Tim of Venture Jet, we stop for a quick chat and after informing him of the Puffins I saw yesterday he speeds off to North Bishop a lot quicker than me yesterday.

We let the last of the ebbing tide take us effortlessly along the western side of Ramsey in the unusually flat calm sea as more often than not there is a bit of a swell here.

I usually paddle on my own but with Martyn as company today the magnitude of Ramsey's cliffs can be really appreciated as they dwarf Martyn's kayak.
Paddling towards the headland of Trwynmynachdy Martyn breaks away to do some rockhopping as I paddle on to wait to take a photo of him paddling into Bay Dillyn. I wait for a bit but Martyn doesn't appear, paddling back I find him out of his kayak in the water obviously trying to cool off! For a more detailed report check out his blog.
After cooling down enough Martyn gets back into his kayak and I finally get my picture.


With Martyn fully refreshed we paddle through the large cave that pierces Ynys Cantwr and encounter our first bit of adverse tide as we paddle through Twyll y Dillyn.

It looks like we have our timing right as the tide is starting to flood and aiding our progress northward up to the Bitches.
There are numerous seals hauled out on the pebbled beach below Foel Fawr, they are moulting at the moment so we keep our distance but a young bull decides to join us.
He keeps following nudging the back of our kayaks as we paddle along though he is a little camera shy and his eyebrows look like they could do with a little trim.

He follows Martyn through the Bitches and even has a little play in the rough water before finally leaving us to return to his mates.

The paddle back up through the Sound is made more interesting by the wind increasing and whipping the sea up a bit, it could be a bit lively later when the tide increases its speed.A paddle of 7.5 nautical miles (nearly 14 kms) a great way to end a cracking weekend's paddling, it looks like Martyn could have a good week as long as he doesn't get too hot and needs another dip!