The Blue Lagoon 14/08/10

After pitching the tent back at Whitesands we headed on up to Abereiddy to catch the last hour of sunlight. The rest of the group donned their wet suites for a bit of coast steering. I opted for a dry paddle and meet them in the Blue Lagoon.


The sun was just dipping down behind the headland when I got to the entrance of the lagoon.

The entrance is marked by the old quarry buildings. The Blue Lagoon is an old slate quarry which has been opened up and allowed to flood. It gets it's name from the algae that grows here. During the lighter hours it appears more blue than when I arrived.

I land on the slate beach at the far end of the lagoon and scale the cliffs to watch the others making their way around the cliff.

I then paddled across the lagoon and hauled my boat up on the rock to explore the remains of the quarry buildings. There is no gentle slope in to the sea here it just goes straight down, which made it a bit of a challenge getting in and out of my boat.

Stuart decides to launch himself off what would be the high jump but as the tide is so high it wasn't a big as it should be.

In this video I paddle back out of the entrance to the lagoon and land at Abereiddy bay. I managed to avoid going over as the surf turned my boat before landing on the rocks. I folded my camera down at the end in the fear of turning my boat over on the rocks.

Back at the car the sun disappears behind the horizon and the moon comes up glowing bright orange (photo of the moon wasn't very good). It was then back to the camp site for a couple of beers and cremated chicken breasts and marshmallows on the BBQ.

Solva to Porth Clais 14/08/10 With Glam Boaters

Morning Trip Day 1

I left for Whitesands in St Davids Pembrokeshire in the early hours to meet up with the rest of Glam Boaters club. I arrived at the camp site just as they were leaving for Solva.

Lime kilns at Solva harbour
We unloaded the boats and left the harbour at high tide.


Exploring the caves near Solva.

We left the shelter of the south facing cliffs and headed for Green Scar, one of three small islands about 1km from the entrance to Solva harbour. Forecast came in on the radio, force 4/5 sea state slight to moderate.

We were greeted at Green Scar by some Shags and Guillemots who didn't seem to mind us getting too close.

Once around the tiny island and it was a battle into the Northerly wind back to shore. Here's me trying out my video on my new camera. For some reason the video doesn't fit the blog so double click it to open in you tube, if anyone knows how to sort this let me know.

After a tyring slog into the wind we land on a small slate beach for a quick breather.

There were 8 of us in all, this time all in sea boats.

More caves....Even though I've done this stretch of coast previously it was nice to be able to get close up and explore this time. Last time I was here there was a big swell and I had to view the cliffs from a distance.

Mount Rushmore of Pembroke?? There's definitely a couple of faces there.

Ship wreck.

How many kayaks can you fit in a cave!

The geology in this area is pretty impressive too.

Playing in the surf.

Posing!

Our next beach invasion was at Caefai Bay where I camped a few weeks ago. I try out a role with the camera at this bay.

Leaving the bay we carry on around to Porth Clais where we left our pick-up car. Before we land a few of the guy's couldn't resist getting out of their boats and launching themselves off a cliff. The boy who jumps second in this video was only young and was doing back flips and everything.


Richie doing a mid air pirouette!

With all that exploring and cliff jumping it was low tide by the time we reached Porth Clais, which can only mean a long walk up to the car park. As it was spring tides the walk was extra long!

It was back to the camp site for some lunch and to pitch the tent before a late evening paddle at the blue lagoon.

New Camera At Last!!

I finally ditched my non water proof digital camera which is on its last legs and bought an Olympus Tough 6020 waterproof. I took a very short trip out of Llantwit Major in some very choppy waters. I stopped off at the next bay to have a little play with it before turning back.

Finally some action shots. These are taken from video still, I haven't mastered taking photo's while on the move.

Splash down!

Bow underwater.

Heading back to Llantwit.

It was a big spring tide this next few days, and at high tide there was no beach left.
Can't wait to get back out and get some decent shots for a change.

Flat Holm in a Wedding Dress

Alarm goes off, 4am, what am I thinking! I head on down to Sully to meet up with Taran and Richie for a paddle out to Flat Holm. Taran was wearing a lovely wedding dress, for charity apparently but I think that was just an excuse to wear a dress and a pair of stockings! He was doing it for a good cause for Ty Hafan Children's Hospice.

I arrive in darkness while Taran is putting on his skirt over his...well.. skirt!

Launching at 5am the lights from the Wolves buoy and light house flash in the distance.

We reach Wolves buoy in no time as the sun starts to come up.

Finally the sun peaks just above the horizon. By this point my camera was buggered again and all I could see was a white screen so apologies for the poor photos.

Never before approached Flat Holm at high tide, it looked very different from being here previously.

Lining up out matching coloured boats on Flat Holm. Taran was in a Pyranha Orca and Richie was in a P&H Capella.

Scary!

I climbed into my boat on the pebble beach and with my weight the kayak started sliding into the water. I managed to keep myself from going completely arse over tit as I scramble with my hand on the sea bed. My Venture Pump broke AGAIN!! (I'm on my third one now) as the washer inside snapped. Not recommend, although Up & Under kindly replaced it each time.

Exploring one of the caves, normally this cave is halfway up a cliff when I've come here at low tide.

Passing the light house. Heading back we notice the flow of the ebbing tide taking control as we pass the Wolves buoy a little further south than on our initial journey.

We make it back though on the right side of Sully Island.

Taran then decided to go for a swim.

Good day in perfect conditions and back before I would normally wake up! We spent the next four hours up on the wall by the Captains Wife already planing our next voyages including Steep Holm, Ireland and France! Someday maybe.

Check out this video and also the BBC web site.