It was the usual forecast for this time
of year, moderate winds, two different swells with a local sea on
top, maybe not the best forecast for sea kayaking but close inshore,
where kayakers tend to paddle, the weather just never seems as bad as
forecast and, in kayaking, like mountaineering, it often pays to go
take a look.
Our plan was to launch from Shelly
Beach and paddle out around Toragy Point south to Pedro Point, on to
Congo Point where we should have been able to land relatively easily,
and then, if all was going well we would continue south to
Mullimburra Point where a small north facing sand bay would also
offer an easy landing place. It sounded like a good day out paddling
down a stretch of coastline we had only visited on foot with a couple
of landing places and, although it was a chilly 5 degrees Celsius in
Moruya, the hope of some sun to warm us up.
Launching from Shelly Beach was easy
and we both managed to stay dry. The big east coast low at the
beginning of June has changed the river mouth and there are standing
waves where there were none before and, at times, the entire entrance
to the river closes out with breaking waves.
Launching from Shelly Beach
There is a big deep gutter at Toragy
Point but the swell was peaking at 2 to 3 metres so entering the
gutter was out of the question. Surprisingly, a bunch of seals were
resting with fins in the air right off Toragy Point where the waves
batter in. We paddled wide of Toragy Point and then headed down the
coast to Pedro Point in an off-shore wind. Just off Toragy Point, a
couple of large dolphins paddled right under Doug's kayak and
surfaced perhaps a metre off the bow. There always seems to be
dolphins hanging about the mouth of the Moruya River. It must be
good fishing.
It was not long before we began to see
a long line of breakers running parallel to the beach and almost a
kilometre off-shore. We had a little discussion but we were both
hoping to pass inside the breakers closer to Pedro Point so continued
on. When we got near to Pedro Point it was obvious that the way
around today was right out to sea around the breaking reef. There is
nothing at all marked on the nautical chart or the topographic map
and it is possible that sand dumping from the June east coast low has
built this reef up so that it breaks more frequently.
I felt confident there was a narrow gap
between the line of breakers through which, with careful timing, we
could pass but Doug was having none of it. Usually, in this
situation we have long discussions where one person attempts to sway
the other but Doug felt unaccountably strongly on this occasion and
simply said "I won't go there." He was so emphatic that
arguing seemed pointless. We did have the option of paddling back to
Toragy Point, heading out to sea around the reef and then continuing
down the coast but generally I don't like paddling a kilometre
off-shore because there is not much to look at and progress can seem
terribly slow.
Paddling north to Broulee Head seemed
like a better option and we (thought) knew that we could land in the little cove - I think the locals call it Honeymoon Bay - on the south
side of the Boat Harbour sand spit that joins Broulee Island to the
mainland.
Paddling uphill on the way to Pedro Point
There are a few larger sand bars off
Bengello Beach too since the east coast low, but it is easy to paddle
north along the shore to the surf club near Broulee Head. As we
approached Broulee Head we could see more extensive breakers running
all the way from Broulee Head to the east side of Broulee Island. We
paddled east along the entrance to the little cove but it was
completely closed out by breaking swells. Paddling through breakers
over a shallow rock reef seems infinitely worse than paddling through
breakers over a sand beach and the swells were so close together that
getting in without being overtaken by breakers seemed dubious. This
was a bit of a shame as we now had numb butts, full bladders and a
hankering for a hot thermos of tea. We could have continued on
around Broulee Island and landed on the north side but the east side
of Broulee Island harbours a shallow sloping reef that extends a long
way off-shore and we would have had to paddle very wide to get
around. The total distance would have been pretty close to just
paddling back to Shelly Beach so we turned around and headed south
again.
This time we stayed well off-shore
paddling in a straight line for Toragy Point which is easily visible
from sea. The breakwater at the mouth of the Moruya River is too low
to see when a reasonable swell is running. I don't usually like
paddling way off shore but this was a really nice paddle south. The
sun was low over my shoulder casting shadows on the water and thin
clouds were stretching out from the forested hills to the west. The
coastline had an interesting tiered look with the white sand beach
backed by the green gum forest which was in turn backed by the
forested ridges beyond. I would rise up on a swell and Doug paddling
a hundred metres to my right would disappear into a trough, then he
would rise and I would fall.
There was a bit of squirrelly water
coming in to Shelly Beach and the entire river channel was closing
out with some of the larger waves. Two more dolphins passed us by in
the choppy water. Landing was easy, and, remarkably, I got out of
the kayak completely dry, something I can't remember happening for
months and months.
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