"Look behind you now!" yelled Nick as we paddled north along the eastern side of Brush Island. "I don't want to," my voice wavered. I had been paddling all out following Nick as we threaded a line through some breaking bomboras on the eastern side of Brush Island off the NSW South Coast.
Nick never seems to get caught; so I thought if I trailed him by just a few metres, I too would avoid being tumbled in the big breakers. I did, however, glance over my shoulder and saw white, lots of white, right where we had passed through. But, we weren't caught, and, in the end, that is all that counts.
It was the Sunday paddle. The swell was larger than I had anticipated and my planned beach landing tour had gone mostly according to plan despite some of the beaches featuring big surf breaks.
Six of us launched from Bawley Beach where there is a small, poorly protected boat ramp that is seldom used by power boats. The boat ramp is in a slot between a small reef and rock slabs along the shore and frequently features a kicking current that swings kayaks around. The first time we planned to launch there we studied it for a while and declared it a no go before launching off Cormorant Beach to the south into full surf.
We had a newer paddler with us today so instead of the usual free for all surf launch, Rae paddled out first, while Nick stayed on the beach and helped keep the boats straight into the surf as the rest of us launched. I put my spray jacket on as that is the usual key to NOT taking a big wave over the head and managed to take just a small wave.
My plan for the day was to check out four different landing locations, three near Brush Island, and the final one south of Snapper Point. I was feeling less optimistic than when I had planned the trip as the northerly swell was considerably bigger than originally forecast, but, there is no harm in looking.
So, we looked. At the south end of Murramurang Beach - no go, and Cat and Kitten Beach, also no go. At Bull Pup Beach we were able to paddle around a reef and a bombora on the western side and landed easily on a nice flat beach with small surf. I was ready to declare the trip a success already but there was more!
We passed O'Hara Head and Snapper Point in steeply peaked seas. Nick and I wandered in toward Pretty Beach but as we approached a big swell rolled in and we backed off. A landing in the far northern corner would be possible with good timing. My final point to check was the small Island Beach which is near O'Hara Island, a cluster of rocky reefs that is close to shore and barely an island. On the southern side, landing was easy on a flat beach.
Back at Kioloa for lunch, we saw a pair of kayakers north of Belowla Island and wondered for the second time that day if we knew them. Nick had raised the possibility of paddling around the eastern side of Brush Island and I was instantly intrigued. Doug, Nick and I decided to paddle around Brush Island, while Rae, Neil and John took the shorter - and safer - inside route back.
On the water, we soon split into two groups. By the time we started heading east around Brush Island, the other three were far behind. We could see big waves breaking on hidden bomboras off Brush Island and were unsure how far out to sea we would have to go to avoid them. As it turns out, quite a long way. There was one bommie that was a steady breaker, but another one only appeared on the bigger sets and as we were riding up and down over confused two metre seas it was hard to keep in your mind where the sporadically breaking bombora was. Finally, we figured we could safely pass between the island and the intermittently breaking bombora, and just as we finished that, Nick yelled "Look behind you now!"
On the north side of Brush Island we found ourselves almost three kilometres from shore but luckily the wind never got above 10 knots and paddling into land was simple. There were big waves washing up onto the rocks at Bawley Point but with the tide lower, landing at the ramp was easier and all three of us cruised in easily. Nick called it an "honest days work." And, two other kayakers, our friends from Canberra, who had been paddling up and down the coast looking for us, were there to help with our boats.
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