Friday 17 May 2013

Sea kayaking into the 'BIG CAVE'

Last summer was dotted with low pressure systems close-by keeping storms, strong winds and heavy seas in the area where I usually paddle. This autumn was quite the opposite with many high pressure systems and very flat seas.
Looking out from one of the big caves

With seas below 1 meter and virtually no wind in the forecast, Josh and I planned to visit “the big cave in Central Coast”. We knew there may be smaller caves in the area as well but I had not imagined what we were going to find.
Magnificent mazes trapped between rock and water
The plan for the weekend was simple: let’s get into every cave, gauntlet and crevice we see while paddling. Once we had the program we put the call out within the club and we were joined by Roger the whole weekend and Marty and Shawn on Sunday.
Shawn 'looking like a saint in one of the narrow passages.
Some of the caves were dark and we needed torches to look inside.
We started with loaded kayaks and soon I was reminded of how much my kayak changes its behaviour when it carries a few kilograms of water, food and shelter in its once dry hatches. Anyway, I am sure that by the end of the weekend it was lighter, not only from the supplies consumed but from the strips of plastic left on the different rock surfaces of the area until I got used to the longer time it took me to turn and stop in small spaces.


We landed in this small beach flanked by walls of rock for the fun of it, and it was fun! Look at the video below

Is he talking to someone from heaven? I felt in heaven this day.
With the water so calm we got into a lot of cave systems that were almost like a maze. I tried my luck and skills going through really narrow and difficult places. I pushed it so much that I got to see some rocks underwater really close.
Yep, the water was shallow here.
I managed to do a lot of things during the weekend but specially something I had been wanting to do for a while: jump off the kayak, climb up a couple of meters the steep rock and jump back in.

Thanks to Shawn for sharing the pictures and to Roger for the videos he recorded with my camera.

You can see some more of the amazing places in the first video below


Or more action like my capsize or Josh almost being dragged by a wave in the second one. 

4 comments:

  1. Nice videos and photos Fer; particularly liked the shot of Shawn in the slot at the rear of the "Shark hole".

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  2. ***** 5 STARS for the action, Fernando!


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  3. CAN YOU TELL US EXACTLY WEHRE CENTRAL COAST CAVES ARE ON THE OREGON COAST? WE'D LOVE TO CONSIDER DOING THIS TRIP.
    THANKS.
    DALE AND WARREN
    COS COB, CT USA
    dalebrat@yahoo.com

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    Replies
    1. it is not in use, it is in australia, central coast, nsw.

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