Date: May 13, 2006
Paddlers and kayaks: Trev Rice in homemade pine and cedar strip Great Auk, Paul Delaney in patriotically-coloured Sea Knife.
Weather conditions: Cool and breezy from the northeast, fog on the hilltops lifting later with minor drizzle ending after lunch. Temperatures never above 10oC.
NTS Sheets: 2E/11 Exploits and bit of 2E/06 Point Leamington
Trip Length: 17 km
MAP 1: Fortune Harbour with photo locations (thumbnail - click on image to enlarge)
With this being the first kayaking of the year for my buddy and effectively the same for me, along with my buddy not up to much open seas in a kayak as yet (motorboat no problem) we looked at Fortune Harbour as an excellent spot to go for a decent length paddle without having to hit the open ocean, but with the possibility if conditions permitted. As well trip length can be changed quite quickly.
Contours on the topo map augured well for a picturesque trip, with lumpy terrain, narrow arms and several islands to pass around. We left Grand Falls in the morning and drove to Fortune Harbour. Off the TCH the road is windy in places and the road surface not the greatest, especially in the towns you pass through, so don’t expect to make up time on a late start. It took us 1:10 to reach the first salt water in Fortune Harbour but we continued to the far end of the town, another ten minutes. There is a small convenience store in the town and a liquor board in Cottrell’s Cove. There looked to be several places you might try to put in along the way, but none were really perfect. We set up down in Squid Cove of Southeast Arm. The owner of the first house past the brook let us dress in one of his sheds. Being cool and breezy this was excellent, even more so on the return. The dull weather also makes for some grainy photos when using those 800 speed disposable cameras. They are great for some things but in dark conditions they can be a bit grainy. But the shots should still give a good impression of the area.
Fig 1: Trev readying for launch
Fig 2: Squid Cove of Fortune Hr.
Fig 3: Trev in Squid Cove
The tide was falling and a good breeze was in our face as we left. Although winds were northeast, the way they were affected by the steep, tree-clad hills they became an apparent northwest wind in this part of the harbour. This kicked up some minor whitecaps and provided Trev the opportunity to test the effects of his new fixed skeg and adjusted seat position designed to counter some weather-cocking. Seemed to work out. Views from all parts of the harbour are quite dramatic. Very steep lumpy terrain, heavily tree-clad with fir, birch and lots of apse (aspen) surrounding you as you paddled made for an excellently visual journey. I imagine with summer or fall colours and blue sky the scenery would be even nicer. We chatted with a couple of lobster fishermen near Sims Point who told us of a kayaker putting a house in Webber Bight.
Fig 4: View towards indraft of harbour.
Fig 5: Looking over Trev to indraft
Fig 6: Sims Pt.
Fig 7: Grass grounds from Sims Pt area.
Carrying on we passed through an extensive mussel farm. This group also runs tours of the mussel venture. While the blue barrels and other floats take away from the scenery I’m not going to complain, for this is their harbour and they have to work to survive the cod problems. They said there was at least 20 fathoms of water under us where we were just south of Gillespie Island and that it continued deep for most of Northwest Arm.
We carried on to the bottom of Northwest Arm. There a small brook runs in and it was a sensible place to land for lunch. The trees here were large thick fir trees with interspersed birch and several drokes of apse. About 40 metres off the shore through the open trees on the north side of the brook are a few grassy meadows that would be perfect for a campsite, with plenty of dry wood nearby, birch trees for the rind, and even some rocks to make a fire pit. You could put several tents in here on pretty flat ground, and while the trees are a bit open would offer decent cover from winds, especially those coming off the water, with higher land behind you.
Fig 8: Looking into Northwest Arm over mussel farm.
Fig 9: Northwest Arm
Fig 10: Trev paddling
Fig 11: Cliff shore in NW Arm
Other campsites in the harbour were pretty abundant and obvious (see map). The west side of Southwest Arm is mostly vacant with some old houses still there. Near the entrance to the town are some fields where an old house must have stood and there are several grass grounds along the south side of Northwest Arm. Probably the best of these is the white patch furthest west. Landing might be hard at high tide, but possible and pull up the kayaks.
Fig 12: Looking out from bottom of NW Arm from lunch stop
Fig 13: Camp area at bottom of NW Arm
Fig 14: Looking back at lunch area
Leaving our lunch spot we noted how far the tide had fallen We had left the boats some 15 metres from the shore as it was and now there was another 5 metres or so behind them. All along from the mussel farm, to the bottom of the Arm and back out we noted an amazing abundance of mussels, coating rocky beaches and bedrock. We wondered if this might be due to young mussel escapees from the farm. However, as we went further outside there were still plenty of mussels and some locals we met near Sweeny Island said it was always like this. You have no danger of starving in this place. At anything other than high tide you’ll be able to collect any amount of mussels you want quite easily from the kayak.
Fig 15: Mussels
Fig 16: Lumpy Land
Fig 17: More mussels
There is another grass grounds with some remains of habitation in a small cove across from Deepwater point. Looked decent for camping. Passing by Button Island it is not possible to run through the narrow neck to the west of the main lump of the island except perhaps at high tide or the very highest tides you might get. In a little cove at the east end of the island is a small, well protected, flat, grass clearing with a rocky shore. This was the most seaward campsite we witnessed ourselves. It looks to be able to take just the one tent, maybe two.
Fig 18: Another good camp area on south side
Fig 19: Just able to scrape around Quirk Island
Fig 20: Looking back into NW from Quirk Island tickle
Fig 21: East towards Sims Pt.
Fig 22: North side of Gillespie Island looking to Sims Pt.
Fig 23: Mussels and grass grounds
Fig 24: Low pass west side of Button Island
Fig 25: Hills south of Sweeny Island
As we rounded the southwest tip of Sweeny Island we ran into the swell and lop coming down the main channel. What struck us most at this point was the suddenly strong smell of the sea, even though we’d been on the salt water all day. The winds and swell out here were certainly coming northeast now, but the wind was just fresh. The water was quite choppy, even though the swells were not high. There was a lot of clapotis off the high, rough cliff shore, increasing in certain areas according to landforms and swell height so we moved more to centre channel. The maximum swells by the time we reached the north end of the island were only about 1 metre, but the long narrow channel makes for lots of wave refraction. I can imagine a bigger swell would make this a rather challenging area. However, with the angle of the waves it was still easy to pass through the tickle and onto the east side of the island where the waves disappeared completely, and the wind and now rising tide made for a casual drift along. Amongst the Jim Day Islands we noted more mussels and sea urchins and large sea anemones. In general the undersea was rather interesting all over with some large starfish, various kelp and eel grass, tiny fishes darting around. There is another small, angled grass grounds in a small cove and like most places hard to reach at low tide with a barrier of boulders between you and the high tide mark. Another much larger grass grounds is noted on the topo map. There is a brook running down the western side, some nice large trees, lots of cut logs to haul next winter. This would be a nice place to camp as well, but access again somewhat of a challenge.
Fig 26: Looking out to sea from west side Sweeny Island
Fig 27: Near north tip Sweeny Island
Fig 28: Looking over Jim Day Islands
Fig 29: Tickle at North end Sweeny Island
Fig 30: Lobster fishermen at Jim Day Is. Makes panorama with #31
Fig 31: Looking out through the tickle
Running back down Southeast Arm the following breeze and lop pushed us easily and rapidly to the truck. With the tide still well out we could only reach within some 75-100 metres of the truck, then carry the kayaks in somewhat muddy conditions to the road.
Fortune Harbour is a very nice place for a paddle, especially for novices, but the more seasoned adventurers are sure to find a great coast on the outside. This can be a very useful stopover if one is doing multi-day trips across the area. Distances to the next most likely camp areas to east and west are certainly within normal day paddling ranges, being 16-18 km to either Exploits Island, Cottrell’s Cove or North Harbour (using a fairly direct route and leaving from Sims Point). The travel distance from Grand Falls is not overlong and if the club were to put together a Labour Retreat in the central region the park near Botwood would make for a good and closer starting point.
Fig 32: Fortune Hr church
Fig 33: Large grass grounds. Brook and camping here.
Fig 34: View towards NW Arm