By Paul Delaney, Trevor Rice
Date: June 3, 2006
Paddlers and kayaks: Two. Trev Rice in homemade pine and cedar strip Great Auk, Paul Delaney in the Sea Knife Tricolour.
Weather conditions: Fresh breeze from the northeast, mostly sunny but a few clouds. Temperatures in the mid teens to 20 o C.
NTS Sheets: 2E/06 Point Leamington
Trip Length: 24 km
Map 1: Pleasantview Route Plan
I'd done part of this trip in one of my first and almost last sea kayaking adventures. As a novice you should avoid the water when they say “Storm Force Southerlies in the Bay of Exploits ”, but that's another story. Managing to get a day when no work crisis was expected while working out of Grand Falls two of us set off early Saturday morning for Pleasantview. Forecasts were for 22 o C in Grand Falls area with variable winds or NW to West depending upon source, up to maybe 15 kph. Turned out that all day they were NE, a pleasant fresh breeze that carried the scent of the sea. From the centre of Grand Falls to Pleasantview (topo maps show it as Paradise ) it's 66 km, about 40-45 minutes.
Photo 1: Bulley's Cove
Photo 3-5: Launch shots-Pleasantview
We launched from the first spot you could get down to the sea via a dirt track to a wharf and sheds. Parking wasn't a problem. We set out about 9:15 with the tide starting to rise a few hours earlier. Passing out of the community and heading north, the first island was impossible to pass to the west due to the low water. At high tide you should be able to get through.
Photo 6: Oily in Pleasantview
Photo 7: Perfect reflection
Photo 8: Closed passage near Pleasantview
We passed the remains of the “Ocean Princess” high and dry on the shore with a big hole in the side where the owners had ripped out the engine.
Photo 9: Wreck of the Ocean Princess
Photo 10: Trev
Photo 11: Trev in the oil looking NE
On the northeast tip of the island we realized that if we were to get a feed of mussels we'd better do it now while the water was low. We scavenged perhaps 8-10 pounds pulling them off the rocks from the kayaks. The water was quite cool on the hands, but once reasonably numb there was no problem staying at it.
Photo 12: Mussel picking grounds
Photo 13: Paul crossing Mouse Cove
Photo 14: Typical shoreline north of Mouse Cove
Continuing north into the wonderfully refreshing sea breeze with a strong smell of the sea in our nostrils we passed along rugged shores of impressive pillowed lavas and pillow breccias of the early-Ordovician (~480 million years) Tea Arm Formation of the Exploits Group. The nature of these rocks should be a highlight of the trip for anyone.
Photo 15: Trev amongst small islands
Photo 16: Tickle nearing Tea Point
Photo 17: Paul in tickle
Photo 18: Pillowed lavas
Photo 19: Paul in crack with pillow breccias to right
Off Tea Point we got a slight bit more wind and lop but really nothing of note. Turning into Tea Arm we did enjoy the slight push from wind and sea as well as the impressive terrain of sharp hills covered in spruce and apse and juniper with a little birch. With hunger pangs growing we went right to the bottom of the arm, into a beautifully enclosed cove with muddy and rocky and eel grass covered bottom with schools of small unidentified fish swimming about. There are several low grassy places to take lunch. We thought you might be able to camp where we stopped but on further reflection we figure at high tide you might be a bit soggy. But a great place for lunch, ringed in by treed hills and rocky islands and a few gulls for company.
Photo 20: Tea Point
Photo 21: Looking into Tea Arm
Photo 22: Paul heading into Tea Arm
Photo 23: Paul heading into Tea Arm Bottoms
Photo 24: Tea Arm Bottoms
Photo 25: Trev in Tea Arm Bottoms in front of small island
Photo 26: Lunch spot in Tea Arm Bottoms
After Screech tea and good food we headed back out of our little paradise, peering through the clear waters at the small fish and one large rock cod. We passed by one cabin at the bit of land that separates Tea Arm from a salt water pond to the west. You can easily haul across here and gain access to Little Arm East if so desired. Also near this location is a gossan-coloured sand beach, small gravel but a good landing spot and probably a better view out the bay if you go out to the point. It looks like you might be able to camp on an odd level spot amongst the rusty rocks. The geology map indicates that this rock should be felsic volcanics but they looked like altered pillow lavas from my perspective in the kayak. We passed two lobster fishermen in this area. There were pots all along the shore.
Photo 27: Gossan Beach , Tea Arm
Photo 28: Cliff of pillow lavas
Initially we had planned to leave Tea Arm and head down Strong Island Sound and home, but the water was kind today, the weather nice and the time working well for us. So we decided we would head up a tickle between Strong and Jackies(?) islands. As we passed through we spied a young eagle. We barely slid over the rocks without scraping, and if it weren't for the now near high tide we'd never have gotten through. A short way past this tickle there are a few gravel beaches where you should be able to land, and a little further the rusty rock reappears with a short adit into the face.
Photo 29: Inside Jackies island tickle
Photo 30: Jackies Island tickle
Photo 31: Mussels in Jackies Island Tickle
Photo 32: Adit in rusty rocks
Photo 33: Rugged rusty cliffs
Rounding the north tip of Strong Island we'd expected we might get a bit of sea but apart from a little more clapotis there wasn't even a swell. Along the west shore of the island there are several rock spires that will one day likely be nice sea stacks. It is a lovely view south into the bay with Brimstone Head as a prominent reference point, where it divides the bay between Western Arm and Pt. Leamington Harbour . The deepest cove near the south end of the island has a good-sized gravel beach that is a good place to land. This cove is rather picturesque with a sharp knob directly back of the beach.
Photo 34: West side Strong Island looking to Pt. Leamington
Photo 35: Trev in the fault zone
Photo 36: Rock spire
Just past the above cove is where you can decide to return as we did or carry on down into Pt. Leamington where you might have another vehicle. Looks like some nice coves along that shore.
As for us we continued with our planned route. Just into Strong Island Sound there is a rather nicely set up house at the southern tip of the island, with wharf, sheds and a large surrounding deck with tables, chairs, BBQ.
Photo 37: Cabin south tip Strong Island
Heading south we past east of the first lumpy island, as we'd spied a mussel farm along the other side of the island. Dodging past another few islands we were now almost done. We decided that rather than race back through another small mussel farm in the very bottom of Little Arm East, we paddled around an island and through a passage in the southwest of the Arm. We started one eagle who flew along to the east. Moments later through the trees I spotted a big eagle nest. Reaching the end of the passage I turned to get a look at the nest and there was another eagle perched in the tree, an old apse, just above the nest. She flew off as well. This little cove was a very nice and relaxing place to finish the day, almost.
At the head of the Arm we crossed the short berm and into Little Arm Pond, paddled across it and pulled the kayaks out where the road comes to the shore. A quick walk into town of about 1.5 km and we retrieved the truck. It was a good way to loosen up the legs as well.
Now all we had to do was load the kayaks. A bit more of a task than you might think. The one bad feature of this route is that there is a gate on this road, way out by the road. We hoisted each fully loaded kayak onto our shoulders and tramped the gentle uphill road the 350m to the truck, and then repeated the trip. One lesson to give is that we should have unloaded all the gear and carried the kayaks empty. The lazy man's load was harder than a couple of extra trips. After paddling for 24 km this was the only part where we sweated.
On this trip we saw 5 eagles, one nest, some little fishes and a rock cod, a few gulls, tree sparrows, twillicks and snipes, plus heard quite a lot of bird song, notably the snipes. Overall this is a very nice trip with rugged, interesting coastline, narrow tickles and long arms, beautiful long distance views. While you could have a harder day if the winds were stronger we had it really good. The fresh breeze kept us cool and meant that we really never saw 22 o C conditions, like would have been the case inland. Most any novice would find this an enjoyable, mostly well protected paddle and the route and length of the trip can be varied. The sharp tree-clad hills and shoreline make this a very picturesque journey. Another factor that I prefer when paddling was realized this day in that once around the corner from Pleasantview there is absolutely no sign of civilization for almost all the trip. Apart from 2 cabins and some mussel farms at the very end, Cottrell's Cove in the far distance to the north and another set up across the bay, Pt. Leamington in the distance to the south, it is really just woods, water and rock.
This is another good paddle if the club were to do something bigger on Labour Day Weekend out this way.
As for that “other story” I'll just relate a little of what we did some years ago. I'd been in a kayak off Trinity just once. Another friend a tiny bit in a pond in play boats. We'd both done a reasonable amount of canoeing on the ocean recently, however. We purchased a couple days of sea kayak rentals from my brother who got them in a charity auction. The wind blew a gale all the way from St. John's to the park where I met my friend, never ceased all night and when we awoke the kayak guide (who wasn't coming with us but just dropped us off) informed us of those lovely winds mentioned at the start of the report. Finding out we were novices he stated something to the effect that “you're going to have quite the time!” but also said we'd be in the lee all the way. Well let me inform you that there is no full time lee in the Bay of Exploits with a southerly wind. We were blown out of Lawrence 's Hole (harbour on the map) with little wave development due to the short fetch. As we passed north and started to get beyond the protection of Lawrence Head we got what Botwood was sending which created some rather confused and higher waves. We quickly abandoned the trip, landed on a nearby beach, had a stiff drink and turned to head back. What took maybe 15 minutes to paddle on the way out took something more than hour to get back with the various hooks and crooks, lost foot peg, hauling over the land, but mostly just the savage pace that was necessary to keep the kayaks moving forward.
We spent the night on Winter Tickle Pond and next day hauled across into New Bay along a wide path where the river drains the pond. We were fairly well protected from the winds as we entered the sea, the winds having dropped to a mere “gale” by this time. After a bit of breakfast and perusing the map we decided to cross South Arm over to Tea Arm. We thought it best to quarter into the seas until we got far enough across to turn and quarter back with the waves to Tea Point. The largest waves were probably a bit over a metre and personally I had no problem and no worries the entire 3+ km crossing and missed my mark by maybe 100m at worst. However, my friend informed me that he couldn't go back that way as he was all in. This is how we discovered the route back through Little Arm Pond.
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