Back on the sea:
During the long and hot summer(very hot and very long), with crowded beaches, roads and car parks, I had avoided the coast. Embalse de Negratin had been a more pleasant place for my type of quiet kayaking. My first trip back to the sea, since May 4th., was on Tuesday November 28th. when I took The Smart One to Villaricos:
There are four places at Villaricos where I can get on the water fairly easily with a kayak. Because of a not entirely favourable weather forecast I opted for the one close to Chiringuito (beach bar) Las Brisas, where a reef of rocks, about 25 metres out from the shore, creates a calm patch between shore and reef in most sea conditions. It doesn't take much of a 'lift' in the water to make getting afloat on a 'steep-to' beach a bit tricky, without getting wet. Also, at this particular spot, it's only a short distance across sand from car park to shore. The Smart One is light enough to carry that far without faffing around with a kayak trolley,
It wasn't a perfect morning. I got on the water at 10:15 a.m., when just a light breeze, off the land, barely ruffled the water, but that wind soon picked up a little and backed to blow off the sea. A plan for a longish distance paddle, south along the coast, was abandoned in favour of a bit of dodging backwards and forwards between the two marinas at Villaricos. Running one way, with following wind and waves was very pleasant, punching back again, against those elements, was harder work.
Time on the water was 2 hrs. and distance paddled was 6.6 km.
To Isla Negra and beyond:
Next trip to the sea, again with The Smart One, was on December 23rd. Another commitment kept me home on the Winter Solstice but I was on the water, at Punta Parda, the following day – the first full day of winter. Nothing untoward in the weather forecast that day and sea condition near perfect for a long paddle. Got on the water at 11:00 a.m. and conditions looked so good that I decided on a repeat of my paddle to Isla Negra (blog post 29/4/23) and, if all went well, to continue to the headland (Punta Cañón) a bit further on. The town of San Juan de los Terreros is just around that headland.
Approaching Isla Negra. The island on the horizon is Islote de San Juan de los Terreros – a long name for a little island! A circumnavigation of that island is a future possibility, in the right conditions.
A view of the old part of San Juan de los Terreros as round Punta Cañón. Conditions were still very favourable when I reached Isla Negra, and it hadn't taken as long to get there as I had anticipated, so I had pressed on.
A nice vista of San Juan opened up when I cleared Punta Cañón. The old part of the town on the right of the picture with the sprawl of more recent urbanization, along the shore, on the left. It was now time to turn back.
Looking back from Punta Cañón. Conditions still very good, although a breeze did start to ruffle the water later, when Isla Negra (that dark lump) was well astern of me.
Back at Punta Parda, at the entrance to the bay. Not many people on the beach now, but hidden from view is a motor-home and camper-van city! Vehicles of all shapes, sizes, ages and conditions, owned by a variety of nationalities, mainly Northern Europeans, gathered here in Spain for the winter sun.
Time on the water this time was 2¼ hrs. and distance paddled was 7.8 km.
It's been a pretty good year for my quiet kayaking. A record year of 14 trips plus a new kayak, the Neris Smart 1, to play with. I'm still at two kayaks. That new kayak, and the possibilities that go with it, made my little Gumotex Twist 1 redundant – but it has a new good home, with family, in the U.K. The Twist served me well, for 37 trips over 6 years. .
