Another Good Day on Embalse de Negratin

   Last Thursday looked a good day for another paddle on Embalse de Negratin.  A forecast of very little wind and 0% chance of rain was a brief kayaking friendly window in a period of iffy weather.  Plan for the day was to launch as usual from Playa de Freila, head down to the dam, and delve into a large inlet close to the southern end of it.  This inlet was one of the few places, at that end of the reservoir, I hadn't reached on previous visits.  If time allowed, and it did, there was a couple of other largish inlets on the opposite shore still to visit.

9:45 am. Thursday May 31st.  Kayak loaded up and ready to trundle down to the water.

I was soon passing the Torre del Maruq (see blog post 21/05/17), the remains of a watch tower from the time when this area was occupied by the Moors, on my left hand side ....... ...........

.......... and what I call 'the badlands' on my right hand side.

That's a little island dead ahead.  It wasn't there the last time (May  2017) I passed this way.  After the winter rain the water level is higher now, so it must be all that remains at the end of a spit of land.  The water was  certainly very shallow between it and the mainland.

Getting closer to that inlet.

Nearly there - have to turn left just past that big rocky outcrop near centre picture.

Going in, to what turned out be one of the largest inlets I'd delved into.  It was getting quite hot on the water now - being able to pause in the shade of the cliffs was pleasant.

This is as far as I could go.  Traffic noise from the road on the skyline disturbed the tranquility.  Apart from the road over the dam this is the only place where a main road passes anywhere near the water.

Many little bays and sub-inlets made this inlet interesting.

Heading back out towards into open water.

That little island again.  By this time I had looked into two more largish inlets and was looking for somewhere I could land, stretch my legs and have some lunch.  All the inlets I had been in were steep sided and places to land were very limited.

Stopped here for lunch.  Sizable fish were cruising the shallows - but weren't interested in bits of cold pizza.  But they would come up and take little beetley things which were scooting about on the surface of the water.  Earlier I had seen one fish come well out of the water to snatch something edible off the shore.  I've never seen a fish do that before.

Fed and watered and heading back towards Playa de Freila.  Clouds were now forming in the distance and reflections were getting interesting.  The clouds were  heralding a change in the weather.  It deteriorated again the following day.










   And so another nice quiet paddle on Embalse de Negratin came to an end.  Time on the water was approx. 3½ hrs.  Distance paddled, according to my Garmin GPS thingy, was 10½ kilometres.


   

Back on the Water

   My folding kayak, which hadn't seen water since June 2017, finally got an outing yesterday.  Plans to get out kayaking early in the year were thwarted by fickle weather - but yesterday morning the stars aligned long enough (just long enough) for a successful trip to Embalse de Negratin.  For a sort of 'shakedown' paddle to get back into the swing of things.

   I didn't have anywhere in mind when I launched onto glassy calm water at Playa de Freila, just 'pootled' around an area I had been to before.  But it did all look different because winter rain had raised the water level in the reservoir, which altered the shoreline and changed the shape and size of inlets.

I didn't recognise this inlet at all.

Stopped here for lunch and a leg stretch.  The edges of the reservoir tend to be gooey, sticky stuff, so a stone and shingle 'beach' to step out onto is a good find.

This was the first outing with my experimental fore-deck - to keep a bit of spray, and more importantly the hot sun, off my lunch bag.

The view from my lunch bag.

Heading back to Playa de Freila.

Reflections.

The noise from the power boat and the jet-ski rather spoiled the tranquility as I got nearer to Playa de Freila.  Fortunately they weren't out for long before the owners sought refreshments in that bar overlooking the water.  They did go out again for another zoom around after I landed, but were soon back in that bar again.







   A thunder storm had been forecast for the afternoon and sure enough, as I started to dismantle my kayak, the sky darkened, a wind whipped up waves on the water and then the rain came - just as I put the last bits away in the back of the van.  Phew!  Don't think we've seen the end of fickle weather just yet.

   This was also my first quiet paddle with my Garmin GPS thingy - which informed me that I'd paddled 5.7 kilometres and when I was paddling at a nice steady pace I was achieving between 3.5 and 4.0 kilometres per hour.  Not that I really needed to know any of that.  My watch told me I'd been on the water for nearly three hours.

January Sunshine - The First Outing of 2018

   This morning's little paddle on the sea was a grabbed opportunity.  Susan had an appointment at a hairdressing salon on Mojácar sea front; right opposite ample parking and easy access to the beach - and there had been a run of very good weather.  So 'The Twist' was shoved into the back of the car just in case sea conditions proved O.K. for a bit of kayaking - and they were.

  Nothing special or particularly interesting about this trip - just and hour of relaxed paddling, under a bluer sky, on a calm sea.  A perfect first outing of 2018, especially as it was warm enough to be paddling in just shorts and a T-shirt!

'The Twist' gets to the Costa Blanca

   I wouldn't normally have contemplated a journey up to the Costa Blanca just for a couple of hours of kayaking.  However, Susan needed to be at Alicante airport quite early yesterday morning for a flight to the U.K. - which put me in fairly easy reach of Jávea where there is a little bay I have always liked.  I've swum, snorkeled and dived there in the past, but never explored it by kayak.

   So, despite a forecast of winds which might have become unfavourable for kayaking by the time I reached there, I took a chance and drove that extra hour north to revisit Portixol.

 My first view of Portixol yesterday morning, with sea conditions looking favourable.  The big island is 'La Isla del Portixol' and the bay I was heading to is on the mainland, opposite the right hand end (south end) of the island.  Not that any of my immediate family need to be told where it is!

Portixol bay, from the sea.  At the far left hand side is a bar/restaurant called 'La Barraca', which is hidden from the main beach area by a rock outcrop.  The uninitiated could sit all day on that beach and not know there is a bar just round the corner!

This is the bar/restaurant 'La Barraca'.  It seems to have been run by the same Spanish family for years.  A basic, no frills place - you won't get much else other than seafood here.

On the shore, at the far left hand side of the previous photograph, there is this primitive looking little building.  That yellow shape outside is an upturned boat, and another little boat was pulled up on the beach nearby.  It didn't look inhabited - but I saw people come out later!

Just past that little building, rock cliffs tower above a narrow strip of beach.

Heading towards the gap between the mainland (on the left) and La Isla del Portixol.

It's quite shallow in places between the island and the mainland.   That white water ahead is waves breaking over a reef .

Heading towards the south end of La Isla del Portixol.  No doubt there is a name for that other much smaller island, but it's not shown on my map.  There is good diving in lovely clear water around here, dive boats were coming and going all the time I was on the water.

And for once I wasn't the only kayak on the water.  Several launched from the same beach.

Bar/restaurant 'La Barraca' again.  I was starting to regret bringing a packed lunch with me!

Heading back to the beach for that packed lunch.

The owners of these little places on the beach (presumably leftovers from the days when it was a fishermen's beach) must have a communal pot of paint for doors and window shutters!

End of an exceptionally nice morning of kayaking.  I didn't follow any particular route - just pootled around quite aimlessly.  Did get across to La Isla del Portixol but the wind was freshening out there, so I abandoned thoughts of paddling right round it.

That's not a seal in the water.  It's a spear fisherman, wearing a wet-suit, heading out to try his luck.  Spearfishing is quite popular in Spain.

One of the nicest, and so far quite unspoiled, little bays I know.  Just hope a halt is soon called to all the development on the hillside above.

Not bad for a morning in October!  In summer this beach is packed solid - seen it!

There must be a good reason for that odd shaped blue door!

Just round the corner of that little bit of cliff at the end of the beach is the bar/restaurant.

The way into that bar just round the corner - a photo taken in 2014 on a previous visit.

The last look down on Portixol.  A  morning like that was well worth the long haul home.

If the weather forecast was right, then that sea got quite rough later in the day.

'The Twist' returns to Villaricos

In August (blog post Fri. Aug. 4th.) I did a bit of pootling about in and around the small harbour at the southern end of Villaricos seafront.  This morning I returned to visit the other small harbour, at the northern end of the seafront - and, thanks to very calm conditions, paddle to a man-made 'island' way out from the promenade.  Because of cooler days now that we are into autumn, and the  darker mornings, this wasn't the usual sunrise start to a paddle on the sea - but I was on the water by about 9 o'clock.

The beach on Villaricos seafront is mainly stony and rocky, but there is a convenient little patch of sand (albeit dirty looking stuff) just outside the harbour entrance.  Getting on the water was easy there and I headed straight to the harbour for a nose around.

 Nearing the harbour entrance.

Inside the harbour ...........

.......... and heading out again.

Just clear of the harbour entrance.

Now heading to that 'island' (very black shape) near the horizon on the left.

Avoiding several obstacles along the way.

 A near submerged obstacle.

Getting close now.  It's actually a lot  further from the shore than it looks here.

Rounding the other side.  This 'island' is actually the remains of the outer end of a jetty where ships came and loaded iron ore when there was extensive mining in this part of Almeria.

Have rounded the 'island' and now heading back to my start point.

Back on my little sandy patch.

Ready to pack up and head for home after about 1½ hours of nice quiet paddling.