A Trio of Little Trips in The Twist

Since my last blog post, 'The Maiden Voyage of The Halibut', I've had a trio of little trips with The Twist.  All were early starts, to beat the heat, launching soon after the sun came up and getting home again by mid morning.  Just short excursions, to shake the dust off the paddles (so to speak), to places I was familiar with from last year's paddling trips.


Wednesday Aug. 22nd.  Garrucha seafront.  Was last here Aug. 23rd. 2017.  Was lucky to find a parking space by the promenade. Very little wind but a bit of a swell from the S.E. Paddled the length of Garrucha seafront (both ways) and then had a little sortie into the harbour and marina.  Always interesting to see what boats are moored at the jetty for visiting craft, and where they come from.  On this day they were French, German and Spanish.  One ship was loading in the harbour and I watched another dock with the help of two tugs.  By the time I got back to the beach, where I had launched, there were quite a few people having an early morning swim - from the sound of the voices they were mainly Spanish.  Evidently Spanish women like a sunhat when bathing - heads with hats were bobbing around all over the place!  Had a swim myself before leaving the beach.  Time on the water 1½ hrs. but that was a bit too long - it was getting uncomfortably warm when I landed and started packing up.


Wednesday Aug. 29th.  Extreme southern end of Mojácar seafront.  Was last here Sept. 22nd. 2017.  Quite a swell form the S.E. and a bit of surf on the beach.  Had to carry the kayak to a calm corner in the shelter of the rock and concrete mole to launch - and returned to the same spot later to land.  Stayed well out in deep water behind the surf line - riding the swells was lovely.  Was on the water for about an hour.  Had a swim afterwards.

Too much surf, here in front of the car park, to launch comfortably.

Developers have ruined these mountainsides.  Little boxes of apartments stacked on top of each other.  Reminded me of the hit song "Little Boxes" from the early 1960s about developments in the USA.    The main road passes at the back of this development so I guess you can only see it like this from out on the sea.







Tuesday Sept. 18th.  Villaricos - the little harbour/marina at the northern end of the seafront.  Was last here Oct. 11th. 2017.  Tried to launch from the patch of sand just outside the harbour entrance (as last time) but waves were breaking rather too heavily on the beach, and not long enough gaps between the big ones, to launch without getting very wet.  'Plan B' was a short walk, and carry the kayak, to a concrete slipway within the harbour - only hazard there, was very slippery seaweed on the underwater surface of it.  Pootled around the harbour a few times with the occasional sortie out of the entrance into deep water - no problems with the bit of swell but an unexpected fresh wind off the land was a slight concern.  A capsize there, or a broken paddle, could have been a problem - next stop could have been North Africa!  Inflatable kayaks are a bit susceptible to wind.

That slipway saved the day.  The harbormaster's office is to the left, and behind those palm trees is a bar and restaurant.

 A view from just outside the harbour entrance.  The tops of those palm trees on the seafront show the direction of the wind.  A stiff offshore wind in a small inflatable kayak is not a welcome thing.










Footnote:

Autumn is here now.  Days and nights are gradually getting cooler.  Thoughts are now turning to getting the folding kayak out again and returning to much longer paddles on Embalse de Negratin.  There are still bits of it I haven't seen.