It was a warm night but it rained a couple of times. I woke up early to cook breakfast and get going early, but the rain slowed me down. I left at 8:45am. I had to drag the kayak about 50m because the tide had gone out of the shallow area I was camped near. This was the section of the paddle I was most concerned about, the Troubridge lighthouse section. It was 5km of exposed cliffs with nowhere to land. The swell wasn’t too bad, it needed a few detours to get past low rocks before I could start it. Then I was out on the Troubridge lighthouse section. I could see the lighthouse through the most and rain.
It went ok, dodging rocks, until I got near Troubridge lighthouse where I found a beach I could land on. It was a beach and cave. I had a stretch, and then headed back out. I left the shore but didn’t time the swell right. I went through a wave that was breaking on the way out and got a bit wet as a result. I got past the lighthouse and the whole cliff section and stopped at another beach. I had another stretch and tried to warm myself up. It was continuous rain, and because I had got so wet leaving the cave beach, I felt cold. When I left this beach, as I was cresting a wave, I had two dolphins swim underneath the kayak, so close I was afraid I would hit them.
About 1km from Kemp Bay, I could see the road in the distance, there was a rock reef that protected the shore, making it easy to land in the swell, and as well make it easy to leave tomorrow morning. On top of the benefits here, I found a ledge up in the sand dunes that made a great campsite well above the beach.
- Landing at the cave beach
