We got Around The Skagi Peninsula!

We Got Around The Skagi Peninsula!

Well that was a full value day's kayaking - and we got off the water just in time.

We were paddling out of the bay at Kálfshamarsvik a bit after 8 in the hope of making a bay only about 12km away. The forecast was terribly windy, NE as it has been for about nine days now, and seems set for a good few days ahead too. To make any progress we have to just go for it, plodding into the wind and sea till we've had enough. 

Following the coast north we were sheltered from the worst of the wind by 50-60m high cliffs of columnar basalt that thousands of birds found perfect for nesting. It was a spectacular bit of coast, making up for the visibility of only a km or two. We reached the first headland where we started turning east remarkably quickly and it was obvious by the small band of breakers and overfalls stretching out to sea, why. We had had the flooding tide with us. 

We expected once we turned east for all hell to break loose as we lost the shelter of the cliffs and were exposed to the full force of the wind and NE sea and swell. It wasn't as bad as we expected so after a quick stop ashore we decided to continue onto the next bay a further 10km east, where we were pretty certain we could land. It was slow going with shoreline features seemingly taking hours to reach and disappear behind but eventually we were dragging the boat up the shingle at Manavik and scurrying for shelter from the wind behind a small shed. 

With only another 10km to get around the final headland and turn SE we had a hurried lunch and continued while the going was good. Once around and heading SE we reckoned we could get a sail up and more or less sit back and relax. 

Hah! It wasn't to be. The sail went up all right but not for long. The short steep 1-2m swells rolling in right on the beam and a messy confused sea on the top just made it a bit too interesting. Without the sail distracting us, we were suddenly aware just how vulnerable we were. A kilometre off a nasty lee shore with just about as much wind as we could handle in messy slow sea conditions with an hour or more to a really sheltered landing. If the wind picked up, which was quite possible given the forecast, it would be a stressful and difficult time to get to that shelter.

Just abeam of us was a small cluster of buildings and tiny bay that looked as though it would provide a modicum of shelter to land. Worried about our vulnerability we headed in to look. The closer we got the better it looked, less shelter than we'd hoped but the swells just disappeared into small dumping surf, an easy landing really. 

The hardest bit was getting the boat up what felt like the 45° stony beach. As we heaved the kayak up, so our tenuous footing in the shingle and slippery seaweed slid down. In another world it would have been comical. 

There were people in one of the houses, so within minutes of wandering over to check it was ok to camp, they were offering 'kaffi' and biscuits and we were explaining where we'd come from, from Tasmania through to where we had camped last night. The couple were there for the weekend, a three hour drive each way, that they seemed to do most weekends, to spend time in their summer house.

As we sat on their decking chatting we could see from the water in the little bay that the wind had picked up, quite a bit too. We looked out to sea and were very glad we weren't out there still. 

But we had got around the Skagi Peninsula.