Sunday, May 24, 2009

Snagged from certain disaster


















From the file folder marked: just when you thought you have seen everything - we were driving back from the kayak retreat glad not to be fighting brutal wind gusts, when we passed a small dog running at full tilt for St.John's.
We thought the dog would just gradually decide to run off to the side or that nearly being hit twice would convince the little thing to run on the shoulder or pop back onto a side road and make it's way back to it's owners camp site.
But no - it looked this dog had a mission in mind.
Paul couldn't in good conscience keep driving knowing that it would be hit by oncoming traffic within minutes. So he managed to get it to run over to him - and pop in the back seat where it seemed perfectly happy to sit amongst all the kayak gear.
Fortunately the good folks at the Clarenville SPCA never close - and I suppose for good reason.
We dropped the dog off and heard later that the owner was looking for the dog and claimed her later that night.

Terra Nova - around and about Malady Head






















Despite stiff winds the group made it in for lunch and had a leisurely paddle back.

Terra Nova retreat























The KNL Terra Nova retreat by all accounts was a resounding success.
Once we got to the site the weather was very cooperative. Friday's drive was quite demanding for some reason - high gusty winds played tricks with almost everyone's gear.
Saturday's shorter trip involved almost 40 kayaks and necessitated a lot of team work.
The weekend's guest speaker Doug Alderson came on the trip with us around Malady Head and often was seen providing advice and commentary to as many kayakers as he could meet.
There were some who had never paddled before and others who had never been on a trip - from the feedback from the participants it seemed like they enjoyed the experience and more importantly will be coming back.

Friday, May 1, 2009

First wave of icebergs























Over the last couple of weeks we have seen a gradual movement of icebergs along the coast.
Pictures here are from Mobile.
Check out iceberg alerts here:
http://www.icebergfinder.com/iceberg-map.aspx?region=5