ron-t kayaking blog
19 February 2014 ............ Not the Puffin wave
I have wanted to go back to Puffin Island for a while, since I saw a green wave just at the west end of Puffin Island.
I wanted to know if it was any good for surfing - I was also puzzled by the fact that I have never seen any reference to it anywhere on the internet, other play spots around Anglesey are talked about on various websites.
I missed the best day of weather the day before, because XCweather changed its mind about how soon the next front was arriving, and I had taken my roofrack apart on Sunday, so couldn`t go.
So the next front was arriving during the day, but it was a beautiful early morning, so I packed up and went anyway.
Holyhead mountain was giving a foretaste of what was to come, it had its hat on !
Looking east it was a lovely day as I set off -
However looking south it was very different - a massive rain storm was drenching Snowdonia.
As I got closer to Puffin Sound, it was clear that there was not as much of a current flowing as there had been on my previous trip, yet the tidal conditions were the same - it was just at the start of a Springs ebb current.
I paddled straight out towards Puffin Island through the tiderace this time, and over at Puffin Island, paddled up towards where the wave had been on my last trip.
No wave.
Just a tiderace.
The other thing I found was that there is a colony of seals at this end of Puffin Island, and they were hauled up on the rocks.
So if there had been a wave, then to get to it, I would have had to go right in close to the seals, this would have disturbed them, they would have all been swimming around exactly where I would be trying to get onto the wave.
So that would have been a no-no.
Just to add to this, the wave I saw was a shallow green wave, it would be no use for playboats, it might not even be any use to the shorter style of sea playboats - my boat quite likes green waves, so maybe I could have got some surfing on it, I don`t know.
The other thing to bear in mind is that to get across to where the wave might be, you have to cross a tiderace with one of the fastest tidal currents around Anglesey - in a short boat you will never get there - you will be washed north-westwards away from Puffin Sound - next stop is Dublin !
So it looks like that in some tidal conditions, you may get a shallow green wave there, however it is now clear that I have not found Anglesey`s answer to the Forever wave.
----------------------------------
Time to move on, and I headed back over towards the mainland, and headed up the coast a bit.
Up the coast, and away out to sea was another rainbow - a full 180 degree arc - it was too wide to get it all into the photo, so the ends are a wee bit chopped off.
I was thinking about this, and was wondering if rainbows are always the same size, or do you get big ones and wee ones ?
Looking up the coast to Trwyn Dinmor.
I`m not actually certain which of the two headlands you can see in the above picture is actually Trwyn Dinmor - the OS map suggests that the nearer lower headland is Trwyn Dinmor - I think it was probably a lot bigger before the quarry eat it.
The second headland is the bigger of the two, and it is a separate headland - this is looking back at it from further up the coast.
It is quite a chunky headland, when seen from a bit closer.
Beyond that headland, the coast continues to be quite striking, but it gradually runs out of steam.
Tucked away in amongst all the cliffs, I found a small steeply sloping stoney beach, so stopped for tea and Traditional Welsh Tea Cakes.
After that I headed back, and looking out to the south and east it was beautiful, and there was practically no wind.
There was beautiful colouring over the hills above Pemnaenmawr, but cameras just record images, they don`t see things as we see them, so I`m not sure it really shows.
As soon as I rounded Trwyn Du I was hit with the full force of the southwest wind funnelling up the Menai Straits as well as the Springs ebb flow, and it was a very slow journey back to my van.
I was using my normal paddles, and after trying the smaller paddles on the last two trips out from Cemaes, it felt as if I was paddling with a concrete slab on each end of the shaft, and I ended up with a very sore wrist.
They aren`t going to be my normal paddles for much longer !
website design by ron-t
website hosting by freevirtualservers.com
© 2024 Ron Turner
