Broughton Island VII – Xmas 2010

GPS Track

I lead a club trip to BI on 28 – 30 December 2010 in a group of 5. Two nights on BI is definitely recommended for a leisurely trip.

Paddlers included Matt B, Claudia S, George J, Megan P and myself.

As per usual, we left from Pindimar but this time on the trip out we went via Boondelbah Island which was only an extra 1.5km. For some reason a few of us felt somewhat queasy on the way out to BI and Claudia was the unfortunate one not to be able to stomach the bounce. However she was plucky enough to immediately strike back into her usual strong paddling cadence and battled on.

On the middle day we paddled the circumnavigation and Matt, Megan and George climbed to Pinkatop.

Outback Oven baked lamb

Meanwhile, I baked my garlic infused lamb accompanied by potatoes, carrots, snow peas and red wine gravy. I shared with Claudia and we ate in fine style.

I also baked a loaf of bread which we all shared for dessert, hot freshly baked and dripping with honey.

Megan was the only paddler without a sail and she proudly kept on plugging away as non-sailors do while the rest of us enjoyed our wind assisted jaunt home. we were lucky enough to enjoy southerly conditions on the way out and northerly on the way home.

Dolphins, penguins and turtles were the wildlife we enjoyed. And shearwaters.

Below are 3 videos of going through Cons Cleft. Each is about 1 minute. Cons Cleft is a maybe 20-30 degree oblique canyon through the two halves of Looking Glass Island, on the SW side of Broughton Island. It is wide enough to paddle but beware when the swells are coming into it from both ends and slamming together in the middle.

During the return leg we stopped off Yacaba Headland and inspected the headland at close range. There are quite a few large sculped out gullies worth looking into. Below is a video of Matt in one. Look out for the rush of the rebounding swell driving Matt out of the gauntlet towards the end.

Click to go to the photo album. When in the photo album, click F11 to toggle in and out of full screen mode. Click the arrow to start the slideshow.