After a very late night in the Paddlers Return for some and promises of being ready for an 08:30 meeting, I was somewhat surprised to see everyone looking fairly bright eyed and bushy tailed at 08:30!! Perhaps the hang-overs hadn't kicked in yet!
We then spent the next 20 minutes deciding to do Puffin Island, followed by, no we will do the Stacks, then it was back to Puffin Island, with the eventual winner being the Stacks. Hoo-bleedin'-rah! We made our way down to Porth Dafarch.
I was paddling the Valley Gemini SP and having gone to bed at a reasonable hour, unlike some, I was feeling fresh and strong. So I started a little rock hopping, being very careful not to damage the boat I had borrowed. Thankfully the group started to get the idea and started following me in and out of the rocks. There are some fabulous gullies and routes to be found in and amongst the rocks, when conditions allow, on this section of coast. This day conditions were perfect.
As we made our way up to South Stack, I mis-timed the swell going over a rock and to protect the boat, I ended up doing an impromptu roll. The boat was saved, but I had managed to gash my fingers on the rock. A small price to pay for getting it wrong and anyway, the bleeding soon stopped. No sharks were spotted.
Making our way up to North Stack seemed to take ages - But then Andy and Ann did decide to stop on a rock for a pee! And there was a little bit of caving going on.
As we were a group of mixed abilities, we couldn't really go into North Stack for a play, although Wendy had other ideas! I had to tag along with her just in case of an emergency...
South Stack was in superb condition with nice glassy green waves. Once again we had to be aware of the group as we ran the roller coaster. Everyone, made it through with no dramas.
We were then on the "bus route" home, staying in the tidal flow from South Stack, getting off at Penrhyn Mawr. My GPS track shows us motoring along, doing 7 kts for much of the ride.
Then it was back to Porth Dafarch.
Definitely a best days paddle ever!
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