WOY WOY BAY KAYAK - 10 DECEMBER 2016

The Christmas season is always busy - buying presents, dinners, making plans - so it is good to keep up the things that keep life normal for you.


Lately, I've had a number of early morning ocean swims and surfs. I had good waves at North Avoca and Pelican Beach.

Today, I went for a kayak at Woy Woy Bay. Woy Woy Bay is actually a number of other bays and from these bays a number of small tributaries feed the bay with fresh water. The main feature of the bays are that they are tidal. Mid tide to high is the best time to start as a lot of the tributaries are too shallow or the entrances to the are too shallow. One would think that a bit of a shallow walk towing the kayak would fix that problem. But the problem with that is mangrove roots, oyster shells and soft deep mud. Most spots have one or more of these problems.

Anyway, only after a short paddle, I beached on a small white sand beach and explored a heavily vegetated area. It was mainly sledge grass and mangroves. A nice stroll but one eye is always watching for snake movement.

Another short paddle and I was in a small tributary that I followed for about 1/2 kilometre. It was very primordial. We don't have crocodiles in our area but if we did they would love this spot.

I ventured around to Waterfall Bay where there was a number of narrow white sand beaches and large boulders that have tumbled down from the cliffs above. These rocks often sit shallowly in the water and are covered with razor sharp oyster shells.

I landed on a few beaches, sat down and enjoyed the pretty scenery and the tranquility of the area.

The waterfall at the end of Waterfall Bay was basically a trickle of water. Maybe after rain it is a bit more spectacular.

At this point the rocks leading up from the deep water are smooth and steep. It is very difficult to get a suitable spot to land the kayak and get up the rocks. As luck would have it, I was entertained by two ducks.

The ducks paddled over to the edge of the rocks and quacked a lot. They paddled away in a small circle and did it again. On the third go, the female jumped and flapped her wings a bit and landed on the smooth steep rocks and waddled upwards towards the flat. The male then followed but upon landing he started to fall backwards. Luckily, he managed to keep his balance and dignity and waddled over to the female. Their objective was the small, fresh water pools.

I paddled along the edge of the bay and returned to the start.

A pretty and adventurous 6.88 km kayak.