August 28, 2013

Report Details

I am combining three mile segments North, Tip, and South since I typically paddle the whole thing and no other reports are being filed currently. It was unusually warm, overcast with a warm, light off-shore/Southerly. Everything looked good with the possible exception of the absence of Sea Lions and Seals, which I don't think I've seen lacking both before. Good bird numbers for this time of year. I saw one new slide on the North side directly above the water slide-like waterfall which marks the start of the Cape for me. I wonder if it's erosion from hikers, as it's such a beautiful spot and close to the day use area. A major concern for me was the amount of debris, mostly plastic. I've seen some Japanese items over the last year and was hoping to see little. There are only a couple of places capable of collecting this. The first is a shallow cave near the above mentioned waterfall. It is tricky to land here since the topography and orientation amplifies and redirects waves which break suddenly in a dumping surf onto a relatively steep rocky beach. It was loaded with debris, mostly plastic. Nothing major jumped out of the norm, which is to have a lot here. I was tempted to land, but since I was paddling alone and there was a cross-wave situation, I passed.The second spot is the cave in the back of Well's Cove, a deeply inset feature on the North side, a bit over half way towards the tip. If there is any large wood wedged in the back to hold things, this place collects a lot of flotsam. Otherwise large surf that enters on a high tide cleans it out. There was no wood, so it only had some floats and Styrofoam chunks that were breaking into smaller pebble-size pieces as well as a still tightly inflated ball. I loaded up my kayak with this and gave the ball to a little girl after landing back in the day use area and threw the rest into the dumpster. The floor of the cave had elevated several feet with sand transport as compared to my last several visits. I penetrated several caves, one with a small opening that led to a gymnasium size room and a couple that may actually go all the way through the cape, though there are thunderous sounds from deep within after already going in a very long way. Everything looked normal.