Orkney Sea Kayaking Association

Paddle Orkney 09 - Trip 2 - Deerness, Newark to Halley

Saturday 15 August

An early discussion led to a decision to take advantage of the weather window before the forecasted high winds. Three waves of kayaks left from Newark for Halley. The first wave included Graeme, Yolanda, Phil, Bonar, Penny and Martin and me.

Fortunately the weatherman was fairly off the mark and we saw neither strong winds nor rain while on the water. We even had blue skies and sun once around Mull Head.

We left from the small boats slipway at Newark. Our group headed quite quickly around Point of Ayre, taking in the views across to Copinsay then on past the old Deerness kirk and Sandside Beach. We were kept company by groups of shags on the skerries and a few seals.

Coming into The Gloup (a collapsed sea cave), our visitors were treated to one of the delights of Orkney paddling "downhill sea kayaking" - a strong optical illusion created by the rock strata. This was further enhanced by a significant easterly swell coming in that day. The "seal cave" at the Brough of Deerness did not disappoint us - the resident grey seals were there swimming out under us.

The east side of Mull Head created a bit more of a challenge. However once rounded, the sea was flat calm. We continued to explore all the caves along the North East coast of Deerness. We passed the Covenanters Memorial before finishing at Halley beach. About 8 nautical miles in all.

Peter Fay