Spoon Rocks.

Marty organised this trip and once again we were joined by some fellow paddlers from the Central Coast Canoe Club. Nick Geoff and Dave joined myself and fellow Klan members, Marty, Selim, Brad, Ben and Shawn for a 7am start at Catherine Hill Bay.

Catherine Hill Bay is a nice quiet retired mining village just north of Munmorah State Recreation Area and just south of Swansea. Most of the homes there are old miners cottages and the mine and its associated coal washery were the life's blood of the town. Coal ships were loaded from the wharf, which is still standing and the subject of a petition by the locals to save it from demolition. It could be a nice asset for the village, I could see it with a promenade and maybe a cafe, lots of room for fishing and so on. Of course it's a steel jetty in the ocean, so there would be a continuing cost to keep it in a safe state of repair.

Catherine Hill Bay is also the target of developers who want to develop the old coal washery, which would bring in a wave of new residents and a big increase in population and traffic. The locals don't want it or need it and have been vocal in their opposition to it, but the powers that be have ridden over the top of them roughshod so far.

Conditions were very calm, bearing little resemblance to the predictions from BOM. The sky was blue and the ocean warm and a gentle half metre of swell caressed the beach like a child stroking a kitten. The forecast southerly change with its thirty-five knot wind speed and 2 metre waves was still hours away and we would be off the water long before it hit. We still kept a wary eye to the south though.

Off the beach and on the water. Shawn generously provided the rescue practice for the day after getting surprised by a quick one-two combination of waves from the left and right. He was back in his boat and paddling with no further excitement.

We headed up the coast poking our noses into every cleft, cranny and sea cave we came to. The shark hole is a beautiful circular hole surrounded by cliff lines with a deep cleft at the back that goes some distance back into the headland. On this morning I was the only one who seemed to want to go in and I spent a few quiet moments in the shade checking out the multicoloured growth encrusting the walls below the water line. I came back out and met Selim and cracked a couple of rolls for his video camera. They weren't very tidy ones, but the water was really nice. You can't beat rotary cooling on a hot day.

A little further up the coast is a largish sea cave. You could park a couple of tennis courts in there quite easily and only the very highest defensive lob would hit the ceiling. Even with half a dozen five metre plus kayaks in there, it didn't feel crowded. The roof is beautifully sculpted by centuries of big swell pounding into the rock. Looking up at that roof, one is struck by the power of the sea and how small and fragile we are. The cave is best entered at high tide as there is more depth over the rocks and the water inside tends to be calmer.

We continued up the coast and paused for some morning tea at Spoon Rocks, a break wall that provides good protection for a safe landing.  Spoon rocks is just south of Caves Beach and the caves can be seen from the beach. A nice swim, and a snack to keep the energy levels up and we were off again, heading back down the coast to Catho, coffee and a Sno-Cone. The surf was up a little higher when we got back but everyone landed safely but a little sad to have to cut the trip short to avoid the approaching weather.

Thanks All for your good company and another great paddle. Photos can be found on the Klan site.
http://www.hunterpaddler.ning.com/