When I noticed enough light to be from the sunrise instead of just the full moon, I figured that I might as well go ahead and get some breakfast ready. There were still plenty of mosquitoes, but at least I was now a moving target again. I ate a big breakfast of oatmeal and Ramen noodles, read a little bit, and then packed up. I’d hoped that I might get a chance to give Bibles to the other campers, but even when I paddled off at 8:00 they were still in their tents.
It was a fairly calm and peaceful paddle as I moved southward through the shallow bays. Not much different to see, but it was warm and it didn’t take long for my lack of sleep to catch up with me. When I found a nice little beach with no bugs, I decided it was time for a long break. So I laid down on the beach using my life jacket for shade and took a nap for close to an hour. A west wind built up gradually during the morning, but was appreciated for some relief from the heat. One nice treat was seeing a fox that was carrying a mouse in it mouth. Finally I rounded the point to go into Richibucto Harbour. There were beautiful views of the North Richibucto Dunes, but everything was different once I went into the harbor.
Since leaving Pointe-a-Maxime, I hadn’t seen a single boat or person. In Richibucto Harbour there were boats speeding all over the place, generally coming and going through the gully that provides access to the gulf beaches. The more immediate concern though was the wind. I went from maybe 5 to 10 kt behind or on my side to a tortuous 20 kt or more head-on. Without any alternate takeouts that I knew of, I had no choice but to just push on as best I could. I would try to find shelter for a break behind each little point, and my forward progress slowed to something like 1 to 1.5 kt. I had to go through this for about four hours to get myself to the Richibucto Wharf (4 miles away). In most cases the waves at least were not big thanks to the short fetch and shallow water. The one part that was scary though (actually the first time I’ve been ‘scared’ paddling) was crossing the Northwest Branch of the river. Since it was a major channel, I turned on the VHF radio to try to be aware of boat traffic. But it ended up being a jet-ski that was in danger of running me over in the middle of the channel. I knew there was no chance of a jet-ski having a radio, so all I could do was pray that he would see me as I pushed myself as hard as I could to get out of the way.
It was quite a relief to be onshore at the wharf and meet Kevin for my ride. For the next three nights we had our own private cottages to stay in, courtesy of a host church. Needless to say I was ready for some rest!
Partner church: Victory Baptist Church
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