During the middle of May a couple of BCC sea kayakers, Dave P, Estelle K, Chris P and myself with friends travelled to Pembrokeshire for the week. Here is one of the trips we took, a paddle around Ramsey Island. This is counted as one of the “must do paddles”, a trophy paddle if you will, and not for the faint hearted. It has some of the fastest moving water around the UK 6knts and some big tidal races, enough to scare you. You are not allowed to land on the island save for the harbour which has a very rocky beach. Not exactly kayak friendly.
We set off on a neap tide from Porth Clais, a very pretty little port formed by glacial melt at the end of the ice age.
We rock hopped our way around the coast to Carreg y Escog where we made the ferry glide across the north flowing tidal race to The Midland Gap. Our angle of attack was slightly off and we ended up in a small cove just short of our intended gap. The gap we were going for was the second gap between the large rocks on the southern end of Ramsey Island. The first gap, however, had a massive flow going through it, large waves and quite choppy, that became our chosen route. A huge adrenaline rush of just over three minutes before you broke out into a very calm seal infested eddy, absolutely beautiful. The gap that we were supposed to have gone through looked just as scary to me so I liked option one. Later we were informed that the route we took was very rarely done due to big rocks under the surface and usually not enough water.
We then continued up the west side of Ramsey, going in and out of very big caves and seeing lots of wild life.
We encountered many tidal races and whirl pools which came up suddenly beneath you. Really interesting and exciting paddling conditions.
The island has some huge caves which go back so deep you need a flash light.
Rounding the top of the Island we had to wait a while for the tide to turn before hugging the rocky shore line to the harbour. Just before the harbour is a cave tunnel just wide enough for a kayak to fit through and not very high. Two of the group got through safely, then it was Dave P’s turn with me following about 20 feet behind. Unfortunately, a large swell came up. I saw Dave launch out of the cave on a huge surf wave and a wall of water coming toward me. I was bashed against the barnacles on the inside of the cave. Not a pleasant experience. A bit bloodied I decided to go around the tunnel and met the others in the harbour entrance via the recommended route! My fellow paddlers who hadn’t transited the tunnel followed me!
We had lunch on the rocky beach by the harbour and then headed through a cave Arch to the Bitches.
The tide was now starting to build around the Bitches, so it was a ferry glide/eddie hop between the line of rocks forming a natural strainer out into Ramsey sound. Once clear of the rocks and tidal race it was a ferry glide back to the mainland and a rock hop to our start point.
Estelle led the way home choosing some quite dodgy rock hopping options. Note to selves – Don’t always follow her, those little windows of opportunity will close on you faster than you can blink!
Many thanks to my fellow paddlers for a fantastic trip.
Submitted by John H. May 2024